Tots learn to send a daily tweet

AN INFANTS’ school in the Bordeaux suburbs has introduced Twitter to children who are still too young to read and write.

At the end of each school day, maternelle teacher Philippe Guillem, of the école Albert-Camus in Talence, asks his pupils to think of a theme for their daily tweet.

“We discuss it and vote on it, then two pupils are chosen to type on the keyboard the regulation 140 characters,” he told Sud Ouest.

He writes the phrase on the board and the pupils type it by matching the characters on the board and the ones on the computer, Mr Guillem said.

He says it helps the children learn to summarise their thoughts and introduces them to IT.

Most of the “followers” of the Twitter account @camusmat04 are parents, who get updates such as: “We are making crowns for the Fête des Rois” or “Thierry the mairie’s gardener has cleaned our garden. He has given us bulbs and winter flowers”.

So as to counter concerns about the children’s lives being exposed too early on the internet, the account is only accessible to people who have been accepted in advance.