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 (e.g. Canadian Foundation for World Development, 2441 Bayview
Ave., Toronto, ON, M2L 1A5, (416) 445-4740).
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