This lesson will help students distinguish between democratic and authoritarian government regimes.  They will use a variety of activities to identify direct and indirect democracy, dictatorship, monarchy, oligarchy: military, religious, police state regimes.

Activities will include film viewing, writing assignments, comic strips, and more.

This lesson is supported by several files.

This lesson introduces students to recent history of the African continent in order to understand the modern day governance and social issues of African nations.  The five activities are based on providing an overview of Foreign Aid and Investment and its impact on Africa and Canada.

The lesson is supported by several Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files and flash learning objects.

This course summative project lends itself well to the Africa Expedition because there are several International Mock Trial topics which deal with African nations. 

Appendices include worksheet, rubrics, and examples.

Students look at how music has been used to raise awareness about issues around the world and the results that awareness brings (i.e. resources to alleviate people’s suffering or to resolve the issue).  Students then choose an issue of personal interest that they wish to increase public awareness about.   To do this, the students use the arts to illustrate their issues.  The creative piece may be in the form of a song, a poem, a short story, a painting, a drawing, a collage, a tableau, a video, etc.

Students research Canada’s role (past and present) in peacekeeping missions of the United Nations.  Students produce a world map, and answer questions about the map and Canada’s involvement with peacekeeping missions.

Students graph data about international assistance and analyze the trends.  Students read about acceptable levels of donations, and assess Canada’s giving.  Students consider our nation’s spending and justify any reallocation of funds.

Students share existing knowledge about NGOs, and learn about their formation and the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.  Students select one NGO and gather information about the work of that organization; then they create a formal display to present in a storefront.  Students decide which NGOs will receive their donations and justify their decisions.

Students view footage of Sudan; research recent conflicts in Sudan; explore the role of the United Nations in Sudan; and prepare a news report highlighting the viewpoints of one group involved in the conflict in this country.  Students participate in an open forum to find a resolution to the Sudan conflict.

• gain an awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals;
• develop an awareness of the 11 African countries visited on the itinerary with a focus on the status of education and health in Canada versus the African countries studied;
• through drama, choral reading and writing, gain an awareness and appreciation for the changing family dynamics in many African families due to the impact of HIV/AIDS and other influences, with a focus on the role of the grandmother;
• become more aware of various charitable organizations that are actively involved in Africa enhancing children’s lives and develop an action plan to support at least one of them.