Local Works Create Global Awareness
Members of the Halton ETFO local have helped develop a curriculum resource that teaches students about human rights in Afghanistan and here at home.
The project began when members of Canadians in Support of Afghan Women (CSAW) asked the Halton Status of Women and Human Rights committees to help adapt an Alberta curriculum unit called Understanding Human Rights in Afghanistan – Canadian Students as Global Citizens. After much discussion and editing, the unit now contains activities and curriculum expectations that meet Ontario standards.
The resource consists of a teacher resource booklet with many student activities, background information, activity cards, additional resources, and a PowerPoint presentation.
To test the unit, members of CSAW and four Halton teachers delivered a half-day workshop to 25 Halton teachers The workshop generated much discussion as participants became aware of the losses the Afghans have suffered. Teachers then used the resource in their classrooms with students in grades 4 to 8.
The PowerPoint presentation displays powerful pictures of barren landscapes, destroyed buildings, and the citizens’ desperate need for help to introduce such concepts as the human rights of children, refugees, landmines, peace- keeping, and global citizenship.
One of the hands-on activities asks the students to imagine that they have only 20 minutes to pack a backpack with the essentials needed to walk 300 kilometres to safety – a reality in Afghanistan. Novel-study activities include selected chapters from The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey, and MudCity by Deborah Ellis.
After hearing how girls and women lost their rights, and after experiencing wearing a burqa, grade 4 students demonstrated their compassion in a desire to do something to help. One grade 8 girl emotionally explained to her class that she is the last person to eat in her family, and only after she has cooked the meals. She also revealed that she is intended for an arranged marriage. Her teachers and classmates had previously had no idea of the kind of life she led here in Canada.
Another powerful activity involves fictitious characters whose lives are described on three cards, representing the periods before the Taliban took power, during Taliban rule, and today. Students learned that many people who had once enjoyed a good life are today struggling to survive.
When grade 7 students took part in this activity, a few received only two cards. One student bluntly asked, “Where is my other card?” They soon understood that the missing card represented a life cut short. Little further explanation was needed.
The success of our project with teachers and in the classroom indicated that we were indeed creating awareness among students and starting to turn them into global citizens. Among other things, students learned that their own human rights, unless protected, can be easily violated. They expressed interest in holding a fundraiser to send money to the children of Afghanistan or to help pay an Afghan teacher’s yearly salary.
