International Day for Human Rights on December 10th

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.  The website displays  lots of resources for the classroom in different languages but today I would like to recommend a  human rights cross-curricular teaching resource for secondary schools. It contains eight lesson plans  which  can be used separately or as part of  a series of carefully planned sessions  across the year. The accompanying CD-ROM contains all the resources together with short film clips and accompanying resources, which you can also order by filling in this form .

Right below you can find a short summary of each of the lesson plans and the links to access them:  

•  Lesson 1 - Understanding human rights: Introducing human rights with images, activities and a short film
• Lesson 2 - Human rights in the UK: Making the Human Rights Act come alive with real-life cases and a presentation activity
• Lesson 3 - Dying to give birth: Using key mathematical skills to assess maternal mortality in different countries
• Lesson 4 - Mi dia, y los derechos: Comparing the daily lives of students in the UK with young Spanish-speakers across the globe
• Lesson 5 - Freedom of expression: Exploring the right to free speech through film and text using key communication and critical thinking skills
• Lesson 6 - Refugees and asylum: Dramatic role play activity using a tru story to understand and empathise with asylum seekers and refugees
• Lesson 7 - The death penalty: Discussion and debate about the death penalty using global facts and a real case
• Lesson 8 - Taking action: A short film case study giving real-life context for developing campaigning skills.

The lessons plans provide you with power point presentations, resource sheets, video clips and teachers' notes. All of these resources can be downloaded for free and  you can also order the whole pack of lesson plans  by filling in this form.

Plenty of interesting topics  for you classroom in English, French and Spanish  may be found under the title "Thematic issues" on the United Nations website. Do not miss the special section they have prepared for  International Human Rights Day on December 10th

Last but not least, if you wish to work on language thoroughly, you will have a great opportunity to do so by downloading the lesson plan ESL Holiday Lessons offers here.