Sometimes it’s challenging to make the issues of global poverty relevant to students in today’s classrooms. Okay, a lot of times it’s challenging.
And maybe the difficulty of teaching kids who read VOGUE and watch The Bachelor to care about their global brothers and sisters who can’t read and watch their children starve feels so unattainable that we educators choose to completely ignore the issues at school.
And this is not a path we should take in our classrooms as we shape the next generation.
Perhaps we can’t all inspire students to make and sell jewelry to provide clean water in Africa, but
we must always remember that eventual action begins with immediate awareness.
And the short video, with a discussion that you lead from it, could be a step in that initial direction fostering awareness.
To do this lesson, simply show your middle school or high school (or upper elementary) class the two-minute video, and then ask a few of the following questions.
{Note: Subscribers will need to click through to the site to view the video. And, though the speaker Rob Bell is a popular religious author, the clip does not promote any religion/worldview.}
1. What do you do to help the global poor?
2. List 10 things that are about $2 US dollars. Now imagine if that was your entire salary for a day’s work.
3. Do the rich countries have a responsibility to help the poorer ones? Why or Why Not?
4. What would you be willing to sacrifice if it meant a student around the globe could live a healthier, safer life? Would you give up your iphone? Your ability to own a car? Eating out for a year?
5. If you were born in a third world country and struggled daily with hunger, war, disease, and poverty, what would you want to tell a student your age, who happened to be born into a first world, wealthier country?
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Be brave. Take the time, and ask the hard questions of your kids. Then, let the discussion have the freedom to morph into whatever your students might make of it. Get their mental and emotional wheels churning on behalf of the impoverished half a globe away {or even just down the street}.
You never the future activists you might be creating.
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Related Posts. Video Lesson on Fair Trade | True Story of 7th Graders Providing Clean Water for Africa | Importance of Teaching Service-Oriented Learning.
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How do you connect the global poor with the kids in your classroom? Ideas, suggestions, frustrations?
