EUMIND HUMAN RIGHTS PART 7
introductory lesson and HR-list
HUMAN RIGHTS - INTRODUCTORY LESSON
It is, of course, not obligatory to teach the following lesson. But it's a good introduction to human rights in general and it shows how you can deal with this topic in class - focusing on different aspects as well as using different teaching methods and materials.
Step 1: Free Association - Human Rights.
The teacher writes 'Human Rights' on the blackboard. The pupils 'associate freely' what comes up to their minds.
Step 2: Webquest.
The pupils get 7 questions concerning human rights. They have to roam the internet for finding the answers. Pupils can work individually or in pairs. If computers and/or internet are not available, this activity might be done using an outprint of one or two articles concerning human rights. After the webquest the answers will be discussed by the whole group.
The questions are:
-Human rights are considered as being 'universal' and 'egalitarian'. Explain.
-What is the link between human rights and the 'holocaust'?
-What does 'Enlightment' mean and what is the link with human rights?
-What is the link between human rights and the French revolution?
-What 19th century philosophers have critized human rights? And what is their main point of criticism?
-When was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted? And of how many articles does this declaration consist?
-This 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' is not binding. What does this mean?
Step 3: Human Rights on youtube.
The pupils surf to youtube.com, they type in 'human rights' as key-word and they watch a short film/documentary ... about human rights (max. length: 10 minutes). Then they answer the following general questions - answers are handed in after this activity:
-What is the name of the film? Who is the author? What is the web-adress?
-Describe in not more that 5 lines what the short film is about?
-Give your own opion about this short film. Again: do not use more than 5 lines.
Step 4: Human Rights in the newspaper.
The pupils read the whole list of human rights. This list can be found on many places on the internet - a very good site is the website of the United Nations. Click here to visit this site and to take a look at the text. Then the teachers divides the class in groups of about 4 pupils. Every group gets one newspaper and roams the newpaper for articles IN WHICH A HUMAN RIGHT IS VIOLATED. They have to collect at least 5 articles. They cut it out of the newspaper, stick it on a piece of paper and write down which human right is violated and why. The collection of articles is handed in by each group by the end of the lesson.
Step 5: Case-study - 'Amal', a short Morrocon movie about the right to education.
Amal is a 12 year old girl who lives in the Morocco countryside. Serious and passionate pupil, her dream is to become a doctor. Watch this movie(the film can be found on youtube - with French subtitles) and then answer the following questions:
-With which human right could this short film be linked?
-Describe the first images of this film.
-Describe the point of view? From which perspective is this film told?
-Describe Amal's family and Amal's village.
-Where does this film take place? Describe the setting.
-What is the difference between Amal and her brother (being a pupil)?
-What kind of school do Amal and her brother go to?
-Why can't Amal go to school anymore? How does she react to this?
-Describe the end of the film? Is this a positive or a negative end?
-What does the candle-light symbolize?
-Do you think that Amal does the right thing? Why (not)?
-Personal opinion about this film?
It is, of course, not obligatory to teach the following lesson. But it's a good introduction to human rights in general and it shows how you can deal with this topic in class - focusing on different aspects as well as using different teaching methods and materials.
Step 1: Free Association - Human Rights.
The teacher writes 'Human Rights' on the blackboard. The pupils 'associate freely' what comes up to their minds.
Step 2: Webquest.
The pupils get 7 questions concerning human rights. They have to roam the internet for finding the answers. Pupils can work individually or in pairs. If computers and/or internet are not available, this activity might be done using an outprint of one or two articles concerning human rights. After the webquest the answers will be discussed by the whole group.
The questions are:
-Human rights are considered as being 'universal' and 'egalitarian'. Explain.
-What is the link between human rights and the 'holocaust'?
-What does 'Enlightment' mean and what is the link with human rights?
-What is the link between human rights and the French revolution?
-What 19th century philosophers have critized human rights? And what is their main point of criticism?
-When was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted? And of how many articles does this declaration consist?
-This 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' is not binding. What does this mean?
Step 3: Human Rights on youtube.
The pupils surf to youtube.com, they type in 'human rights' as key-word and they watch a short film/documentary ... about human rights (max. length: 10 minutes). Then they answer the following general questions - answers are handed in after this activity:
-What is the name of the film? Who is the author? What is the web-adress?
-Describe in not more that 5 lines what the short film is about?
-Give your own opion about this short film. Again: do not use more than 5 lines.
Step 4: Human Rights in the newspaper.
The pupils read the whole list of human rights. This list can be found on many places on the internet - a very good site is the website of the United Nations. Click here to visit this site and to take a look at the text. Then the teachers divides the class in groups of about 4 pupils. Every group gets one newspaper and roams the newpaper for articles IN WHICH A HUMAN RIGHT IS VIOLATED. They have to collect at least 5 articles. They cut it out of the newspaper, stick it on a piece of paper and write down which human right is violated and why. The collection of articles is handed in by each group by the end of the lesson.
Step 5: Case-study - 'Amal', a short Morrocon movie about the right to education.
Amal is a 12 year old girl who lives in the Morocco countryside. Serious and passionate pupil, her dream is to become a doctor. Watch this movie(the film can be found on youtube - with French subtitles) and then answer the following questions:
-With which human right could this short film be linked?
-Describe the first images of this film.
-Describe the point of view? From which perspective is this film told?
-Describe Amal's family and Amal's village.
-Where does this film take place? Describe the setting.
-What is the difference between Amal and her brother (being a pupil)?
-What kind of school do Amal and her brother go to?
-Why can't Amal go to school anymore? How does she react to this?
-Describe the end of the film? Is this a positive or a negative end?
-What does the candle-light symbolize?
-Do you think that Amal does the right thing? Why (not)?
-Personal opinion about this film?
Step 6: Case-study - 'Refugee Blues' (WH Auden).
REFUGEE BLUES (WH AUDEN)
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.
The consul banged the table and said,
"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?
Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.
Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die":
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.
Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.
Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.
Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.
Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.
How does it feel to be unwelcome in a foreign country? W.H. Auden (1907-1973) describes it in Refugee Blues, written in the Autumn of 1939 - a few months before the mass extermination of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals by Nazi Germany started. Read the poem again and answer the questions below:
-Explain the title of this poem?
-Describe the musical structure of this poem.
-Who is the 'we' in this poem? Describe what happens to this 'we'.
-What elements refer to the Second World War?
-Is this poem still up-to-date? Explain.
-Do you like this poem? Why (not)?
And, finally, watch the following YouTube-film below about Aziza Brahim. She was born in 1976 in the Sahrawi refugee camps, in the Tindouf region of Algeria where her mother had settled in late 1975, fleeing from the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. This song is another 'Refugee Blues'.
-Explain the title of this poem?
-Describe the musical structure of this poem.
-Who is the 'we' in this poem? Describe what happens to this 'we'.
-What elements refer to the Second World War?
-Is this poem still up-to-date? Explain.
-Do you like this poem? Why (not)?
And, finally, watch the following YouTube-film below about Aziza Brahim. She was born in 1976 in the Sahrawi refugee camps, in the Tindouf region of Algeria where her mother had settled in late 1975, fleeing from the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. This song is another 'Refugee Blues'.