Amnesty International UK’s Refugee Rights education pack has been written to support primary school teachers to explore refugee rights and migration with children and build a culture of understanding and welcome in their schools. The activities in this pack introduce some key concepts, including why people flee their homes and what it is like to arrive in a new country, and promote discussion about refugee rights and migration experiences. Students will also explore ways to make refugees feel welcome. Each activity can be adapted to individual classrooms and is suitable for one-off lessons or can be extended into a series of lessons. This is part of our set of Refugee Rights teaching resource materials.

Soldiers of the Kashmir Freedom Fighters are in search of new recruits at nine-year-old Rafiq’s school in rural Kashmir. They scrawl a line in chalk on the schoolroom wall. Any boy whose height reaches the line will be taken to fight. Rafiq is tall for his age and becomes the first boy to cross into a life of brutality and terrorism. So begins Rafiq’s transformation from child to boy soldier, indoctrinated into a cause of fanatical belief. But even when he no longer recognises himself, his family remembers the boy he was and hopes he will return.

Two one hour lessons for students to use UN Convention Against Torture definitions to judge which interrogation techniques amount to torture, then consider whether governments should be allowed to interrogate terrorist suspects using these methods.

A selection of activities for primary classes to explore asylum and refugee issues in a participatory way. Created by our Edinburgh office for schools in Scotland, this is a great resource for schools anywhere in the UK.

This resource enables teachers to explore the human rights of sexual and gender minority groups with primary, secondary and FE students. The pack consists of six activities, a list of useful organisations, a summary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an information sheet on sexual orientation and gender identity and a list of curriculum links. This activity pack can be used with the following resources LGBTI Q&A and Teaching notes for ‘Two weeks with the Queen’ by Morris Gleitzman which can both be found by searching on our website.

Many children’s novels and even picture books possess great power to open up new worlds and inspire a capacity for empathy. Being able to empathise makes it easier to be kind, tolerant and willing to consider other points of view. It makes it harder to adopt prejudiced stances, helps to guard against aggression and conflict and may even encourage people to take positive action on behalf of others. It also helps young people to put their own problems in perspective. These are all values that lie at the heart of human rights and we can find them in books for children.

Three short films of former child soldier Ishmael Beah telling his story to an audience of secondary school students in 2008. Ishmael was 13 when he became a child solider in Sierra Leone. Watch him tell his story then use activities to develop an empathetic response on which to build knowledge and understanding of this topic. This resource also includes a selection of extension activities that can be used as standalone lessons on the topic child soldiers, not related to Ishmael’s story. Search on Vimeo for In conversation with Ishmael Beah to find the clips.

This beautifully illustrated book introduces deafness to young children. The story explores some of the difficulties a child who is deaf may face, and how upsetting these can be. The story helps to reinforce how important it is to make sure everyone is included in games and activities, and how easy it is to make changes so that this can happen.

Secrets in the Fire is based on the true story of Sofia, an indomitable young girl in war-torn Mozambique, who strays from a path while playing and steps on a landmine. She manages to transcend the brutality and horror that have shattered her childhood, and builds a new future out of the ruins of her life.

Written by Ying Chang Compestine, this is a powerful story of a girl who comes of age during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1969). Nine-year-old Ling leads a happy life with her parents, both dedicated doctors. Comrade Li, one of Mao’s political officers, moves into their apartment and creates an atmosphere of increasing mistrust in which Ling begins to fear for her family’s safety. Over four years, and despite witnessing many horrors, Ling not only survives, but blooms.

Read the Introduction To Using Fiction To Teach Human Rights guide and use our teachers notes to discuss and debate Dark Parties by Sara Grant.

Fiction has real power to further human rights education. Explore the themes of difference and diversity with your class through our teachers notes for the book 'Oliver&' by Birgitta Sif.

Session 1: being heard In session 1 talented spoken-word artists reveal their urge to write in a documentary which helps students explore the right to freedom of expression. Students then read thought provoking human rights poetry and create similes and metaphors for freedom. With poems by Joe Coelho, Pat Parker, Walt Whitman, Elsa Wiezell, Grace Nichols, Sarah Crossan, Oscar Wilde, Martin Niemöller, Rachel Rooney About Words that Burn Words That Burn challenges you to take action for human rights through poetry. Using this resource secondary schools can explore human rights through poetry, with free educational resources designed to help students develop their own writing and performance style. This is national project to explore and express human rights through poetry by Amnesty International in partnership with Cheltenham festivals.

Session 8 - power Throughout history, words and poetry have been used to challenge, protest and inspire change. In this session students watch Inja perform his poem Freedom and explore poems about race and privilege before creating their own protest poems. About Words that Burn Words That Burn challenges you to take action for human rights through poetry. Using this resource secondary schools can explore human rights through poetry, with 10 free educational resources designed to help students develop their own writing and performance style. This is national project to explore and express human rights through poetry by Amnesty International in partnership with Cheltenham festivals.

Download our pack of ten interactive lesson activities to help pupils aged 5-11 understand their own human rights and the values and attitudes that underpin them. Subjects include global and fair trade, poverty and inequality, identity and children’s rights. This resource pack will help to foster attitudes of respect and an appreciation of the uniqueness of each individual. Pupils will also develop skills to enable them to take action to defend human rights. Also available in Welsh on our website.

Imagine is the theme for this year’s Refugee Week, 15-21 June, and here are three learning activities that will give your children an understanding of refugees. How would you welcome a newcomer into your community? Do you know about the rich heritage and diversity of people who call the UK ‘home’? As the Covid-19 pandemic separates families around the world, our local community plays an increasingly vital role in our daily lives – both as safety net and in contributing to our well-being. At this time, many of us are separated from loved ones. For refugees, this separation may have existed long before lockdown – and sadly may continue long after nations re-open their borders. Imagine if … … you have just moved into your home and neighbourhood. How would you feel? How would you want your new neighbours to welcome you? GET Paper, colour pencils DO Draw a map of your local area Include favourite places you would like to share with someone new to your area Include places they need to know about – like food shops, schools, libraries, playgrounds, doctors. Hello Everyone There are over 6,500 languages spoken around the world. Many of these are spoken in the UK alongside British Sign Language, English, Gaelic, Scots, Ulster Scots and Welsh. GET Paper, paint, colour pencils Google translate** DO Research how to say hello in as many different languages as you can find. Include languages that use different alphabets. Create a colourful poster of different ways to say hello. Display your poster in the window. **Freedom to choose ** People in the UK are a mixture of different nationalities and of different faiths and no faith. This can show in how we dress, where we worship, and how we live our daily lives. GET Google Jessica Souhami’s illustration of our freedom of belief DO Explore the illustration: How many ways can you find that people are expressing their religion through what they are wearing? Which buildings in the picture could be used for group prayer and worship? People can choose to pray and worship privately, in small groups and in large groups. Look at the picture again, where in the picture could people choose to pray and worship? WATCH A range of the Class Clips to learn about some of the different religions followed here in the UK (BBC Bitesize KS1 Religious Education Class Clips) More activities and virtual events on Refugee Week’s Imagine. Refugee Week is an annual UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees. 15-21 June 2020. Share your artwork with us. Amnesty’s education work is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

A powerful story about a young girl’s struggle within the constraints of her nomadic society. Shabanu lives with her camel-herding family in Pakistan’s Cholistan Desert. At 12, she is already betrothed, while her 13-year-old sister is about to be married. When tragedy strikes, Shabanu must choose between dreams of freedom and obligations to family and culture.

A series of activities for one-two lessons to explore conflicting views on the land rights of Traveller groups, with a main activity to explore and try to resolve the issues through role-play and discussion.

Two lesson plans which introduce students to concepts of fairness and unfairness, the human right of freedom of expression and Amnesty’s work in this area. Developed in consultation with teachers working in Special Schools.

Session 6 - dignity In this session students read poems about equality and discrimination – and can watch performances by the poets bringing their words to life. This will inspire them to write a poem from the perspective of someone who has experienced hate crime. About Words that Burn Words That Burn challenges you to take action for human rights through poetry. Using this resource secondary schools can explore human rights through poetry, with 10 free educational resources designed to help students develop their own writing and performance style. This is national project to explore and express human rights through poetry by Amnesty International in partnership with Cheltenham festivals.