Tag Archives: dubai
Food for thought at children’s reading festival
Food for thought at children’s reading festival Staff Reporter / 27 April 2013 A teenager, who has had his own bread shop since the age of 15, was on hand to delight children at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival cookery show. Seventeen-year-old British chef Jack Prince is one of the handful of chefs that have been taking part in the programme, most of whom are connected to youth. Along with his mother Rose Prince, Prince held an interactive ‘white pizza’ cooking demonstration, with those in the audience all too happy to get their hands dirty for the cause. Prince sells bread and soups from his bakery, The Pocket Bakery, in London’s Brixton market. There are other chefs from France, Jordan, Dubai and Lebanon on hand to coach those present into the culinary world, during the 12-day festival which ends on May 4. The aim during the 27 interactive cookery programmes running over the course of the festival is to create food that is both healthy and tasty, the organisers said in a press release. Meanwhile, children from the Al Noor Training Centre for Special Needs were guided through a drumming workshop filled with music, rhythm and lights by the Saltimbanco Italiano Global Art Theatre Company. “Visual and auditory input are very important when it comes to children with special needs. They love music, and as can be seen, they are following the instructions very well – which is usually not the case,” a teacher said. Some of the older children were also taught some basics of healthy eating. The Sharjah International Book Fair director Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri said festival organisers had visited various schools across the UAE, including schools for special needs children and orphanages, and invited them to take part in the book fair. There is also a special focus on books for blind children, with a presentation by Reiner Delgado and Suzanne Sariyannus of German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted on books that can be both touched and read. Delgado himself is visually impaired. There will be a workshop on making tactile books at the festival on Sunday, from 11am to 1pm. A special panel of international authors and critics from around the Arabic and Western world discussed the power of reading in shaping children’s minds. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
It’s story time for the little caterpillars
It’s story time for the little caterpillars Nivriti Butalia / 27 April 2013 Motivated by the excess of ‘gadgets and gizmos’, Nishi Chatterjee is starting a one-woman campaign to improve children’s reading in Dubai. Mother to 5-year-old Arritro and wife to urban planner Roopak, Chatterjee moved to Dubai four months ago from Bahrain. Since she got here, Chatterjee, who has a doctorate in Education and a post-graduate degree in child development and human studies, has felt the need to further the habit of reading in children in Dubai. “Nowadays children are taken in too much by gadgets and gizmos.” And so in her home, that has paper cut-outs of butterflies in shiny purple and green paper among other children’s wonderland adornments, she set out to gather an audience of children aged between 5 and 10 at her place in Mankhool. Twice a week, for an hour-and-a half, the children sit and listen to stories about Jack and The Beanstalk and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Chatterjee engages with the children to a phenomenally interactive and educational extent. For instance, if she’s reading out, very animatedly, the story of how Jack (of beanstalk fame) grew so tall, she injects a little homily on the benefit of beans and spinach, and why it is essential not to trouble one’s parents and eat this healthy food. The children are, on the whole, attentive. They sing rhymes, mingle with children of their age, and answer all the questions that Nishi quizzes them on as the stories are read out. Chatterjee, sensing that one little girl is losing her battle with attentiveness, might ask her, “Sarah, what kind of beans were there?” and if Sarah doesn’t know the right answer, a little chorus will chime to her rescue: “Magical beans!” At the end of the class, the children are involved in further educational exercises, such as preparing their own pots of bean sprouts. “In the next class,” Nishi promises the children who are all called ‘little caterpillars’, “we will learn to make golden eggs.” This is followed by squeals of excitement. Parents who come to pick and drop their children are advised to sit a little distance away from the actual carpet space where the children are sitting cross-legged hanging on to Nishi’s every expression and constantly changing intonation. It’s a joy to watch the lady, who originates from Rajasthan in India, skillfully negotiate the temperaments and attitudes of these ‘little caterpillars’. Some are more attentive. Some want to rattle the cage of the lovebirds just to see them squawk. The undeniable common thread seems to be all these children are learning the joys of a good read and are going back asking their parents for more books. nivriti@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
GCC a key global air travel hub
GCC a key global air travel hub (Staff Report) / 27 April 2013 There is perhaps no sector that reflects the UAE’s unprecedented boom better than the aviation industry. A phenomenal surge in air connectivity by the world’s fastest growing carriers and the rapidly-expanding airports have turned Arabian Gulf states into the world’s newest travel hub. Dubai International Airport, a major hub in the region, is projected to become the world’s busiest air travel centre by 2015. — AFP According to a study published for the Airport Show — which will take place from May 6-8 in Dubai — GCC airports are expected to handle as much as 250 million passengers by 2020, while Dubai is set to become the world’s busiest airport by 2015. It is also estimated that Middle East will have the third-fastest passenger growth rate of 6.6 per cent by 2016. The study shows that by 2025, seven billion people will be within reach via a single flight, while the total aircraft movement in the Middle East region will reach 2.3 million in 2025. The International Civil Aviation Organisation, or Icao, expects air traffic in the region to grow 5.2 per cent annually until 2030. Gearing up to meet the rise in passenger traffic, Middle East airlines will increase their capacity by 12.8 per cent in 2013. In addition, they are investing heavily in new aircraft, holding one-third of the global orders for Boeing 777 and Airbus A380. As the study revealed, the aviation sector was fast to realise the potential that the GCC’s privileged location holds. With almost two billion people within a 2.5-hour reach by air, the region has a unique geographical advantage that can fuel not only the sector, but the local economies in general; the aviation industry is projected to create an additional 294,000 jobs over the next 15 years. The Middle East’s air transport industry contributed $129 billion to the region’s GDP, with the UAE alone accounting for Dh145 billion. According to Oxford Economics, the aviation industry’s direct contribution to GDP will increase by 6.3 per cent per annum in real terms over the next 20 years, creating an additional 294,000 jobs in the region. Tony Tyler, director-general and chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association, explains that aviation has taken centre stage in the economic development of the Gulf region. “Governments here understand the power of connectivity to drive economies, and with this understanding governments have created a business-friendly environment for air transport with low taxes and world-class infrastructure,” he said. The market study, entitled ‘The World Via Gulf’ and published by Nadd Al Shiba PR and Event Management, offers insights into the expansion and growth projections for the airports and airlines in the Arabian Gulf, which, despite the global economic upheavals since 2008, has remained the world’s most economically-resilient region and the most-happening place for the aviation industry. A free copy of the report is available for those registering online as show visitors at www.theairportshow.com before the start of the biggest B2B event in the Middle East and Indian Sub-continent on May 6, and the inaugural Global Airport Leaders Forum on May 7. The 72-page report is based on information and statistics from various airports, airlines and international organisations. Middle East-based airlines currently account for eight per cent of the global air transport industry. The Middle East is home to the youngest fleet in the world, with a total of more than 600 aircraft, and has the greatest number of aircraft on order anywhere in the world. Between now and 2020, the Middle East is forecast to lead world passenger traffic growth, with current travel demand up 18 per cent. Gulf carriers, including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, hold one-third of the global orders for Boeing 777 and Airbus A380. business@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
