Chapter 1
Rights of the Individual
Internet
Resources 4
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Classroom Activities and LessonsPre-fabricated lesson plans and activities intended for classroom use; can be adapted for all age groups and language proficiency levels:
Introductory human rights lesson intended to help students a) understand what it means to be human, b) identify rights and universal rights, and c) develop an understanding of respect.
Using pictures, this activity helps learners explore similarities among the people of the world, regardless of nationality, gender, or ethnic group. Helps learners understand that rights are based on the similar needs that different people have.
Lesson plan helps learners a) differentiate between needs and wants and b) develop an understanding of basic, universal human needs.
Exercise 2: Needs, Rights, and Human Dignity (pp.3-5)
Interactive lesson helps students a) see the relationship between needs and rights and b) helps them understand the universality of human rights. Includes a simplified version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Lesson plan helps learners identify feelings and beliefs about human rights, classify human rights, and develop an understanding of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Role play scenarios and discussion questions are included.
In this activity, learners develop a graphic organizer in the form of a human rights tree and make connections with the UDHR.
Exercise 13: The UDHR: What's in it for me? (pp.1-5)
Lesson intended to help learners understand the UDHR's 30 articles and develop skills in applying the UDHR to specific problems and real life circumstances.
Lesson plan helps students apply articles of the UDHR to real world situations, identify human rights issues around the world, and specify actions to be taken in order to protect human rights.
Lesson plan asks students to compare similarities and differences between the UDHR and the U.S. Bill of Rights. Lesson helps learners understand universal human rights, individual freedoms, and the problems involved with enforcing human rights on an international level.
Exercise 1: What is human? (pp.1-3)
Lesson dealing with the right to dignity. Helps participants become aware of their own humanity, see themselves as related to other people, and develop ideas about human dignity. Includes the preamble to the UDHR.
Exercise 14: The face of hunger (pp.5-8)
Lesson about hunger and starvation around the world, with a strong focus on Ethiopia. Intended to help learners a) differentiate between wants and needs and b) develop perspectives on global hunger.
Lesson plan for analyzing maps of communities from a human rights perspective. Helps learners recognize where and how human rights are exercised within the community infrastructure.
Lesson plan asks students to create a list of human rights for a new planet or school and then relate those rights to the UDHR. Also touched on are topics of personal preferences, categories of rights, and the universal application of rights.
Materials with Explicit Suggestions for Classroom Use
All Different, All Equal guide to using cartoon strips as a starting point for human rights education. Includes discussions of human rights issues and suggestions for how to create classroom activities that exploit cartoon strips.
Exploitable ContentContent that can be used to create theme-related lessons:
Basic readings in U.S. democracy. Excerpts from original documents, such as speeches, acts, and legal cases.http://www.ecri.coe.fr/en/05/03/02/e05030208.htm
Eight personal accounts of intolerance, told by young people aged 18-24.
List of movie titles and brief descriptions, categorized according to six human rights themes: Being different, impossible love, strangers in a strange land, challenging the melting pot, looking at Europe, and images against apartheid.
Official Documents
Can be used to provide background information and to create materials.
Copy of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution.
Rights from UNICEF's Convention on the Rights of the Child. Includes the full text version and unofficial summaries of the preamble and substantive provisions.
