World Voice

World Voice enhances children’s learning across the curriculum, in countries around the world, through the act of singing. It also empowers and trains teachers to integrate songs into the classroom, resulting in a wide range of benefits – a child’s musicality is improved but also their awareness of other cultures by learning songs from other countries. World Voice has reached over 8,000 teachers and 500,000 children worldwide. In November 2017, they were delighted to announce multi Grammy Award winning singer Joyce DiDonato as World Voice’s Global Ambassador. “If I were to have designed my dream project,” she said, “it would have been this.”

World Voice is a vibrant, growing movement which began in 2013 in Senegal and India and the network has since extended to include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Nepal, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Zimbabwe and the UK. Anyone in the world can access the growing bank of online resources, including a World Songbook with songs from all the countries that have taken part.

First, highly-skilled British trainers pass on their expertise to teachers and pupils in the participating country, to give them a range of techniques to use song as a tool for learning. Selected teachers from the country are encouraged to continue their training to become World Voice trainers themselves. These new, local “master trainers” are empowered to help cascade the programme across their country and so the programme grows. At the same time, the British Council engages with key stakeholders in each country to promote the recognition and practice of singing as a core part of every child’s education.

More info about World Voice is available via the British Council.