South Yorkshire Times, June 20th 1970
The World Cup in Mexico
There’s more to Mexico than heat and football, altitude and football, desert and football, fiestas and .. Football.
For the folks back home — and in particular the children at Park Road Infants’ School, Mexborough— have found the World Cup to be not so much a football tournament, more a way of learning.
A project on Mexico, involving the whole school, is giving the four to seven-year-olds a chance to learn that there is more to the Central American country than the Aztec Stadium or the Guadalajara Hilton.
Mexico, its ways, its people, its tradition, are all becoming second nature to the children as a result of modern teaching methods that make reading, writing and arithmetic seem like a relic from the bad old days.
Headmistress, Mrs. Mary Hill, told me this week: -This project has taught the children a tremendous amount and it is all inspired by the World Cup. We have been able to link geography, history, art, reading and writing with the tournament and the children have learned a great deal.”
A favourite tradition among Mexican children has proved popular at Park Road as well — that of tipping the pinata.” The pinata is model of a bird or animal filled with sweets, and on birthdays it is smashed open for the children to share the goodies.
Popular Toucan
At Park Road the model is a toucan, and instead of smashing it open on birth days, the children tip it, and the sweets fall out of its mouth!
The whole school has become involved in the project, including the little four-year-olds, who have made their own “Mexican corner” with a cactus and dolls.
Mrs. Hill added: “The children are very interested in the World Cup, and because of this they have really become involved with this work. It is amazing how much we have got out of the project.”
The children have been told Mexican folk stories, and illustrated them with paintings, and have made models of a peasant and a donkey. The girls have made little Mexican girls in sewing, and the school’s own “Mexico corner” is decorated with sombreros made, painted and patterned by the children.
They have also made fabric pictures and done a little pottery to complete the “art” side of the project.
Mrs. Hill added: “It has also involved the use of reference books and library books, and various side effects have proved useful — such as finding the countries involved in the World Cup on a map of the world, and painting the flags of them all.”
The children have learned about the Mexican way of life, their food and their animals, and the history of the country back to the time of the Desert Indians.