British Council InterLink project - "start spreading the news"

- TELECOMMUNICATIONS -

START SPREADING THE NEWS

Letter writing used to be the way we communicated with friends and family overseas. Nowadays we rely on the telephone, fax and email to communicate.

Do some research to find out about the way people communicate these days: What is the cost of 500 words sent by:-

surface mail letter

Air mail letter

Telephone call

Fax

videoconference -

between the UK and NZ
.... and how long does each take to get there?

How many of each of the above communications are sent each day, week, month or year?
How are the messages you are sending to your pair school getting there?
How are communications to islands made available - eg. North Island and South Island, Ireland and Britain?
Where is your country's most remote phone box?
Are there any manual exchanges left anywhere? (You might need to talk to a grandparent about what a manual exchange is or was)
What other information can you come up with?

So far we have looked at what already exists in telecommunications. What do you see as the future for communication around the world?

Design a home communications unit for the 21st century. Think about how we might communicate in the future. You can include things that you think would be a good idea, even if they haven't been invented yet.

National Curriculum areas covered:
New Zealand - Level 4
Science	Technology	Social Studies
Physical world 1/2,3,4 Science and technology 2,3	Strand A1, 2ab, 3, 4 Strand B 6abcd Strand C7,8	Strand B1
Britain - Stage 3
Science	IT
Physical processes 3acjlmn	1abe, 2abc