I have taught human rights several times for my social studies classes, and now I will present something to my ESL students. I will pick and choose from my past lessons and apply them to what writing lessons we had learned from our completed textbook Great Writing 1.
My past lessons:
This is a nice introduction to the story of human rights, with an example of China's crackdown on human rights lawyers in 2014, a well as Taiwan's treatment of SE Asian migrant workers. (September 2015)
This lesson is about Identity and Otherness and its relation to human rights using readings about acid attacks on women and the first Muslim mayor of London Sadiq Khan. (July 2016). I'll never forget this lesson because I had them draw identity maps and I was honored with the privilege that in almost every class, 1-2 students disclosed their sexual orientation to me, some even before me telling their parents.
This lesson is a little bit more difficult, having the students discuss with a partner Needs vs Wants. There is a list of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights here with some Mandarin translation. (August 2015)
Introduction: I'll introduce the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights with some of my previous material and corresponding booklets. (Class Handout) Activities:
1. Why is answering what are HR so
difficult for people?
Human Rights: How we instinctively
expect to be treated equally. They apply to everyone and so are universal. The
UN has recognized _______ HR.
Cyrus the Great: Cyrus’ cylinder
announced all ________were free and freedom of_______. His ideas spread to
India, Greece and Rome. The Romans adopted this into their “___________”. This
later influenced England’s Magna Carta.
1776- British rebels formed a new
country and announced “All men created_________” (The US Constitution)
French Revolution: Natural Law
becomes “__________________”
1915: ____________ fights the British
Empire in India and said, “All people, not just Europeans have human rights
WW1 + WW2+ ______ million people
died.
___________ : The UN (United Nations)
formed to reaffirm faith in HR and dignity of all people. The UN’s Universal
Declaration of HR was helped formed by the leadership of_______________.
Problems: There is the right to food
and shelter, so do 1 in 5 children die of hunger? Or 27 million enslaved? The
force of law to enforce these rights are___________.
Who will make words on paper reality?
The examples of : Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.MandelaGandhi
“Where, after all, do
universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so
small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world
of the _______ person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he
attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where
every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal
dignity without___________. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have
little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close
to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” – Eleanor
Roosevelt
