By Kitty Cochrane
All Grades
RIGHTS: Begin by brainstorming a list of
universal human needs.Then list the rights in the United Nations
Declaration of the Rights of the Child (all are covered below).
Are the needs andthe rights the same? Do the rights seem fair?
Should they be the same for children and adults? Why and how
should we all ensure these rights are met everywhere?
RESPONSIBILITY: Post the list of rights and decide how they will
be met in your classroom (e.g. share lunches if someone doesn't
have theirs). Review occasionally.
Grades K-3
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE NUTRITION. Bring to class a
small clean stone, broth and spices, and have every student bring
a chopped food item for soup. Read Stone Soup (Ann McGovern,
Scholastic Inc, 1968), a story in which no one person has enough
ingredients to make a soup, but together many people do. While
your own stone soup is cooking, discuss hunger. Why do we need
food? Why don't some people have enough? Are there people in your
area without food? What can be done? What does making Stone Soup
teach us?
RESPONSIBILITY. Collect food for a local food bank.
THE RIGHT TO AFFECTION, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING.
Read a story about a family and ask students to listen for
examples of people showing affection, love and understanding.
Suggestions: The Sandwich by Ian Wallace, A Pair of Red Clogs by
Masako Matsuno, Jaftra's Father by Hugh Lewin, Toto by Marietta
D. Moskin. Make a web of people who give us love and
understanding. Discuss who helps if someone doesn't have a stable
family or has no family at all (Small World Kit: A Special Gift
describes the adoption of refugee children by a poor family in
Costa Rica.)
RESPONSIBILITY:Everyone bring items for a local shelter.
THE RIGHT TO ENJOY RIGHTS REGARDLESS OF COLOR OR
RELIGION. View photos of people around the world. Teach the song
"It's a Small World" (It's a world of laughter, a world
of tears; It's a world of hope and a world of fears; There's so
much that we share, we're so glad we're aware, It's a small world
after all). Discuss how people may look different but have the
same feelings and rights. Make paper-doll chains and give them
different skin colours and culturally diverse clothing.
RESPONSIBILITY: Celebrate the many colours of your school. Trace
the hands of each person in the school in various colours and
arrange them into a big rainbow in the front foyer (from Children
of the World, Alberta Global Education Project).
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE MEDICAL CARE (WATER). In
many parts of the world, carrying water from a river, lake or
well is a major task each day. Have students twist small pieces
of cloth to use as head pads and then carry water in buckets on
their heads. How would our habits change if we had to carry all
of our drinking and washing water in this way? Discuss why many
people in the world do not have enough water or do not have clean
water (drought, cost, wells are uncovered, not enough firewood to
boil water, don't know about germs). Invite students to drink
from a litre of clean water, and do so yourself. Then mix in dirt
and invite students to drink again. Ask why it is important to
have clean water (80% of disease is linked to contaminated water
and inadequate sanitation). Make a water filter for cleaning your
dirty water. Punch holes in the bottom of a plastic container. On
the inside, layer fish-tank charcoal (from pet store), sand, and
gravel, in that order (1" layer of each). Pour in the dirty
water and collect it in a clean container. Now drink from the
clean water.
RESPONSIBILITY: Each person needs 25 to 45 litres of water each
day to stay clean and healthy, yet we use 22 litres every time we
flush a toilet. Collect and clean old bricks or big rocks to be
used as toilet dams in students' homes. Discuss other ways to
reduce water consumption at school and at home (e.g. turning off
water when brushing teeth, replacing lawns with trees, shrubs and
other plants that are drought-tolerant).
Grades 4-6
THE RIGHT TO FREE EDUCATION, AND TO FULL
OPPORTUNTIY FOR PLAY AND RECREATION. Make an African class. Push
the desks aside and use tape to mark the boundaries of an area
which will accommodate the students and the following materials
(for 25 students): 5 desks, 4 chairs, 1 small blackboard, 1 piece
of chalk, 1 rag to clean the blackboard, 2 pieces of paper per
student, 20 pencils, 3 erasers, and 1 textbook for the teacher.
Teach a lesson by asking students to copy down exactly what you
read from the text. Discuss how, during their African day,
students would have to do many chores before, after, or sometimes
instead of, going to school. What kind of chores? How do they
feel about their school day? What do students absolutely need in
order to learn? What is really extra? Why do so many schools have
so little? Many children do not get a full education because
their families cannot afford the school fees or school uniforms,
or they need their children to work. Should there be laws
requiring that children be educated?
RESPONSIBILITY: Show a 30-minute cartoon video and invite other
classes. The entry fee is two new school supplies. Box them and
ask someone going to a developing country on a holiday to drop
them off at a school near their hotel.
THE RIGHT TO A NAME AND NATIONALITY. Read aloud
From Far Away (Annick Press, 1995), written by Robert Munsch and
Soussan Askar, a young refugee from Beirut. Discuss why Soussan
changed her nationality and name, and other reasons people might
have for doing so. Should people have the right to change their
nationality? Their name? Interview a new immigrant (preferably
someone in your school) and discuss the experience of changing
nationality.
RESPONSIBILITY: In some cultures, people change their names after
a special experience or accomplishment. Have students give
themselves new names for something they are proud they have done
as responsible world citizens.
THE RIGHT TO SPECIAL CARE, IF HANDICAPPED.
Experience blindness by taking turns being blindfolded and led.
Discuss: How did it feel? What were the challenges? What
resources are available to help people with disabilities lead
independent lives? Even simple disabilities such as poor eyesight
can be insurmountable obstacles for people in countries that are
poor. What can be done?
RESPONSIBILITY: Collect used eyeglasses and send to an
organization that distributes them in developing countries.
THE RIGHT TO BE BROUGHT UP IN A SPIRIT OF PEACE
AND UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD. Identify where wars are happening (an
Armed Conflicts World Map is available from Project Ploughshares,
Conrad Grebel College, 200 University Ave. W., Waterloo, ON, N2L
9Z9). Discuss the impact of war (food can't be grown, people
can't get clean water or medical care, they can't get to school,
they are angry and worried all the time). Read or sing the song
"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with
me." Discuss how to create peace. Play a cooperative game
such as The Human Knot: Form circles of 5-8 and grasp hands in
the middle, ensuring each hand is connected to someone different.
Then untangle yourselves without letting go of hands.
RESPONSIBILITY: Designate student mediators for your school
playground to help younger students resolve simple conflicts.
Establish a standard procedure for conflict resolution: 1) ask
the person why they did that; 2) listen to their side and
validate; 3) tell them how their action made you feel; 4) come up
with a plan so it won't happen again.
Grades 7-9
THE RIGHT TO ENJOY THESE RIGHTS REGARDLESS OF
GENDER. Pass out a paper asking everyone in the school to write
how their lives would have been different had they been born the
opposite sex. Compile the results and post the most interesting
quotes. Consider the following statistics from the United Nations
1980 Report: "Women constitute half of the world's
population, perform nearly two-thirds of its work hours, receive
one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-hundredth
of the world's property." Discuss: Why is this? What
negative effects does this have on children and men? Why and how
should this change?
RESPONSIBILITY: Write a letter to a member of government
encouraging action on a gender issue.
THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE NUTRITION. Play the Cookie
Game: In front of the class, count out the same number of cookies
or candies as there are students. Put 80% of the goodies on one
plate, 20% on the other. Let students draw lots (slips of paper),
20% of which say "rich" and 80% "poor." Give
the heaping plate to the rich group and the meager one to the
poor. Afterwards, point out the parallel to the global
distribution of food and other resources where 20% of the people
have 80% of the goods. Ask how the groups feel. Why did the
"rich" group feel it was their right to gobble more
than their share? What else causes unequal food distribution?
(desertification, wars, farm land being urbanized). This activity
is also a quick, effective means of introducing staff to global
education. As an extension, hold a schoolwide Rich/Poor Lunch,
with 80% pulling tickets for a simple meal of rice and beans and
20% pulling tickets giving them a protein/fat-rich meal such as
pizza.
RESPONSIBILITY: Discuss solutions to the problem of inadequate
nutrition (food bank, grow your own food, eat locally grown food,
don't waste, ensure there are no wars). Grow vegetables in a
school garden. Volunteer at a food bank or soup kitchen. Donate
the ticket proceeds from your Rich/Poor Lunch to a local food
bank.
THE RIGHT TO ENJOY ALL RIGHTS REGARDLESS OF COLOR
OR RELIGION. Find magazine pictures that depict people of varied
races and religions. Glue the pictures to cardboard and cut into
puzzle pieces. Randomly distribute one puzzle piece to each
person. Have them move around the room to find others with same
puzzle, construct it, and identify the race or religion
represented. Discuss and list the similarities between races and
religions, and the need for respecting differences (adapted from
Make A World of Difference).
RESPONSIBILITY: Discuss the negative effects of racist jokes.
Make and rehearse a plan for reacting to and stopping racist
jokes (e.g., I don't think that joke was kind).
Grades 10-12
THE RIGHT TO BE AMONG THE FIRST TO RECEIVE RELIEF
IN TIMES OF DISASTER. Bring in newspaper articles covering
natural or human-created disasters. Discuss their impact on
peoples' lives. Are there parts of the world where disasters are
more common? What can be done to prevent and respond to
disasters? Should developed countries take on a larger role?
RESPONSIBILITY: Hold a bake sale, dance, or used book or clothing
sale to raise funds for an organization that provides disaster
relief.
THE RIGHT TO PROTECTION AGAINST ALL FORMS OF
NEGLECT, CRUELTY AND EXPLOITATION. The world's population is
doubling every 35 years (to understand doubling, use a calculator
find out how many days it would take to get a million people if
you started with one and doubled each day). If the world's
population is currently six billion, what will it be in 100
years? How will this affect the world's resources and their
distribution? How will this affect children, who are always the
first to suffer? In many countries, children must work or beg to
help support their families instead of going to school.
RESPONSIBILITY: Research child labour (No Time to Play by the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 1996, available
from local labour councils). Write letters to the Prime
Minister/President insisting that child labour-free labels be
required on products made in countries where child labour is
known to be a concern.
THE RIGHT TO LEARN TO BE A USEFUL MEMBER OF
SOCIETY AND TO DEVELOP INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES. Discuss the ancient
Chinese proverb Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach him to fish and you feed him forever. What skills,
attitudes and values are needed to feed and take care of
ourselves and our planet forever? Discuss what it means to be a
useful citizen in your community. Write biographies of people who
have made a difference.
RESPONSIBILITY: Carry out a project to make a difference
(fundraise for a social issue organization, write a letter to a
politician). Afterwards, discuss the skills and attitudes each
person gained from this kind of action.
Kitty Cochrane teaches grade two at Dickensfield School in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
References:
Children of the World, Alberta Global Education Project, 1101-142
St., Edmonton, AB T5N 2R1, (403) 447-9400.
Global Report, Canadian Red Cross Society, 95 Wellesley St. E,,
Toronto, ON, M4Y 1E6.
Small World Kit, Pueblito, #304, 720 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON
M5S 2T9, (416) 963-8846.
Make a World of Difference, 1989, The Office of Global Education,
PO Box 37844, Cincinnati, OH 45222-0844