Grades K-3
Grades 4-6
Grades 7-9
Grades 10-12
Language Arts
What's in a Name? The names of students in our classrooms are increasingly varied, due in part to immigration but also to parents' search for that special or unique name for their child. Explore with students the naming traditions in various cultures, invite children to investigate the names in their family's history, and research their own names in a variety of languages (e.g., Mary, Marie, Maria; John, Ian, Yannis). An extension activity would be for students to design a unique way to display their names.
Global Cinderella: The study of the many cultural variations of a familiar story like Cinderella provides an opportunity to introduce a global perspective. Read aloud Shirley Climo's The Egyptian Cinderella and The Korean Cinderella (HarperCollins Publishers), both of which tell the Cinderella story but in different cultural settings. Discuss the differences, and then challenge students to rewrite or retell another familiar fairy tale, setting it in a different culture. (Reference: Cinderella by Judy Sierra, Oryx Press, 1992.)
Mapping Our Connections: Have students apply push pins to a world map indicating the following locations: 1) where they live; 2) a country in their family's background; 3) a place they or someone they know has visited; 4)the countries where their clothes were made (check the labels);5) the countries where various objects located in the classroom were made; and 6) the countries where foods used in a favourite meal were grown. Use coloured string to link your home location with all the others, creating a visual display of the class's world connections.
Games Around the World: Discuss the national origins of various games that students play during the course of the year, whether on the playground (hopscotch from Britain), in Math class (magic squares from Ancient Greece, or Tangrams from China), in Physical Education (follow the leader from New Zealand) or as part of a cultural celebration (piá¤áata from Mexico and Spain). Have students interview parents or grandparents to learn about the games they played when they were children, and invite them to share these with the class.
Dehydration: In many parts of the world, contaminated water sources result in disease that can lead to dehydration. The following activities demonstrate dehydration: a) Place slices of fresh fruit or potato on a sheet of paper and trace their shape. Thread string through the pieces and hang them up to dry for a day or two. Retrace the shapes and compare to the original. Put the slices into water and observe what happens. b) Place two potted plants side by side, but water only one of them. After a few days, observe the results. c) In many cases, dehydration in humans can be prevented with a simple solution of 20 g sugar, 3.5 g salt and 2.5 g baking soda mixed in one litre of clean water. Prepare and taste the solution. Source:Unicef)
Basic Needs: Use a song such as Charlotte Diamond's Each of Us is a Flower(from 10-Carrot Diamond, Hug Bug Records, Vancouver, 1985) to introduce the theme that children everywhere share basic needs for sun, water, food and air. Experiment to observe and compare the consequences of light, water or nutrient deprivation in newly sprouted plants and mature plants. Through stories and pictures that illustrate the lives of children in developing countries, have students explore the challenges people face in meeting their basic needs.
Current Events: To promote awareness of development issues, research current events stories from around the world that are connected to issues such as education, health, human rights, poverty, child labour, agriculture, water and nutrition. Have each student present two examples (from different media) and ask the class which issues their stories are about and where the countries are located on the map. Stick labels on each country cited.
Comparing Maps: Maps are essential tools in helping students develop an understanding of the world, but they may also determine or limit how we see the world. Make available a variety of different types of maps: political, geographic, demographic, and so on. Discuss what information each includes or omits. Compare a world map using the standard Mercator projection with one using Peters' projection, which more accurately reflects the sizes of land masses. Which parts of the world are most distorted by the Mercator projection? Discuss how this might affect our view of these regions. Similarly, turn a world map upside down and discuss how this changes the way we see the world.
International Quilts: Quilting is an international craft that can be used to teach history, language and mathematics in addition to the more obvious art and craft skills. While pieced and appliquáád quilts are most common in North America, Japanese Origami quilters use paper-folding techniques with fabric, and Hawaiian quilts are famous for their intricate appliquáá designs. Have students research a variety of techniques and designs and complete a small quilting project such as a potholder or hot mat using a technique of their selection. Or have each student make a single square and combine the squares to make a class quilt.
Blowin' in the Wind: Monitor daily weather patterns locally and in three overseas locations for at least a couple of weeks. In particular, note the temperatures, precipitation, and wind speed and direction in each location. Research the major sources of airborne pollution in each area and discuss how weather might influence the deposition and concentration of these pollutants.
Letters Around the World: Ask each student to write a letter to an imaginary peer in a developing country of their choice. Distribute the letters randomly in theclass. Students research what life is like in the developing country mentioned in the letter they receive. Then, in the role of a student from that country, they write back to the sender describing their life and comparing it to that of their peer.
Development Workers: Have students interview people who are or have been involved in development work. How did they choose this work? What benefits resulted from the projects they have worked on? What visions or plans do they have for future work? What positive solutions do they see? What personal benefits do they experience? Have each student report on the interview to the class and discuss what makes people choose to take action to help others. What personal characteristics do they have or share in common?
Finding Shelter: The following investigation can raise awareness of the problems faced by the poor and homeless in trying to shelter themselves in various climates. Working in groups, students build a shelter around a boiled egg. Shelters can be made from cardboard, sheets of tin, plastic, paper, etc., and the egg may be wrapped in clothing inside the shelter. Using an internal thermometer, record the temperature of the egg. Then test the shelters under different environmental conditions by putting them in a refrigerator, a freezer, an oven, spraying them with water, and so on. For each treatment, record the temperature of the air and the inside of the egg, and note any changes in the condition of the shelter. Have students present their findings to the class and make conclusions about which structure provides the best shelter and stands up best in each environment tested. This can lead to researching shelters around the world and designing an inexpensive shelter suited to a specific climate.
Water-carriers' Lunch: While we take for granted kitchen conveniences such as running water and stoves, many children and women in developing countries spend much of the day collecting water and gathering twigs for cooking. Have students develop, prepare, eat and clean up after a meal that: 1) is made without any heat source; 2) costs no more than $2 per person; 3) is prepared and eaten with only one wash basin, one cutting board, two knives, two forks, two spoons, one pot and one mixing bowl; and 4) uses water obtained at least 200 metres from the classroom. Students must decide which of their containers will be sacrificed for carrying water and washing the dishes. Afterwards, discuss the impact these restrictions would have on daily life. What are some ways to reduce the time used to gather wood and water or to save money on food?
Staple Foods: Staples are foods that are eaten regularly and supply a major portion of one's energy needs, such as rice, maize, wheat, roots and tubers, millet and sorghum. Have students investigate where these foods originated,how they are prepared in those regions, and what other foods they can be combined with to meet daily nutrient requirements. Have students prepare a dish that combines a staple food with another food (such as corn and beans) to provide a complete protein. Reference: Staple Foods and Food Forms Canadian Home Economics Association, Ottawa)
Focus on Homelessness: To focus attention on the worldwide problem of homelessness, organize an awareness week in your school. Students could volunteer for local nonprofit organizations such as food banks. Invite guests from these organizations to speak on homelessness and poverty. Spend a day at a Habitat for Humanity work site helping to build a house or to make lunch for the workers. Collect food items from other students for food hampers to go to a local food bank. Address the topic of homelessness in works of art and set up a gallery to display them to students and parents.
Defining Development: Many have argued that the whole idea of `development' has outworn whatever usefulness it once had. Rather than assuming the concept, pose questions for students to think about and discuss as they research and synthesize what they learn about developing countries. The exercise is one of definition. What really constitutes development? Development from whose perspective? Development in which direction? Issues of Importance: Have students rank a set of nine teacher-generated elements of development (e.g., modern farm equipment, the reduction of birth rates, access to health care, education for women) according to what they consider to be their order of importance. Then give them the option of generating and ranking their own set of elements. Ask them to examine either set from the perspective of the developing nation. It is vital that they justify and support their choices. (A helpful technique is diamond ranking, which allows more than one element to be given the same rank. It is described in Michael Haigh's Across The Developing World and Graham Pike and David Selby's Global Teacher, Global Learner.)
Development Jeopardy: Modelled after the television game show, this activity is an entertaining way to engage less motivated students in international development issues and to dish out statistics of international significance. The answers are statements about international development and the economic realities faced by the countries of the South. Players have to provide the corresponding questions. Here's one answer: In 1992, countries in the South spent 2 1/2 times more on debt service charges than the amount of this they received from the North. The question: What is development assistance (or foreign aid)? A good version of this game appears in the Canadian Labour Congress' Toolbox for Global Solidarity.
An NGO Fundraiser: To fulfill the strong preference of senior students for social action over theory, have groups research the development NGO of their choice, seeking such details as the projects undertaken, the percentage of revenue spent on administration, and the NGO's promotion style (e.g. do promotions rely on development pornography such as images of starving, victimized people?). Based on their findings, the groups then promote the work of their NGO at a school assembly. Each student in the audience has one hypothetical dollar to donate and can decide to donate it all to one NGO or to split it among several. The NGO that receives the most in donations benefits from a schoolwide fundraiser organized by the senior class.
David Ferns is principal of New Germany Elementary School in New Germany, Nova Scotia, and a regional editor of Green Teacher. Brenda Frisk teaches at Stratford Academic High School in Edmonton, Alberta. Alanda Greene teaches grades 6-7 at Crawford Bay School on Kootenay Lake, British Columbia. Joanne Harris teaches grade 8 at Centennial Middle School in Georgetown, Ontario. Sharon Strong teaches grade 2 at C.W. Sears School in Tofield, Alberta.