Animals 360
This year, the 9th edition of the Literary evening, dedicated to ‘ANIMALS 360’, happened on Friday 17th January, 2025. The evening was a live performance in our school’s MPH accompanied with videos, which students who were unable to attend on the day, prepared from home.
This literary evening event was an opportunity to show that students at the National Sport school can do more than sports but they are also fond of acquiring communation skills and confidence on stage, interact with the audience, and research and talk about animals from different points of view.
This year’s theme explored how animals feature in our lives. The event was supported by the STEAM LEARNING ECOLOGIES project. This is a HORIZON project which aims to bring together different stakeholders who work to protect and conserve different animals on our island.
Science drama scripts looked at how insects affect our lives, how human behaviours and various phenomena led to the extinction of various species, whilst raising awareness of endangered species. Others talked about how much animals teach us about the importance of teamwork in our life, and how collaboration and loyalty amongst us can make our life more serene and happy. Another group talked about how colours in nature make our environment not only more attractive, but serve various roles like attracting others, warning others and camouflage.
Students interacted with the audience to present some interesting facts about animals. Did you know that the Koala bear is the laziest animal on Earth, sleeping up to 22 hours a day, and that according to the WHO, the mosquito is the animal that causes most human deaths? Did you know that the cheetah is the fastest animal on earth and that penguins propose to their female using a pebble? A highlight of the event was the foreign languages item where students talked in French, Spanish, German and Italian and explained why each animal is attributed to each particular country.
Year 7 students wrote about a day in the life of an animal of their choice. Here the audience could observe how talented and creative our students are. Their descriptions ranged from the sad life of an elephant in the circus to the busy life of a mouse eating cracker and cheese to the difficult life of the orangutang whose habitat is always at risk.
Another highlight of the event was the item featuring Maltese idioms related to animals. The students prepared a drama including these idioms and then, involved the audience to revise the meaning of each idiom. Proverbs originating from different countries and featuring animals were also presented in English accompanied with drama and explanations.
Again this year, the Literary evening event was a success. Students, parents and audience enjoyed the show. It was a fun and learning experience and yet another way of socialising. Our aim of involving students, and helping them acquire oracy and communication skills,
face an audience, talk in public, acquire self-esteem and grow into more confident student-athletes was accomplished. Well done to all the participating students and thank you to all the parents and guardians who were with us to support them. A big thank you also goes to all the teachers involved, whose dedication and commitment is admirable.
A particular thank you goes to the National Literacy Agency and Mr. David Muscat, who, every year, donate books to all participating students.