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Lagos, Nigeria
A city full I can use light and pictures to tell a story with my friends.
Let’s go to Lagos →
Say hello Look closer Light the story Make it yours Read our Lagos story and use the paper story sheet together. The light and travel controls need JavaScript.
Words from Adaeze’s story
One city. So many hellos. Adaeze’s family speaks Igbo at home. In the story, we also hear Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin.
Nigerian Pidgin · Page 2
How far? Hello / what’s up?
how FAR
Yoruba · Page 3
Ẹ káàbọ̀ Welcome
ẹ · káà · bọ̀
Igbo · Page 4
Ndewo Hello
n · de · wo
Yoruba · Page 8
Ẹ ṣé Thank you
ẹ · ṣé
A real view · Freedom Park, 2022
What catches your eye? Filmmaker Olusola David, Ayibiowu takes us beside a pond. Watch where the camera looks. Notice the light moving on the water.
A silent, 28-second look around the pond. The camera moves past painted faces on the railings, trees and a path. Sunlight and buildings reflect in the water. Tell a friend what you noticed first. Now it is your turn to choose what we see.
Take the light to our story ↓ Adaeze’s uncle’s film · Pages 8, 10 and 11
Light the story. Move the light. Keep three pictures.
✦
YOUR LIGHT
Tap the picture to move the light, or use the arrows below.
← ↑ ↓ → Wider light
Your three pictures
1 · Beginning 2 · Something happens 3 · The ending Keep picture 1 ＋ The first picture is yours. Where will the light go?
Undo last change Start a new story
Show our story ▶ Choose a picture above to change it. There is no right place for the light.
Pass the light around. One friend lights a picture. Another gives it a voice or a sound. Another adds a movement. Let everyone bring something to the story.
Now it’s your story
A tiny film. Show a little thing that happened in your day. Make three pictures or three still poses: the beginning, something happening, and the ending.
Show someone you know. Ask, “What did you see first?” Keep it, or change a picture and show it again.
Save our three pictures
A story from my world
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2
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DRAW · SHOW · TELL Your passport
We’ve been to Lagos. Adaeze’s uncle tells his own stories.
Stamp my passport
LAGOS NIGERIA ✦ ALEXANDRIA’S WORLD
Explore together. Close ✕ This companion is for a shared screen, a family, or a class, roughly ages 5–10. Begin with the Lagos book, pages 5, 8, 10 and 11.
One demonstration. Then their turn. Move the light once. Invite children to choose the next position. Capture three pictures and let children add a spoken line, a sound, a gesture, or a drawing in the room. Rotate these roles so nobody has to wait for an entire story to contribute.
Bring it into your room. Allow about 15 minutes for the screen activity and 15–20 minutes for a paper story or three still poses. Use paper, crayons and a safe battery torch if wanted. Do not shine a light at eyes. No child has to be photographed, filmed or perform. Adult help with a control is welcome.
Ask another group what they noticed before the makers explain. The makers may keep or change a picture. The proof is the story children show and explain, not a score. A passport stamp records the visit only.
Without a screen Read the film-light scene aloud. Children make three drawings or tabletop scenes. Point a paper arrow to what a friend should notice first, then show all three. Talking, pointing and partner description are equally useful contributions.
For families Invite the child to show a small moment from their own day to a trusted person. Ask permission before showing someone else’s story. Keep names, faces and private places off shared pages.
Why we learn this way The child’s three-picture story is the evidence of learning. They move the light to direct attention, keep three frames, and give the sequence a voice, sound, movement or drawing.
Another group describes what they noticed before the makers explain. Invite one revision, or an explanation of why a choice should stay. No light position is the correct answer; the maker’s intention and the audience’s reading guide the next move.
Make a new three-part story from an everyday moment with a trusted person. Nobody needs to appear on camera. The cycle is make, explain, reflect, look again and carry it into daily life.
History, evidence and perspective The book’s movie set is fictional; the dated Freedom Park film and city photographs are records from particular viewpoints. Name the maker, date and place. Ask what the source shows, what it cannot show and whose account would help next. A constructed panorama is a setting for exploration, not evidence of a historic event.
Freedom Park’s own history describes the transformation of the former Broad Street Prison into a place for remembrance and cultural life. If children ask about that past, explain that it was a prison under colonial rule and people now choose to preserve its history. Use places, records and people’s accounts; do not ask children to act out imprisonment or harm.
Reading behind the approach. Carlos E. Cortés connects honest attention to the past with action in the present and future in Renewing Multicultural Education (2025) . We adapt that direction through a child’s own experience, another person’s account and something made together. Tervalon and Murray-García’s cultural humility (1998) asks us to keep examining our assumptions, attend to power and learn in accountable relationships. Their original work concerns medical education; this lesson applies those commitments to meeting people and cultures.
Photo credits Marina photograph: Debo Adebayo, 4 October 2018 . National Theatre photograph: Omoeko Media, 19 August 2016 . Both originals are unchanged and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 . Freedom Park still: Olusola David, Ayibiowu, 2022, from the credited film below.
Lagos, together Our journey begins at Freedom Park on Lagos Island, the setting for Adaeze’s uncle’s movie. Lagos also has lagoon shores, forest, beaches and a major theatre. These are different places in one city, not a single picture of every family’s life.
For a real journey, check current routes and visits with LAMATA , the Nigerian Conservation Foundation and each venue. A rail line does not connect every stop in this lesson. Our short rides evoke modes of travel, not turn-by-turn directions.
Sources and media Film: Olusola David, Ayibiowu , 26 August 2022. Shortened, compressed and made silent for this observation. This film version and its still image are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 .
Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License . Map display: Leaflet .
The Freedom Park, Marina and National Theatre stops use real dated photographs. The Lekki forest and Tarkwa shore use constructed 360° scenes inspired by their settings. Short danfo and ferry rides are visual interpretations of travel. They are not photographic records, current access information, or measured routes. The real Freedom Park film offers a direct observation to compare with the constructed scenes.
The illustrated set and story are from Alexandria’s World: Lagos, Nigeria , page 10. Images are story illustrations. They are not photographs of the park. Move the light to choose what an audience notices first.
Yoruba and Igbo use tone. English stress guides cannot replace listening to a speaker. Read the meanings together. A fluent speaker in your family or class can offer a greeting to listen to and use in a real exchange. Listening and pointing are welcome ways to join in.
Your picture choices and passport stamp stay in this browser. The lesson does not record your voice, collect your name, or upload your story. External source links use their own services.
Get our story sheet ↗
How we built the Tarkwa Bay view This is a constructed interpretation of Tarkwa Bay Beach, not a photographic record or a measured reconstruction. The broad sand, low rubble-stone breakwater, a few small boats and urban horizon were checked against actual photographs: Adedolapo Boluwatife’s 2025 photo essay and Bids in Graceland’s 2017 visit . Harbour maps were used to check orientation. These dated sources do not establish every present-day structure or condition.
The rendered view has no people. Real photographs and the original park film show specific recorded places and activity; the constructed view offers a setting to explore. Ask what each kind of image can and cannot tell us.
Make a new story? This clears the three pictures on this device. You can save them first.
Keep this story Start again
