Lesson Plan: Key stage three (Ages 11 - 14) Key question: How can life go on? This lesson has been designed to provide teachers with a flexible framework. It could be taught in one lesson, roughly following the time guidance suggested, or could be expanded into two lessons, using the different activities and the extension to allow for greater exploration of these vital issues. Please be aware that this lesson plan asks students to consider traumatic events and the lasting effects of trauma on those who have experienced these events. Some students may find the subject matter difficult, especially if they themselves have experienced their own traumatic events. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: • All students will give examples of problems and difficulties facing a refugee from Darfur. • Most students will classify problems facing a Darfuri YOU WILL NEED: refugee into difficulties faced during and after the Paper, pens / colouring pencils, genocide. handouts of Darfuri refugee drawings, • Most students will identify some responsibilities Abdul Aziz Mustafa easy to read life we face today in helping people move on from the story, accompanying PowerPoint genocide in Darfur. (optional), the background information to the Darfuri children’s pictures and • Some students will consider the difficulties that the background information on Darfur survivors face in rebuilding their lives. for teachers (included here). 1. Starter (10 minutes) (Slide 1 of the presentation) Ask the students to think about If you have more time their strongest memory. Give the class five minutes to draw you could allow the a quick sketch of that memory or perhaps as an alternative students to take much to write a few lines about that memory. The memory could be longer to draw their anything; they do not need to draw anything very detailed, picture and after the just a very quick sketch. lesson you could make a display of them next Ask a few students to volunteer to share with the class what to the pictures drawn by they have drawn. Darfuri children. Page 1 of 14 2. Darfur (5 minutes) (Slide 2) Show the map of Africa and invite members of the class to identify which country Sudan is. Please see the (Slide 3 and 4) Explain that for the past 13 years there has been a Background genocide taking place in Darfur an area in the west of Sudan which information on has seen hundreds of thousands of people killed and millions of Darfur for teachers people forced from their homes. sheet to understand more about the Genocide is when a group of people are targeted for destruction just Genocide in Darfur. because of who they are, such as their race or their religion. Explain the key terms on Slide 5. 3. Drawings of Darfur activity (10 minutes) Explain to the class that they are going to look at some pictures drawn by children from Darfur who were living in refugee camps after losing or fleeing their homes. These children were asked to do exactly the same as the class were asked to do at the start of the lesson – to draw their strongest memory. (Slide 6) Put the students into small groups. Give each group a sheet with a picture on. Fold the page so that the students can only see the picture and the text is folded under. Ask students to jot down answers to the following question: What do you think is happening in the picture? (Slide 7) Then ask them to unfold the page to look at the text underneath and read the information about the picture. Ask the students to consider the following questions: What does the picture tell us about what happened – and is still happening – in Darfur? The responses to draw out may include: • The government and the Janjaweed have been attacking civilians in Sudan, including women and children • Villages have been burned down • People have been forced to flee What does the picture tell us about the life and the memories of the child that drew it? The responses to draw out may include: • The lives of the children who drew the pictures have been turned upside-down • Such memories could be extremely difficult to live with • The children who drew the pictures have gone through extremely traumatic experiences Page 2 of 14 Differentiation Higher ability • Ask students to consider what further questions and thoughts these pictures flag up for them (for example: why did the government feel justified to carry out these attacks against innocent civilians?/ What happened to the survivors? etc) • You could add in further pictures used in the Key Stage 4 lesson plan • For further stretch and challenge you could give some students the extra information sheet titled: ‘Background information to the pictures.’ Ask them to read this and make some bullet points to answer the question: Why are these pictures such an important source of historical evidence? Lower ability • For a lower ability class, you could use just one picture rather than all six. Build up an understanding of it together – starting with them looking at it individually, then sharing ideas in pairs, then discussing it as a class. • You might ask lower ability students to look at two or three of the pictures at the same time and ask them to answer: what is similar about the pictures? Once students have identified the similarities between the pictures discuss the question: what do the pictures tell us about the lives of the children that drew them? 4. How can life go on? (5 minutes) (Slide 8) Explain to the class that Holocaust Memorial Day is the day that we remember those murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed during Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 is How can life go on? (Slide 9) Ask the class to consider the difficulties faced by the young people who drew the pictures. What might make it difficult for them to rebuild their lives? You could put the class in to pairs or groups to discuss this and then share ideas together as a class. The responses to draw out may include: • They may have lost family members, perhaps they no longer have parents, siblings or friends and other people to support them • Their homes have been destroyed • Their farmland has been destroyed so it is hard for them to grow food • It is still unsafe for them to return to their villages – so they are stuck in refugee camps • Their education has been disrupted • They may face trauma or mental health issues – many genocide survivors struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Page 3 of 14 5. Abdul Aziz life story (15 minutes) (Slide 10) Set up the activity – that the students are now going to read the story of a young man who is from Darfur. Give students a copy of the ‘easy to read’ life story of Abdul Aziz Mustafa. Ask them to read the story and look for information on the problems he faced. Once they have read the story, ask the students to make a list of all the problems and difficulties Abdul faced in his life. Share these ideas as a class. The responses to draw out may include: • His father was murdered • Soldiers attacked towns and burned villages • The soldiers stole their animals • The soldiers took women and children away • He had to leave his home and live in a refugee camp • In the refugee camp there was very little food • He travelled to Britain in a lorry – it was dark and scary and dangerous • He had to leave all his family behind • He wasn’t able to get in touch with his mum and the rest of his family for many years Either individually, or as a class, split this list of difficulties into two categories: a) things that happened to him before his family left their town and b) things that happened after the family left their town. Explain that the two lists demonstrate that Abdul has faced a huge number of problems since leaving the immediate danger of his town. Escaping the attackers was not the end of his difficulties. Differentiation Higher ability • Ask more able students to make links between Abdul’s story and the picture evidence from the children of Darfur in the previous activity. • As an extension, students could be asked to consider what his story tells us about the difficulties in moving on from the violence in Darfur (eg people who escape have to do it at their own personal risk, the problems still continue). Lower ability • For lower ability students, rather than giving them the life story to read, you could read the story to them asking them to put their hand up / interrupt every-time they hear something that might be difficult or hard for Abdul Aziz. Each time a student identifies a difficulty, write it down before continuing the story. Page 4 of 14 6. Plenary What can you do to help life go on? (5 minutes) Explain to the class that Abdul is now a refugee living in Britain. He is safe and has a chance to begin to re-build his life. Yet just because he is now out of immediate danger it does not mean that everything is OK – the repercussions of genocide continue for a long time afterwards. He has been through a huge amount and the effects of what he has seen and been through will be with him for the rest of his life. Remind the class that the genocide in Darfur is still ongoing and there are many refugees from Darfur, like Abdul, all around the world.