The richness of any local area is partly due to the engagement of the learner. A child is interested in a tree at the bottom of their street because they pass it every day. A child looks at a building and begins to form a view on it due to its familiarity rather than its architectural construct.
As educators, as parents and carers, we have a duty to enable children to open their eyes and explore the vastness of what their immediate world offers. We can then hold them by the hand, guiding and facilitating their learning, as they journey from the surroundings and experience of their own worlds to the incredible wealth of our planet.
In this post, we’d like to share some photographs from one local environment, principally for our readers to see a small part of the city which is somewhat undiscovered but also to show the wealth of learning opportunities within the short space of a few streets.
For additional photographs, please go to our Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/3Di-Multiple-Intelligences/299769736707870
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.558179337533574.1073741825.299769736707870&type=1
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Religion in Shoreditch
http://shoreditchchurch.wordpress.com/ The BBC comedy “Rev” was filmed here but that is only part of its vibrant history. Inside the church, there’s an eclectic mixture of artefacts, with memorials to the war dead, and gothic style Victorian clocks, as well as currently being able to see the original bell – built by John Warner and Sons with links to the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry, who made the bells of Big Ben as well as the one used at the London Olympics 2012. http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/
Where does this column style come from? Why is the paint peeling?
It is autumn; not without But within me is the cold. Youth and spring are all about; It is I that have grown old. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – from “Autumn Within”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocks
This fascinating building epitomises the religious and cultural changes in the area. Starting life as a French Protestant church for the Huguenot refugees, in 1809 it became a Wesleyan Chapel. At the end of that century it became the “Spitalfields Great Synagogue” and in 1976 became the Mosque that we see today.
http://www.bricklanejammemasjid.co.uk/
http://www.bricklanejammemasjid.co.uk/content/HISTORY.pdf
http://www.mpacuk.org/story/240312/true-role-muslim-women.html
Artwork in Shoreditch
“The hedgehog gives nothingAway, keeping itself to itself.We wonder what a hedgehogHas to hide, why it so distrusts.”Paul Muldoon
Note the date. New art is emerging all the time. Creativity is alive.
Who owns these walls to paint on? Is it graffiti or art? Is a Banksy more important than an anonymous artist?
Changing use of Buildings in Shoreditch
As with so many buildings in London, this shop started life as a pub. Public houses were once the heart of a community. It’s so sad to see them losing their fight for existence but at least these grand buildings aren’t being torn down.
http://www.derelictlondon.com/east-london.html
We wonder whether the ironworks made the gates for the church. If so, were they commissioned or were they a generous gift?
More Buildings in Shoreditch
Old meets new above the skyline of Spitalfields Market
http://www.spitalfields.co.uk/
Many of the buildings in Shoreditch and around Spitalfields now house Asian restaurants. There’s also a history of accessory manufacturing and tailoring. What will be the future use of these buidlings?
One of the original social housing developments in the UK, Arnold Circus and its impressive Victorian buildings is worth a visit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kvkw6
More Points of Interest in Shoreditch
Look up in the city and you will see another world that you never knew existed. We do this when visiting other cities throughout the world, so why don’t we do enough to explore our own?
Life
For one minute
Walk outside,
Stand there,
In silence,
Look up at the sky,
And contemplate
How amazing life is.
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