DOCUMENT RESUME ED 481 193 CS 510 913 Children of War. [Lesson Plan]. TITLE Discovery Communications, Inc., Bethesda, MD. INSTITUTION 2002-00-00 PUB DATE 11p.; Audio and video clips included in the web site version NOTE of this lesson plan are not available from ERIC. DiscoverySchool.com, Customer Service, P.O. Box 6027, AVAILABLE FROM Florence, KY 41022-6448. Tel: 877-889-9950 (Toll Free) . For full text: http://school.discovery.com/ teachers/. Classroom Guides Teacher (052) PUB TYPE EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Childrens Rights; Class Activities; *Diaries; English DESCRIPTORS Instruction; Language Arts; Lesson Plans; Literature Appreciation; Secondary Education; Vocabulary Development; *War; *Young Children ABSTRACT This lesson plan presents activities in which students read, analyze, and discuss excerpts from children's war diaries; and create a storyboard for a public service announcement on children's rights in wartime. It includes objectives, materials, procedures, extension activities, excerpts of children's war diaries, suggested readings, and web links. The lesson plan also contains a description of a video clip related to the lesson, comprehension questions related to the video clip, and answers to those comprehension questions. (RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Children of War 3 4 5 6 Pi ag; 6-8, 9-12 &rade Level PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS Subject Area language arts BEEN GRANTED BY Durricukue Fetus world history, sociology, psychology, media literacy TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 IDeration 2 weeks U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Off ice of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 0 This document has been reproduced as lObjectivea received from the person or organization originating it. Students will read, analyze, and discuss excerpts from er Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. children's war diaries; and create a storyboard for a public service announcement on children's rights in wartime. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. [ Materials A computer with Internet access, poster supplies, presentation software (optional) Procedure I Motivation: Write the following quote from Herbert Hoover on the board: "Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow, and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war." Herbert Hoover June 27, 1944 Hold a class discussion to bring students to the realization that when wars are fought in remote parts of the world, we often feel detached from the situation. For those who live in the midst of war, however, the experience is all too real. 1. Have students watch the following public service announcement (PSA) on children's rights in wartime. Then hold a class discussion using questions from part one of the question sheet. Children Have the Right to Protection in Times of War .0 28.8 kbps 56 kbps To watch this video, you need the RealPlayer plug-in. Download it now. SEST WPY MAKABLE 2 2. Have students read the excerpts from children's diaries of war. Divide Students into small groups and assign each group one of the three sets of excerpts. Each group may read aloud to each other or read silently. Then hold a class discussion on each set of excerpts using the questions from part 2 of the question sheet. Zlata's Diary World War II Diaries Diaries of Northern Ireland 3. Work with students to create a storyboard for their own PSA on children's rights during wartime using the steps for creating a storyboard. Closure Have students display and present their completed storyboards to the class. When all the storyboards have been presented, discuss which boards had a powerful message and why. Extensionj 1. Have students write a series of interview questions for one of the diary writers. A partner can respond to the questions from the perceived perspective of the author. 2. Encourage students to research the history of each conflict featured here to learn more about who was involved and locate each diary writer's home on a map of the world. Instruct students to use the Internet to identify landmarks near the child author's home. If a street map and address are available, have them find the street and house or apartment. They should describe how the neighborhood would have appeared at the time the diary was written. Belated Links UNICEF: Children in War United States Holocaust Memorial Museum A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust The Anne Frank House Anne Frank Online Suggested Reading I Opal : The Journal of an Understanding Heart (Opal Whitely, adapted by Jane Boulton, Crown, 1995.) emits' Our thanks to Ken Zelasko and Kelley Devine for their consultation. Ken is an English teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kelley is an English teacher in Rockville, Maryland. BEST COPY NARA LE 3 Children of War 4 5 6 3 Plag; Questions Part One: Questions for Children's Rights in Times of War After watching the UNICEF video, discuss the following questions: 1. What symbols of war are recognizable to everyone? Why is this so? 2. How are children and their communities affected by war? In what ways does it interfere with daily activities? What are the long-term effects? 3. How can children's rights be protected in times of war? 4. Who is the audience for this PSA? What effect would it have on that audience? Part Two: Questions for Diaries Discussion When students have read the excerpts, discuss the following questions: 1. Zlata calls war inhuman. If war is so inhuman, why can't rational people stop its proliferation? 2. "What if they called a war, and no one showed up?" 3. Select one of the children and describe what you think life was like for him or her during the war. What sacrifices did these children make? 4. Why do politicians enter war without realizing the effects it has on those who are not trained soldiers? 5. What effects do wars have on families? 6. What would you say if you could write to one of these children? 7. Choose two of the children and compare and contrast their experiences. 8. If Anne Frank were alive today, what do you think she would say to Zlata? 9. Do you agree with the statement that war is inevitable? 4 " " Children of War Pi Zlata's Diary Excerpts from Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo (Zlata Filipovic. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.) Sunday, Apri112, 1992 "I keep thinking about the march I joined today. It's bigger and stronger than war. That's why it will win. The people must be the ones to win, not the war, because war has nothing to do with humanity. War is something inhuman." Monday, June 29, 1992 "That's my life! The life of an innocent eleven-year-old schoolgirl!! A schoolgirl without school, without the fun and excitement of school. A child without games, without friends, without the sun, without birds, without nature, without fruit, without chocolate or sweets, with just a little powdered milk. In short, a child without a childhood. A wartime child. I now realize that I am really living through a war, I am witnessing an ugly, disgusting war. I and thousands of other children in this town that is being destroyed, that is crying, weeping, seeking help, but getting none. God, will this ever stop, will I ever be a schoolgirl again, will I ever enjoy my childhood again? I once heard that childhood is the most wonderful time of your life. And it is. I loved it, and now an ugly war is taking it all away from me." Monday, March 15, 1993 "There are no trees to blossom and no birds, because the war has destroyed them as well. There is no sound of birds twittering in springtime. There aren't even any pigeonsthe symbol of Sarajevo. No noisy children, no games. Even the children no longer seem like children. They've had their childhood taken from them, and without that they can't be children. It's as if Sarajevo is slowly dying, disappearing. Life is disappearing. So how can I feel spring, when spring is something that awakens life, and here there is no life, here everything seems to have died." 5 Thursday, November 19,. 1992 "I keep wanting to explain these stupid politics to myself, because it seems to me that politics caused this war, making it our everyday reality. War has crossed out the day and replaced it with horror, and now horrors are unfolding instead of days. It looks to me as though these politics mean Serbs, Croats and Muslims. But they are all people. They are all the same. They look like people, there's no difference. They all have arms, legs and heads, they walk and talk, but now there's 'something' that wants to make them different." Saturday, July 17, 1993 "Suddenly, unexpectedly, someone is using the ugly powers of war, which horrify me, to try to pull and drag me away from the shores of peace, from the happiness of wonderful friendships, playing and love. I feel like a swimmer who was made to enter the cold water, against her will. I feel shocked, sad, unhappy and frightened and I wonder where they are forcing me to go, I wonder why they have taken away my peaceful and lovely shores of my childhood. I used to rejoice at each new day, because each was beautiful in its own way. I used to rejoice at the sun, at playing, at songs. In short, I enjoyed my childhood. I had no need of a better one. I have less and less strength to keep swimming in these cold waters. So take me back to the shores of my childhood, where I was warm, happy and content, like all the children whose childhood and the right to enjoy it are now being destroyed." Monday, December 28, 1992 "...I look over at Mommy and Daddy. Somehow they look ... even sadder to me in the light of the oil lamp. ... God, what is this war doing to my parents? They don't look like my old Mommy and Daddy anymore. Will this ever stop? Will our suffering stop so that my parents can be what they used to becheerful, smiling, nice-looking?" Saturday, July 10, 1993 "I'm sitting in my room. Cici is with me. She's enjoying herself on the armchairsleeping. As for me, I'm reading through my letters. Letters are all I've got left of mv friends. I read them and they take me back to my friends." Monday, August 2, 1993 "Some people compare me with Anne Frank. That frightens me, Mimmy. I don't want to suffer her fate." World War ILI thanes Excerpts from Children in the Holocaust and World War HTheir Secret Diaries (Laurel Holliday. New York: Washington Square Press, 1995.) Janine Phillips - Poland - 10 years old - August 23, 1939 "Papa says that war is inevitable. I asked Papa why Hitler wants to attack us and Papa said because he's a greedy bully. ... Grandpa remembers many wars and he says that a war not only kills people but it also kills people's souls." Tamarah Lazerson - Lithuania - 13 years old - December 5, 1943 "I am weighed down by my enslavement and have no time or strength to write, to think, or even to read. I am mired in a morass, into which I sink as I daily labor from early morning to night with the slave gang. Around me is darkness. I thirst for light..." - Lithuania - 14 years old Yitskhok Rudashevski "We live in the ghetto as owners of white certificates. The mood of slaughter has not yet disappeared. What has been will soon be repeated. Meanwhile life is so hard. The owners of white certificates do not go out to work. You hear people shout, 'We ... wish, we also wish to eat!'... Police are beating, chasing people. The policemen are urging us on to go more quickly. The ... frightened people feel that they ought not to go. I sensed the craftiness of the exterminators." Macha Rolnikas Lithuania - 14 years old June, 1941 "New decrees have been posted in the town: all the Jewsadults and childrenmust wear insignias, a white piece of cloth, ten square centimeters, and in the middle the yellow letter 'J.' Is it possible that the invaders no longer regard us as human beings and brand us like cattle? One can not accept such meanness. But who dares to oppose them?" Sarah Fishkin Poland 17 years old - July 24, 1941 "There seems to be no future for the Jewish population." "For the Jew the light of day is covered with a thick veil: his road is overgrown with tall wild grasses. Every horizon upon which his eye rests is stained with the tears of lost children searching for their mothers in the dense woods. Convulsed with sobbing until their little souls expired, the youngsters are now lifeless, at eternal rest. Only the quivering trees know of their death and will later on bear witness about the sacrifice of these little ones." "No human heart can remain untouched and unpained by all of this. It is beyond human endurance to see so much trouble and so much suffering experienced. It is painful to see people tortured BEST COPY AVAIABLE by people until life is ended. Where is the human conscience, to demand truth, to cry out?" 7 Children of War ag;* 3456 Diaries of Northern Ireland Excerpts from Children of "The Troubles" Our Lives in the Crossfire of Northern Ireland. (Laurel Holliday. New York: Washington Square Press, 1997.) Glyn Chambers - Belfast - 17 years old Two Communities We live in this street, they live in that street, yet both communities live in Belfast. We follow this religion, they follow that religion, yet both communities believe in God. We vote for these parties, they vote for those parties, yet both communities recognize each other's mandate. We feel bound to one country, they feel bound to another country, yet both communities are bound to Northern Ireland. We think they are troublemakers, they think we are troublemakers, yet both communities have contributed to the Troubles. We claim they get too much, they claim we get too much, yet both communities wish to create a prosperous, equal society with opportunities for all. Two communities, but what are the differences? Gemma McHenry - Ballycastle, County Antrim "Being a child of the Troubles in Belfast was normal for me. I didn't know anything else. Just like children in the slums of cities all over the world who know no better, we knew there was a big world out there but this was our world. The love and security we had at home made up for all the madness going on around us." "I was brought up in a mixed area (Protestant and Catholic) and I had mixed friends and thought nothing of it. We were all innocent children. I would be asked by my Protestant friends to say the Hail Mary. To me it was the only difference between us. Sometimes I needed to say it to prove I was a Catholic!" "Those were happy days of innocence, but reality hit us with a bomb when a Protestant neighbour was shot by Republican paramilitaries for being a member of the Security Forces. And then a Catholic neighbour was shot for being a Catholic." "As a Catholic family it became too dangerous for us to continue living there." 8 Jeffi-ey Glenn - Dromore, County Down "That was the day (Bloody Friday, January 30, 1972) that brought home to me what 'terrorism' means because I felt terrorised. My mood was just total black despair. We seemed to be entering some sort of apocalyptic world where your worst nightmares ran for twenty-four hours a day. You couldn't go on a bus or a train for wondering if either it or the station would be blown up. You couldn't walk down a street where cars were parked for wondering if one of them contained a bomb. You couldn't leave your car on to be fixed because when you went back to collect it the workshop was probably now a hole in the ground. Every day some landmark that you loved or a favourite store was bombed or burnt." "I remember coming into Belfast one afternoon and finding the giant Co-Op store blazing from end to end. That was the final straw. I put my head in my hands and found tears running down my cheeks." 18 years old Natasha Ritchie Belfast Pain or Peace? Lying in bed you hear a bomb in the distance Close your eyes and forget, try to keep your innocence Watching the news, there's twelve more dead Maybe a sigh or a shake of your head. There's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can say You can't stop the pain, make the hurt go away. So you go out to your friends and play your games You're only young, you can't make it change You learn to ignore, pretend it never happened When you let it get to you that's when childhood ends. And now there's a cease-fire, now we have peace How long will it last? A few months? A few weeks? You don't know what to think, a whole new way of life You're just not sure, but the other way wasn't right. There's always been trouble, since before you were born People fighting, people killing, families forlorn Now there's a new way to live where nobody dies But should we believe it, or is it all just more lies? Will we have a new life where there's no need to grieve It's going to take time before I can believe. Co lm 0 'Doherty Derry, County Derry - 10 years old Riots! There's riots! There's riots! Oh what a shame, It's children like us who get all the blame, The banging of the bullets, The bumping of horns, Oh what a shame, The riots are on. The crying of children filled with gas, The ticking of bombs which mostly come last. The smell of petrol all over the ground Oh my goodness! My head's going round. The whizzing of stones flying through the air, This is one thing I just can't bear. Laragh Cullen Dungannon, County Tyrone 11 years old A Dream of Peace Peace in our country. A truce in our land, Harmony in our world, All war banned. I live in Dungannon, I've never known peace, I'm tired of the choppers, Soldiers and police. I'm tired of the sirens The town's like a cage, I wish there was peace, I'm eleven years of age. 1 0