Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

Recently, one of the elementary schools that I visit every two months has been making unusual requests. It started with a grade 5 culture lesson (they wanted to know about Canadian culture, and what differences there are between it and Japanese culture). As an aside, I posted a question in regards to that, and was very pleased with some of the suggestions I received -- the lesson went really well thanks to some of you.

Anyway, it seems they are anxious to have me teach more than just English to the grade 5 class at that school. I will be returning there soon, and they've requested that I lecture the students about "the frequent occurence of terrorism after 9/11" and the reactions of Canadians to the Iraq war. Also, to point out the obvious -- it's a rather heavy topic for a grade 5 class, and pretty much anything/everything I say will have to be translated into Japanese first anyway.

Well, I hate to disappoint them, as I cannot think of any major terrorist actions carried out in North American after 9/11.... And I really am not qualified to speak about the reactions of Canadians to the Iraq war, since I haven't lived in Canada since well before the war, and don't make it a point to read daily Canadian newspapers or watch the CBC news, etc...

So, we've come to a common understanding -- and the "middle ground" topic that I will be teaching is "World Peace." How's that for BROAD?

Well, once again, I would like to solicit people here for any suggestions they might offer on how I can make a lesson on "world peace" entertaining to a class (gymnasium） full of about 80 5th graders. I would like to keep the "lecture" portion to a minimum -- maybe show a few pictures off the net or something -- and a map or two... But any ideas on games or activities to tie into such a topic would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

JD

[SHO]

Well now, an interesting topic indeed. I think first you should go through the motions of war. Perhaps talk about some reasons for war on a smaller scale. Maybe talk about why children fight about certain things, and move on from there. Maybe you can get some of the kids to do some sort of skit, demonstrating the idiocy of small scale war, like how they fight about something really stupid, and maybe lead that into large scale war, like thousands of people fighting for something stupid. Or if you can't get the kids involved, maybe you can simply demonstrate something like that with the use of some faculty. Children seem to know right from wrong much better than adults will ever know, in school or not in school, in Japan, in Canada, in the UK, in the USA, all across the world�it doesn�t matter, they can see right from wrong with an �ignorant� eye. And as they say: �Ignorance is bliss.� And it most definitely is. Children know when they are being bullied, and children know when they are the actual �bullies�. But because they are children, they won�t speak up, because they won't know until later. But that�s a different topic altogether. The topic of �World Peace� is a very sensitive topic, with lots of politics and carefully chosen words being said by politicians, and those things I can�t help you with. Politics are politics, if you are a teacher, or not, that�s the way it goes. I personally believe in truth. Speak it, and great things will come�But, you know�.some things in politics can be better off unsaid, so use your discretion.
But I think that a great activity dealing with children for a topic of �world peace� would be a game that is the opposite of the game of �risk�. Or even the opposite of the game of �Monopoly�. "To play to succeed, without trying to destroy." and you can quote "SHO" on that one Probably not in a gymnasium in front of 80 children plus the adults, but on a smaller scale I think it would work great. Let me know how it turns out.

Peace and Harmony

SHO

[TokyoLiz]

Hey, I went to the source, and they have a lesson plan -

http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/guides/looking/lesson13.html

which could be done visually with virtually no language for the first part, and would require basic Japanese skills to communicate the ideas to the students, and then the kids responding in Japanese as follow-up.

There are lots of social studies materials and lesson plans out there on the web. See

http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/cecsst113.html

which would require some translation.

Hey, here's something that's relevant anywhere at any age, and it boasts Canadian content, too -

http://www.ucalgary.ca/resolve/violenceprevention/English/reviewprog/bullyprogs.htm

Here's some more Canadian content which I learned about on my last trip home to BC -

http://www.videa.ca/curric/index.php

[JimDunlop2]

Great stuff, Sho & TokyoLiz. I like it. Anyone else have any feedback? My class is on Thursday morning (Japan local time)... so it isn't too late yet.

Thank you!