Dentsu Inc. has produced a new DVD with subtitles for children with hearing impairments, to be used as teaching material for its social contribution activity, "Advertising Elementary School."
Launched in 2006, Advertising Elementary School is a project that aims to cultivate foundational skills for children's "ability to communicate with each other" – including "creative thinking," "judgment," "expression," and "group problem-solving skills" – through creating commercials. The teaching materials were developed over three years in collaboration with Tokyo Gakugei University. They are provided free of charge to interested schools, and to date, over 22,000 children and students at 190 schools nationwide have participated.
As the importance of communication skills gains recognition in educational settings, its use is expanding beyond elementary schools to middle schools, high schools, and universities. Since last year, development of materials for middle and high schools has also begun (details at the "Advertising Elementary School" website: http://www.dentsu.co.jp/komainu/ ).
The subtitled materials were developed in response to requests from children with hearing impairments who participated in the Advertising Elementary School program. They were produced with the cooperation of the NPO Cinema Access Partners.
Advertising Elementary School aims to continue contributing to the growth of more children.
Dentsu Inc. Information http://www.dentsu.co.jp/news/topics/2014/1003-003832.html
