November 14, 2014

Breaking News On Monkey Business

One of my teachers in Primary school had the great idea of bringing in the frame of an old TV from home and, when it was time for our news, we'd stand behind the frame, all important and official, and read our news stories out to the rest of the class.

To this day, I still remember the pleasure we got from this simple exercise and the effort we put into our news stories as a result. When you're having that much fun, the learning comes effortlessly.

What A Scoop!

My old Primary school teacher would be smiling if she'd tuned into Kickstart Your Business this week. Our featured business Newzmonkey is an app and on-line game created by children's writer and entrepreneur Carmel Crawford to improve the editorial, reading and writing skills of budding young journalists.

Players are invited to take on the role of a monkey reporter in the virtual town of Scoopstown and are tasked with following leads to track down a story worth reporting on.

Keeping It Real

Carmel intends to create a dynamic newchannel that is accessible to children where they can listen to, share and report on the news. One way to attract and engage budding young reporters is to invite a respected storyteller or newsreporter to contribute news stories to the channel.

As Gerard suggested on the show last night, a renowned writer like Roddy Doyle (or even a news journalist like our George, as he was quick to remind us!), who knows how to write for children without talking down to them, is an ideal example of one such storyteller.

Over To You

What other well known writers or reporters would you suggest could help Carmel bring her offer to life? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think. 

We'd love to hear from you.

(Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday at 6.40pm and is available on Playback)

16 comments:

Aidan Browne said...

A great idea in Newzmonkeys and a great promoter in Carmel, ensure you take George Hook up on his offer to write a news piece for it!

Roma said...

Great to hear Ger, George and Carmel talk about Newzmonkeys yesterday on Newstalk - some really good ideas coming out of the show.

Roma said...

Great to hear Ger, George and Carmel talk about Newzmonkeys yesterday on Newstalk - some really good ideas coming out of the show.

Éilis McL said...

This is a great idea for kids!

Carmel Crawford said...

Big thanks to George Hook and Gerard Tannem for the opportunity to talk about our new news platform for kids. Great advice from George and Gerard and we will certainly be implementing their suggestions. I'll take up Georges offer to contribute to it when its up and ready to go. In the meantime - Newzmonkeys is the future of news for curious kids!

Michael Butler said...

Good interview, some nice new ideas

Unknown said...

Carmel had a vision and all the hard work has been worthwhile when you hear about Newzmonkeys. Well done Carmel

Fergus Collis said...

Another reason I wish this technology was around when I was young. Sure to be of great interest to many kids out there. Best of luck with it - I won't be surprised to hear about it again

Unknown said...

Newzmonkeys news platform is a wonderful benefit to kids, cant wait for it's launch to be able to have my grandchildren become Newzmonkeys. Happy days :-)

Unknown said...

Newzmonkeys is a well presented gaming proposition for kids with obvious revenue generation potential. On-going support and innovation will be critical to developing a consistent rate of sale. Look forward to seeing the app in the Stores soon.

Jason McGee said...

Great idea - well done to Newzmonkeys!

Unknown said...

Congratulations Carmel, Newzmonkeys is a fantastic product and deserves all the very best of success

Unknown said...

The Right Hook has the right idea here, Well done Carmel and all at Newzmonkeys

Noreen said...

Listened to the newzmonkeys item on the Right Hook. Really thought it was a brilliant idea for young people to use the news to communicate with each other. Can't wait for the app to come out and my grandchildren to enjoy it. Best of luck to the team.

AINE M said...

In today's world, it has become commonplace for many young people to communicate in slang terms or by abbreviated text and therefore it so refreshing to see an attempt to encourage a return to basic writing skills and literacy. As a Careers Co-Ordinator in a secondary school, I can see Newz Monkeys having the potential to encourage these same young people to become the next generation of budding journalist and reporters. Wishing you every success with the project Carmel.

Tara G said...

Carmel is passionate about Newzmonkey's. It's an innovative and educational game for children and there really isn't anything else like it out there for children. I really hope that people get behind it and it's a huge success.