Poverty

Girl Rising

“One girl with courage is a revolution”

Girl Rising is a film about the benefits of educating girls. It introduces nine girls from around the world in their struggle to get an education and achieve their dreams.

The film was released in 2013 and is part of the Girl Rising campaign.

As we watch the film, take notes, as you are to to discuss the film in your groups afterwards. Also, take a note of violations of human rights that you see in the film.

Discussion questions:

Which girls’ stories made the greatest impression on you? Why?
“One girl with courage is a revolution”. After watching the film, what does that phrase imply – do you agree or can you think of a better catchphrase?
Girl Rising is neither pure journalism, nor fiction. The filmmakers have tried to go beyond the facts into the human experience. Did you find yourself getting lost in the stories in a way that was interesting or effective? Why or why not?
The girls of Girl Rising live in very difficult circumstances. Give examples of violations of their human rights as they are portrayed in the film. Despite these violations, they do not consider themselves as victims. Are you able, through the storytelling, to relate to their lives in a way that lets you empathize rather than sympathize? Why or why not?
What are the messages from the film that you think will resonate most strongly with people who are not already familiar with this issue?

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Ingunn

Climate changes affect indigenous cultures

Watch this 15-minute video produced by the Guardian and read this article from the same news source detailing how some indigenous peoples experience changes to their culture due to effects of climate changes.

What challenges and benefits do the people on Greenland experience because of climate changes? And while Aboriginal Australians may have the same core problem, given their vastly different physiography the effects are even more devastating. Add governmental obstructions, for instance when it comes to infrastructure, into the equation, and it is hard to see any benefits from climate changes like the Greenlanders do. So what challenges do the people of Australia’s Northern Territory face because of climate changes?

Hilde

Sources:

Diseases and cures…

Write a blog post including the following:

After reading the two texts about Goal. 3 we read last week, you will find the links in the post “Good health and well-being” – what do you think are the biggest challenges yet to solve in order for this goal to be reached? Explain your answer.
Use WHO’s website or other relevant pages you find and look at emergencies. Choose either an area or a disease and do some research – what is going on here? What emergency is being caused by this disease, or what medical emergencies are going on in the area you chose? Read up, and then explain in your own words. Include what is being done, and look up other sources as well to see if you can find more supporting evidence.
Reflect: based on your new knowledge about a disease, or an area in medical emergency – what would you say is being done to reach goal 3? What would you say is NOT being done, but should be done? Can you think of any challenges that could hinder progress for this goal? Which and why? Can you think of any solutions for these challenges?

We will then watch “Ethical Riddles in HIV research” by Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, and read “MSF: Johnson&Johnson prices keep key TB medicines out of reach” from Doctors Without Borders.

Hanna

31 countries decisive for eradicating extreme poverty

The UN goal to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 is not on track in all countries…read this short article from Norad and click on the countries to see what challenges they are facing. As you can see, there is a strong link between lack of democracy and governmental structures and extreme poverty. You can find the complete report Leave No Country Behind – Ending Poverty in the toughest places here.

Preparing for the term test

Testing, testing, testing… Students are tested in every subject more or less all the time and International English is no exception! To prepare for this we arrange term tests, because we want our students to be equipped for a written exam. On December 5, Målfrid’s students worked with task 1 of a former exam. You can also listen to the speech as a Ted Talk. We want to share our knowledge with others and have made a padlet about literary devices and language features which you can access here.

Although we use blogs in our teaching, we still want our students to use a formal, academic style. Here is some useful guidance. Good luck with your term tests!

exam

Even the Rain

The film Even the Rain, or También la lluvia, is a Spanish film from 2010.

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The film is about a film crew travelling to Cochabamba, Bolivia to shoot a movie about Columbus and his conquest.

ciudad-de-cochabamba While there, the government decides to privatize the water in the Cochabamba area, and water prizes rise with about 300% only a few months. People are even forbidden to collect and use rain water. This leads to the Bolivian water war, with huge protests and demonstrations, and clashes between the people and its army. The film depicts both these stories brilliantly.

As we watch this, we are going to make use of FN-sambandets teaching material for this film. (http://www.fn.no/Undervisning/VGS/FN-film-fra-Soer-Even-the-rain?for=elever)

Start by watching this short film in pairs, and discuss why some countries are rich and some are poor.

After the film:

1. Find out more about the Bolivian water war – why was the water privatized? Why are the inhabitants protesting? What was the result after the protests?

bolivian-woman-confronts-police

2. See this film about sustainable development. The water war in Cochabamba is a multilayered challenged for society. How does the water war affect the people, the environment and the economy in the communtiy? What does that mean for a sustainable development in Bolivia? Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals are relevant for the challenges Bolivia faces in this film?

3. Why are some countries poor? How is the world community, or economy, keeping these countries in poverty? What can we do to diminish the differences in the world?

Sources: Translated and adapted from FN-Sambandet. “Film fra Sør.” 27.10.2017. http://www.fn.no/Undervisning/VGS/FN-film-fra-Soer-Even-the-rain?for=elever. Accessed 10.11.2017.

Water

Hanna’s class:

Goal no. 6 of the UN Sustainable Development Goal is “Clean Water and Sanitation.”

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This is the last goal we will look at.

Why is access to clean water and sanitation so important? Why can this issue cause conflicts, both between companies, ethnic groups and even nations?

Infographic-Facts-about-the-global-water-crisis

In pairs you will choose a water-related conflict and co-write a text about this conflict. You can do this by using Google Docs or Padlet – just remember that both of you need to have access to the document.

You will need to include:

what is the conflict about? Explain the issues, and what led to this conflict
where and for how long has this conflict taken place?
how is the conflict being handled? Protests, demonstrations, law suits, armed conflict, etc.
what kind of solution would you offer to this conflict?

On Wednesday, you will join another pair to talk about the conflict you have chosen, and to listen to the research they have done on another water-related conflict.

drought

You will find a good overview of the water crisis here.

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(Pictures taken from: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation/, http://downtoearth.danone.com/2013/08/13/infographic-facts-about-the-global-water-crisis/, https://waterfilteranswers.com/water-shortages/ and https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/cape-towns-water-crisis-5-things-you-should-know-20171019)

Modern Slavery

Did you know that there are more slaves in the world today than it was back before slavery was “abolished?”

Did you know that slaves are much cheaper today than ever before?

Did you know that people are born into slavery, live their whole lives in slavery, without ever knowing that they are slaves?

Poverty, hunger, desperation are all things some people know to take advantage of. Every day, they manage to lure men, women and children into slavery. Slavery exists everywhere, even though it is forbidden everywhere.

We will look closer at modern slavery since it can be closely linked to poverty, and we will use photographer Lisa Kristine’s TED talk as an introduction. lisa_kristine_human_slavery_14

Photo: https://www.lisakristine.com/shop-image-collection/modern-day-slavery/

What is poverty?
Try to make up your own definition of this term
Who are the poor?
Why does poverty exist?
Will we ever be able to eradicate poverty?

Take 15 minutes to write down your thoughts on these questions, and then discuss with a classmate.

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We are going to read to hand-out texts today, and work with them (one factual and one fictional.) The short story “A Real Lady” is written by an Indian freelance journalist and blogger, Nita J. Kulkarni. If you want to check out her blog, you can find it here. Kulkarni writes about life, politics, different issues, movies, literature etc, with a main focus on India, but not just that. Her blog is definitely worth the visit.