Curriculum Links and Ways to use this pack

My Village My Life meets KS 3 and 4 Citizenship teaching requirements as follows.

Key Stage 3
 

1. Knowledge and understanding about becoming informed citizens.

• f. the work of community-based, national and international voluntary groups.

• i. the world as a global community . . . and the implications of this.

2. Developing skills of enquiry and communication

• a. think about topical political, spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues, problems and events by analysing information and its sources, including ICT-based sources.

• b. justify orally and in writing a personal opinion about such issues, problems or events.

• c. contribute to group and exploratory class discussions, and take part in debates.

3. Developing skills of participation and responsible action

• a. use their imagination to consider other people’s experiences and be able to think about, express and explain views that are not their own.

Key Stage 4

1. Knowledge and understanding about becoming informed citizens.

• f. the opportunities for individuals and voluntary groups to bring about social change locally, nationally, in Europe and internationally.

• j. the wider issues and challenges of global interdependence and responsibility, including sustainable development . . .

2. Developing skills of enquiry and communication

• a. research a topical political, spiritual, moral, social or cultural issue, problem or event by analysing information from different sources, including ICT-based sources, showing an awareness of the use and abuse of statistics

• b. express, justify and defend orally and in writing a personal opinion about such issues, problems or events.

• c. contribute to group and exploratory class discussions, and take part in formal debates.

3. Developing skills of participation and responsible action

• a. use their imagination to consider other people’s experiences and be able to think about, express, explain and critically evaluate views that are not their own.

In other curriculum areas, for example, Geography and History, the information in this pack can serve as a valuable source of information and visual images.
 

Get started with role play.

Each main exercise in My Village, My Life has four characters and can be the basis of a role play. How do you introduce role play in the classroom?

• Have pupils divide into pairs. Each pair of pupils thinks of something that they disagree about: stick to football, music, favourite TV programmes

• Now have them reverse "roles" and argue the case for an opinion opposite to what they really think

• Remember to give role playing a distinct beginning and end point

• Always ask how it felt to be "in someone else's shoes"

“What’s Important?”

One exercise in My Village, My Life asks pupils to rank some of the things that are important in their lives.
The exercise has been done by pupils in Carlisle and in Piela, in Burkina Faso. Find out how their opinions differ. But first, try the exercise yourself.
 

Place these items into the circle that show how important it is to you. Only three items can go into the “most important” circle.

Animals
Crops
Houses
Education
Clothes
Good Health
Families
Friends
Water
Security
Money
Land
 

You may add two further words of your own if something not on the list is very important to you.

School, Food and Homes came top when the exercise was done in UK schools. Pupils in Carlisle added Sports and Holidays most often, but some put School in the "Least Important" circle.

Sometimes things we have readily at hand are not so important even though they may be essential to life.

What's important for pupils in Bilam Perga?

The exercise was done in the school at Bilam Perga in January 2004.
Good Health was the thing most groups selected as most important overall. Water, School and Land came next. Animals and Clothing received no "most important" rankings.
Pupils added these things to their lists: horses, work, cattle, grain stores, wool, trees and certificates (qualifications).

Other schools do the exercise
Two more schools did the "What's Important?" exercise in January 2004.
At one school near Fada N'Gourma, pupils asked why people in the UK put such a low priority on the importance of land. We replied because few people are farmers. Most people buy food in supermarkets and do not grow food themselves.

The class then wanted to know if the farms in the UK were very large. We said that they were. A long discussion followed about the pros and cons of large farms. Every child in the class in Burkina Faso had some vegetables growing near their home.

Updates on some of the people from My Village, My Life

Going back to Bilam Perga:
The role play on the importance of girls' education was set in the village of Bilam Perga. In a day-long visit in 2001 we had attended a women's group meeting and discussed many things. Sheep purchased as lambs through a loan scheme were paraded. The only woman to attend school explained why she agreed that it was important. Many mothers' hands went up when we asked "Who will send her daughter to school?"

The good news from Bilam Perga this January was that in the youngest class at the village school, a class of 52 pupils, there were 27 girls and 25 boys. In the class where I had done the exercise, two year-groups were housed together for a lack of teachers, making it a class of 73: with only 18 girls.

It's a lesson in the realities of life in West Africa, and a sad one. Thankfully there was good news as well: much more good news than bad, in fact. Things are changing for the better overall. But one little girl would not ever get to school.

People at George's school in Burkina Faso, Taagou School, were very happy to see photos of their class in My Village My Life.
Some remembered the visit we made in 2001 to collect photos and information. This time everyone wanted to be sure to get into the photos, just in case another book was written.
But where was George? He'd left school; no one knew why. So we would not follow up on the story about whether the lessons in the environment had resulted in George's father planting trees near his home.

George's classmates at Taagou School

We asked the class if anyone present had convinced their fathers to plant trees. Two hands went up. It's difficult, of course, telling your parents what to do: more so in Burkina Faso than in the UK. Besides, environmental education happens not just in schools, but with adult farmers during training at model farms.

We asked another question: how many of the pupils present would plant trees when they were adults and had their own families? All the 47 pupils said that they would.

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