10.15.2009

Curriculum Teaches Awareness of Hunger



“Trick or treat for UNICEF!” Does that sound familiar to you? I was one of those children who went door to door with my younger sister to collect change from neighbors in our orange boxes. It was probably my first experience being a global citizen in an attempt to help children around the world. I remember that the children we were raising money for didn’t have enough food and that made an impact on me.

TeachUNICEF is a new program designed to make an impact on children. That’s what UNICEF does best: it has helped more children, in over 150 countries, than any other humanitarian organization. TeachUNICEF is a program designed to engage students to become aware of the needs of children and their families worldwide. It was launched in 2005 as a free resource for US educators of students in grades three to 12. The content is derived from the UNICEF annual report “State of the World’s Children” and the curriculum is written with the national standards of social studies, mathematics and other key subjects at the forefront.

Some of the units are arranged into themes such as poverty, safe water, armed conflict, gender equality and child labor and child rights. There are plenty of visual aids such as maps and photos to spark discussion; I even watched an educational YouTube video that was filmed in Niger. Ways to take individual action are also included.

24,000 children still die daily from preventable causes. Through TeachUNICEF, students can get involved in UNICEF’s work to “bring that number to zero.”

UNICEF
TeachUNICEF


No comments:

Post a Comment