Singapore, 28 January 2003 - Six live snakes will charm more than 20,000 students from 30 primary schools at Creative Classroom's first learning adventure for the year.

To promote the documentary series Snake Wranglers on StarHub Cable TV's National Geographic Channel (Ch11), Creative Classroom is organising Snakes!, a series of educational shows in schools which began on Thursday.

Creative Classroom is a schools' initiative from StarHub that promotes creative learning, using educational cable TV programmes.

Of the schools visited so far, response from students has been overwhelming. Most of the students, boys and girls alike, were eager to coil Macho, a 2m Indian python that weighs 25kg, around them. Even the little ones were unafraid of the reptile's monstrosity and were rushing to touch him.

In addition to the two tamer reptiles that students can get to carry, there are two other more "dangerous" species -- a flathead viper and a 1.5 m long Burmese albino python which are also at the schools. These are on display in glass tanks.

It is no wonder that schools have been so enthusiastic about having Creative Classroom bring this learning adventure to them. Another 15 sessions had to be added to the original run of 15 sessions so as not to disappoint the students and teachers.

"This type of learning adventure is very popular among teachers as students can get close to live reptiles and actually interact with them while learning more about them. Not many actually have the chance to touch such varieties and learn value-added fun facts," said Miss Vivien Chiong, Director of Consumer Markets at StarHub.

"This is a demonstration of the idea of bringing creative learning to schools. We supplement the school curriculum by taking students beyond their textbooks. By taking part in our learning adventure, watching Snake Wranglers on the National Geographic Channel and then reading about snakes in their textbooks, the students have a more engaging and rounded learning experience. We have also designed calendar posters with fun facts about snakes and created a website so the learning is across multi platforms," added Ms Chiong.

During the learning adventure, a presenter talks about the different species of snakes and how they target their prey as well as defend themselves against predators. There is also a question and answer session after the presentation where students stand to win goody bags from StarHub and National Geographic Channel.

Students interested to find out more about snakes, words and phrases associated with snakes, can visit StarHub's website. At this website, students can test their knowledge of snakes through the all-time favourite Snakes and Ladders board game in an interactive format.