Topic: A child is also a man. Children's rights

Target group

8th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

II. Family. Pupil:

2) analyzes the impact that the family has on children; presents the rights and obligations of children in the family.

IV. Human rights. Pupil:

2) shows differences between human rights and freedoms; lists personal rights and freedoms contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland;

3) lists children's rights and analyzes the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

4) gives examples of activities of the Ombudsman for Children; presents the objectives of the United Nations Children's Fund;

7) presents examples of activities of non‑governmental organizations for the protection of human rights; justifies the need to counteract the phenomena of non‑tolerance towards different minorities.

General aim of education

Students get acquainted with the rights and duties of children.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to explain what Rights and obligations the minors have;

• to list the Polish and international legal acts concern children’s rights;

• to indicate where can you seek aid when your rights are not respected.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Students should remember what human rights are and what rights and obligations a Polish citizen has.

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. Referring to the homework, the teacher asks the students to recall what human rights are and who has them. Students should mention the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the nature of human rights: universal, innate, non‑transferable, etc..

Realization

1. The teacher, starting the discussion, asks the students about how the an adult differs from the child. Do they have different rights and duties? If so, what are they? Asking the questions, the teacher remembers that they are to be formulated as the key questions. Students should mention, for example, the linability to choose government representatives, the inability to buy certain products (alcohol, fireworks), inability to work (people under 15), etc. The teacher complements and further explains students' answers.

2. The teacher explains to the students that the rights and obligations of citizens are written down in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Included among them are children's rights. He explains to students that a child, even though he does not have all adult rights, is also a Polish citizen. He also adds that their rights are not only in the Constitution, but also in the Act on the Ombudsman of Children. It thus refers to the previous lesson. The students carry out ** Exercise 1 **.

3. Next, the teacher explains that the legal protection of children, like adults, is also enshrined in international legal acts, primarily in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Students get familiar with the graphics from ** Task 1 ** in pairs or in small groups, and then, using the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, perform ** Exercise 2 ** (the teacher should adjust the length of the source text according to the time he can spare for this activity). The teacher takes care of the feedback provided to the students during the exercises.

4. The teacher, starting the discussion, asks the students what they think are the most important rights of the child resulting from the documents they read.

Summary

1. To summarize the classes, the teacher explains exactly where and whom can children and young people ask for help. He should list state institutions, such as the Children's Ombudsman, the Police, but also the school educator, tutor, etc. He should emphasize that children and young people can look there for help not only in their own matters but also report cases related to their colleagues and friends. Students carry out ** Exercise 3 ** by matching phone numbers to the appropriate institutions.

2. ** Optional **: Referring to the example of the reaction to harm / behavior of peers, the teacher presents students with a movie entitled * Courage saves lives * created for the social action of the Children's Ombudsman for (film to be found on the internet) – ** Task 2 **.

3. The teacher assesses the students' work during the lesson, taking into account their input and commitment. For this purpose, he may prepare a self‑assessment questionnaire.

Homework

1. The teacher tasks willing students with homework: Think about which of the children's rights are most often violated. Refer to specific examples and write down how you can prevent this.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

A child is also a man. Children's rights

Full Civil Rights in Poland are granted to people over 18 years old. It doesn’t mean however that a person younger than that has no rights at all. Children's Rights are included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child from 1989. There is also the Polish Constitution that protects children's right for having a family, to live, to play and to enjoy health care services. Children’s rights are just the same as all human rights and, most importantly, are not a privilege – everyone can enjoy them regardless of where they come from and what ethnicity they are. There’s also the institution of the Ombudsman for Children functioning in Poland. Its mission is to protect children’s rights. School attendance is compulsory – every child born in Poland has to attend school.