International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November

In 1999 the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November  as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize on that day activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem. 

Two years before, in 1997 "How come, how long" song was written, produced and performed by Babyface as a duet with American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, who also co-wrote the song. The lyrics deal with domestic violence and is inspired by  Nicole Brown Simpson's  case. The music video for this song, directed by F. Gary Gray, shows several people in the same building ignoring the shouts and screams and multiple fights between a married couple, ending with a twist, showing that the woman killed her abusive husband, ending with her being arrested. This video received a nomination for Best R&B Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. 

Unfortunately, twenty years later, one in three women and girls experience violence in their lifetime. It happens in every country and every society. It happens at home, in schools, on the streets, at work and  on the internet. 

What can teachers do? My proposal  to collaborate to stop the cycle of violence against girls and women is based on this beautiful song and the high-quality video story F. Gary Gray directed:

You will need to download the handout for your students  and the lyrics of the song.  

(The handout above includes a writing task which you may choose to collect from students for correction  after the classroom session is over)

The first step to ending violence is to break the silence. I hope this meaningful song will help all of us to take this first step. 

International Day for the elimination of violence against women November 25th 2016

Even though decades of mobilizing by civil society and women’s movements have put ending gender-based violence high on national and international agendas, not enough is done to prevent violence as we still witness  too many cases of domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of violence. From these lines I would like to suggest some activities and lesson plans which can help us to arise awareness on the topic in our classrooms. 

The first classroom proposal  I would like to suggest is based on an empowerment song by Katy Perry called "Roar": 

You can find some activities I have developed to work on this song here. The lyrics of the song can be downloaded from this link.

My second proposal is based on the huge impact celebrities have on our students. Therefore,  we can choose some celebrities that have taken a stand and support the cause to end violence against women. You can ask them to read this handout in pairs and vote for their favourite. Then, in groups of four they will have to reach an agreement and later report to the rest of the students giving reasons for their choice. 

If you like quotations, you can make students read  the ones here , which were said by famous people belonging to different fields in life. Ask them to work in pairs and print their favourite one  on a sticky note. You can find an easy tutorial that describes how to print onto sticky notes directly from your computer. Students can then leave inspiring quotes either created by them or said by a celebrity they admire  around the school. 

If you wish to develop a deeper approach on the topic, this lesson plan  from Amnesty  International is a very good option since it offers a range of activities for use in different curriculum areas  for 11-18 year old students. 

I hope that our classroom practice on November 25th can  contribute  to a faster solution to the  social scourge of violence against women. 

MARCH 8th 2016: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

The 2016 theme for International Women’s Day is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”.

The United Nations observance on 8 March will reflect on how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, building momentum for the effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals. It will equally focus on new commitments under UN Women’s Step It Up initiative, and other existing commitments on gender equality,  women’s empowerment and women’s human rights.

How can we step it up? In my view, there are very simple and effective ways in which we can help our teenagers to build the emotional skills for healthy relationships based on equality, respect and trust. Allow me to contribute by sharing with you a  simple lesson plan that you can carry out based on The Hunger Games. 

I hope that by incorporating activities that foster  classroom discussion on the topic, you will succeed at  raising students' awareness of the fact that everyone has a role to play to make gender equality a true reality by 2030.

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 10 DECEMBER 2015

Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Many years have passed and unfortunately there is still a long way ahead to guarantee the fundamental freedoms and protect the human rights of all. However, it also has to be said that  there are many organisms and individuals who are working hard to collaborate to protect human rights. Today I would like to write about one of these individuals. Her name is  Benedetta Berti.  She  is  a foreign policy and security researcher, analyst, consultant, author and lecturer. Her work focuses on human security and internal conflicts, as well as on post-conflict stabilization/consolidation (specifically integration of armed groups, democracy/governance and crisis management and prevention).

Today I would like to share one of her video lessons  to start analyzing the complexity of this issue with students. In less than five minutes, Benedetta offers an accurate insight into the limits of the current mechanisms that aim at protecting human rights. She also highlights the need to  update the existing mechanisms if we want to preserve human rights  in the current digital world we live in. 

Therefore, I reckon it would be worthwhile spending five minutes on viewing the video above with students and I suggest  fostering  students'  discussion after viewing it. I hope you will find this lesson plan useful.  

My second proposal for classroom use  is based on  "Blowing in the wind" by Bob Dylan. Composed in 1963, its message is very much alive in 2015. The song includes a string  of provoking questions to make us aware of the fact that the largest cause of human rights violations is mental disconnection  from the reality that affects others: "how many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see?" 

You can find a simple activity to carry out while students listen to the song here.

Finally, I would like to suggest some other sources that include plenty of resources for classroom use: 

United Nations 

Youth for Human Rights International 

Oxfam International

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. November 25 2015

Prevention is the 2015 theme  of the International Day for the Elimination of violence against women  on 25 November and of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign’s 16 days call for action. You can see more at: www.unwomen.org. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women invites you to "Orange the world: end violence against women and girls".  We have sixteen days (since November 25th till December 10th) to collaborate by using the toolkit and sharing our photos, messages and videos showing how we can  orange our world at facebook.com using #orangetheworld.

I would  also like to tell you about  www.plan-uk.org,  a webpage with plenty of resources  that you can use to raise students' awareness of the need to fight for a world in which girls and women can live safe from violence, go to school without fear, marry who they want and have their voices heard.

As I  focus my councelling in school contexts and as most of my readers work in school contexts too, I have chosen a resource that fosters reflection on  how violence  against girls can take place  in or around schools. You can find it here. 

The following video can serve as a starting point:

My humble contribution to this campaign of prevention outlined above can very well include a song because I cannot agree more with Hans Christian Andersen when he said that  "where words fail, music speaks".  On this occasion, my choice is "Try", by American singer Colbie Caillat. I consider this is an empowering  song because I believe that the best prevention starts by making young girls understand that they do not have to be someone else in order to make others happy. The lyrics convey this message very effectively. I hope your students will enjoy the song as much as I do. If you wish, you can carry out  an activity on it. 

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.

International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed on November 25th because of a horrific historical event. On this day in 1960, three sisters were brutally killed in the Dominican Republic. The Mirabal sisters were political activists. They campaigned against Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship. Their brutal execution triggered the anti-Trujillo movement and within a year the Trujillo dicatorship came to an end. The sisters were referred to as the "Unforgettable Butterflies" and they have become a symbol against victimization of women. 

To raise awareness and trigger action to end the global scourge of violence against women and girls, the UN proposes 16 Days of Activism against gender Violence. Enter the UN website and choose among the many proposals the ones you find the most suitable for your students. 

A good way of starting could be this quiz to test your students' knowledge on this issue.

"In the words of"  is also a very interesting reading proposal because it features first-person articles written by celebrities, well-known personalities and women's wights activists. 

Last but not least, I reckon that  boys  could benefit from knowing about the heforshe campaign that was born to underline the role of  so many men who in recent years have started to stand up in addressing inequalities and discrimination faced by women.  Emma Watson's speech at the  UN Headquarters can be an excellent resource  to raise awareness of the need for boys and men's collaboration to fight gender inequality:

You can find the script of her speech here.

Finally, if you want a ready-to-use lesson plan that helps you to work on language while developing this topic, do not miss the proposal taken  from 
a great website with many lesson plans.  I have  downloaded it for you  so you can access it from here.

I hope that the ideas I have laid out above enable all of  us  to make our students  reflect upon the causes and consequences of gender inequality and, above all, teach them to respect the value of gender equality so that they are able to know a different reality in a near future.

SAFETY ON THE INTERNET

Cyberbullying, sexting, grooming are  starting to get into our dictionaries because unfortunately traditional bullying has evolved into a new way of humiliating  or harassing kids and teenagers. Cyberbullying means that someone  may be harassed  by someone else hiding behind his or her cell phone or computer screen.  I reckon that our role as teachers must include setting out clear standards of behaviour when they use the Internet, social networking sites and mobile phones. 

An example of a classroom practice that can help to  make our students aware of the dangers of the net is this sequence by Pilar Torres, a Secondary English teacher from Angel de Saavedra High School in Córdoba.  In this project, students listen, speak and write in English about computers, social networks and internet safety. Regarding language, they will learn the vocabulary related to the topics mentioned before and they will be provided with  a very meaningful context to use the modal verb "should" to give advice  to their peers.

The final outcome of the project is a digital poster that includes advice on internet safety and a very useful rubric to assess both the format and the content  in the poster is suggested by Pilar.

Some other related resources may be:

Video on internet safety

Internet safety quiz

Digizen website

Digital citizenship or how to use technologies in a responsible and safe way

Our students are very familiar with the use of technologies but they need a bit of help from parents and educators on how to become responsible digital citizens. That is why today I would like to recommend a website which shares very good advice and resources on issues such as social networking and cyberbullying  and how these affect their own and other people's online experiences and behaviours.   Enter here to see how many practical proposals for the classroom you can find. 

There are plenty of resources  that will be helpful for classroom purposes but I would like to remark on the video proposal you can use to deal with the complex issue of cyberbullying.  Character interviews as well as question worksheets are provided here . 

ENJOY A MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2013

                                                               

                                                                    UN Women

UN Women is the  new United Nations agency whose mission is to empower women and girls around the world. This year, International Women's Day will focus on ending violence against women, which is a top priority for UN Women. They believe in the power of music to change the world and so does Beth Blatt, who   wrote the lyrics, inspired by the incredible stories of women UN Women have helped. She  asked Graham Lyle ("What's Love Got To Do With It," etc.) to write the music, and he partnered with Somalian-British singer-songwriter Fahan Hassan.         

One Woman was the grand finale of the UN Women  launch ceremony on International Women's Day, 2010

Three years later, "One Woman" is ready. On March 8th -- International Women's Day -- they will release the song which  is aimed at  touching  the hearts of people everywhere. 25 internationally-acclaimed artists have taken part in the recording of the song. 

They sing for these women:

• Cathy Eatock is an aboriginal woman and survivor of child sexual assault who pressed charges against her assailant despite resistance from her own community.
• Mayerlis Angarita, a survivor of the armed conflict in Colombia, is using the power of words and the recovery of collective memory as a healing mechanism for the ravages of conflict and as a tool to raise awareness of women's rights.
• After being attacked with a knife by in-laws, Shehnaz Bano filed a case under India's Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act -- a move that allowed her to escape the spiral of dowry-related abuse and likely saved her life.

You can read about these courageous women if you enter the  (s)heroes  page  at the top of the screen (just below the title "One woman")  and you can watch some video clips with the artists' views on women's  rights by clicking on the   artists page. 

Apart from enjoying the song you can check how much  you know about   some facts on violence against women by taking the SAY NO QUIZ .  (What's more, every point you score counts towards the Say NO action counter.). 

Therefore, why not buy a song, take a quiz or donate  a tweet  if these simple 

actions can help improve women's lives all around the world?

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES WHEN CHOOSING A CAREER

Today I have decided to write a post on an issue that worries us both as parents and as educators since many of us have had to give guidance to our sons/daughters/students on how to choose a career path.   In spite of the severe economic crisis we are going through, I reckon we should encourage our youth to take ownership of their lives, choose something they like, master it and then make a living by doing what they love most.

Therefore, to help young people make the correct choices perhaps we could start by asking them: What would you do if money were no object? This is a question British philosopher and writer Alan Watts (1915-1973) asked himself and I would say he gave a truly appropriate answer   in an amazing lecture from his last years.

I believe his speech could be the starting point for a very interesting debate in our Citizenship/ Philosophy/ Tutorials classes.  

The  following video  summarizes the ideas of his lecture quite accurately: