GO!EN CAMPAIGN | TEACHING
The most important point to remember when teaching your students about
underprivileged youths overseas is to make it FUN, not depressing.
There are a number of ways to do this:
- Surprise: make your students think of something from a new
perspective
- Activity: choose exercises which encourage free thinking, and
"active English"
- Involvement: encourage the students to feel involved with the
people they are trying to help
Visit the Waria Valley Children's
Project site for useful resources such as maps and
photos.
Here are some lesson ideas which you can adapt to your teaching
situation. Some of these ideas could be used as warm-up exercises,
some could become mini-projects. We leave it open to you regarding how
you make this work.
Comparative projects
Ask students to answer questions such as "how much pocket money do you
get each week?" how much money do you get at New Year?" "how many pen
and pencils do you have with you now?". Show how far this money could
go in the target country (click here for figures).
Ask students to write lists of all the things they use in their lives.
Have a competition to see who can make the longest lists. Encourage
students to add concepts to their list as well as physical things i.e.
"books, pens, friends, electricity, teachers". To vary this theme ask
the students to write lists in different categories i.e. "make a list
of all the things you use at home".
Ask each student to offer one thing from the list above and make a
class list. Now ask students to arrange this class list into "needs"
and wants" (adapted from Team Taught Pizza). Next ask them to imagine
they have nothing ("imagine an earthquake has just occurred"), and ask
them to prioritise the top ten most important things. A variation:
Show the students a photograph or video of a child in the target
country, and explain that they have very little. Ask them to choose
the 5 most important things from the list.
Ask your students to write a -money diary- to find out how much it
costs to support them each week. Compare this with how much it would
cost to support a child in the target country.
Ask students to write letters to children in target countries. Click
here for more info.
Introduce a theme
Make some picture and text posters about the target country and paste
them up around the room. Give each student a list of questions which
they must answer about the target country and it is people.
Alternatively make this a -reporter/writer- game where students work
in groups and the -reporter(s)- must verbally relay the information to
the -writer(s)- who cannot leave their seats.
Role Play
Show students photographs of children from various countries. Ask them
to imagine they are that child, and to write a diary. For able
students leave it open, for less able students provide a list of
questions what do you eat every day, what are you scared of?, what is
your dream?. Make sure that students write in the first person.
Research projects
Get students to research a country using the internet, encyclopedias
and by asking other teachers. Ask them to find out specific
statistics, or leave it open ended. Students could give oral
presentations, make posters or participate in interviews about their
country.
Exchange projects
Working individually, or in groups, students make posters about Japan
to send to children in the target countries. Alternatively each
student could make one page about themselves (as picture oriented as
possible so low-level English speakers can understand the message) for
a class scrapbook which can be sent to the target country.
Video Projects
Encourage students to make an English video, introducing their school
and area to the students overseas. This can be sent to the target
countries.
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