In this blog entry, I’m excited to share two example lesson plans of a longer project that could be implemented with a group of high school EFL students, focusing on the use of websites in the classroom while learning about human rights. I combined authentic online resources from UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, and Equal Rights Trust with interactive tools like Wordwall and Mentimeter and cooperative work in the physical classroom.  

The goal of this project is for students to not only understand key human rights concepts but also to enhance their English language skills through authentic online materials and real-life topics.

To structure the lesson plans I used the "Warmer, Web, What’s Next" framework suggested by Dudeney & Hockly (2007). This approach helps create cohesive and dynamic lessons while using websites. 

Objective: By the end of the lesson students will understand the basic concept of human rights and become familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Warmer

• Duration: 10 minutes

• Activity: Start with a class discussion on what students think human rights are. Ask them to list a few rights they believe everyone should have. The teacher will provide the students with a code to collaborate on a Mentimeter to visualize the brainstorming session with a word cloud.

Web

What’s Next

• Duration: 20 minutes

• Activity: Students will create a small poster about the right they have worked on in the previous activity, explaining its importance and giving real-world examples using their own words.

Objective: By the end of the lesson students will be able to identify and discuss various global human rights issues and their impacts.

Warmer

Web

Website #1:  Human Rights Watch (https://www.hrw.org) 

• Duration: 30 minutes

• Activity: The students, in 4 groups of 5, are assigned to read/watch a report on a global human rights issue on the Human Rights Watch website:

  • • 1. https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/video/2021/05/14/kids-talk-covid-and-schools (video)

      2. https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/photo-essay/2021/05/19/child-labor-ghana-nepal-and-uganda (image galery)

      3. https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/10/02/just-other-kids/lack-access-inclusive-quality-education-children-disabilities (report.only the summary since it’s are quite long)

      4. https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/10/23/human-right-water/guide-first-nations-communities-and-advocates#2800 (report.only the the case since it’s are quite long)

  • task: students will summarize the main findings in the format they prefer (bullet points, mind map, short report).

Website #2: Amnesty International (https://www.amnesty.org) 

• Duration: 15 minutes

• Activity: The students will explore the Amnesty International website to find information on how individuals can take action on human rights issues. 

  • task: the students will be divided into 3 groups, then they'll be assigned 1 of the 3 actions, read about it and explain it to the whole group by employing the activity think-pair-share.

What’s Next