All about Dugongs

By Kyra Hoevenaars

On the second day of the program, the volunteers teach the children about coral reefs and about impressive and important animals that live in the coastal waters of Palawan. We start the day with a lecture about large sea animals, like sea turtles, octopus, sharks, sea birds, dolphins and dugongs (sea cows). With illustrations, the volunteers explain the children the difference between dugongs and manatee, which are relatives of each other. They use sandpaper to let the children know what a skin of a shark feels like. During a quiz about these animals, the children are asked how many species of sea turtles live in the Philippines, what a dugong eats and how large a whale shark can be. Most children already know from the book we gave them that a whale shark can get as large as two buses, that a dugong eats sea grass and that a mud crab has 10 legs. During the sea animal bingo the children have to cross the different animal off their bingo card. There is a price for the lucky one that has a full line first ad the main price for the kid who finishes his whole card first of the class.

After lunch, there is a lecture on coral reefs. In this lesson, we want to show children the importance of coral reefs. Coral reefs are part of a complex ecosystem with a large number of animals and plants. It provides food and shelter to a greater variety of living organisms than most other natural areas in the world.

We end the day with watching the movie Finding Nemo on a big screen, which takes the children into the underwater world of two clownfish, a father and his son Nemo. When Nemo gets lost, his father travels the whole ocean to find his son and meets many interesting but also scary creatures on his way. There are a lot of species and situations in the movie that the children now recognize.

On the third day of the program, the children will go and see the coral reef for real, we will take them to go snorkeling on a small island in Honda Bay. They will also go on a tour through the mangroves to view what they have learned on day one.

Volunteer Esther during the lecture.

Who will win the sea animal bingo?

Watching Finding Nemo

Pupils from other classes trying to get a peak of the movie.

Playing a game during the break.