Effects of Covid-19 on Child Labor & Human Rights

4 Read out some initial lighter statements for your students to respond to Reading statements that you know your students will have strong opinions on is a good way to introduce this activity, so for the first few please choose your own (ours are examples):

Milk chocolate is better than dark chocolate

Football is a better sport than soccer

5. After your students are finished arranging themselves in the position that best represents their opinion, ask for one or two volunteers to explain why they chose to stand there

After a few viewpoints have been heard, ask if anyone wishes to move

Encourage students to keep an open mind; they can move if someone’s argument has changed their opinion or how strongly they feel about it

6 After a few of these lighter statements, your students should understand the activity more Now you can move on to the more complicated statements We have suggested some below that link to the lesson themes of child labor, equality, and fairness, but please use whichever you feel is most appropriate for your class or add your own

Child labor happening in another country is not my concern

Only some children deserve the chance to go school.

It is the responsibility of businesses, not governments to end child labor

Extreme poverty is due to the bad choices of individuals only

Richer countries have a responsibility to end child labor in every country

Ending child labor is possible within our lifetimes

Refugees should not be welcome in our country

All children in the United States have access to their rights

Access to rights has nothing to do with race, gender, or socioeconomic status

COVID 19 has had an immeasurable impact on the advancement of children’s rights, etc.

7 After each one has been read, repeat the steps above, asking for opinions on why students chose their position and allowing others to move afterwards

8 Bring the class back to discuss the activity and debrief together, highlighting any strong differences of opinion or whether the statements made students think about issues they had not before

9. Share how a key part of learning about global issues is not just absorbing the information but figuring out how you feel about these topics You could also support students to understand more about how our opinions are often formed through the knowledge and information we have, and as we learn more these opinions and beliefs are likely to grow or change.