Citizenship 11-14/KS3/Levels E&F
Globalisation - moral implications
This lesson was written by the education team at G-Nation. Click on the website link on the right hand side for loads of great citizenship teaching resources about charity.
Overview
20 years after the original recording, a collection of pop superstars have re-released the Number One single "Do They Know It's Christmas" for relief causes in Africa.
Students examine the origins of well known charities and the impact of the first Band Aid single 20 years ago.
They look at what is involved in turning the dream of a different kind of world into a reality.
Learning aims
How charity and giving can help to make the world fairer and more inclusive.
What it takes to develop sustained responses to need following the first impulse of concern.
Identify the causes and issues young people believe in and care about.
Ice-breaker
The money raised from the sale of Band Aid 20's single is going to help the people who have lost everything because of the fighting in a part of Africa called Darfur.
Already, more than 600,000 copies have been sold. The single has been at the top of the charts for two weeks and it looks set to stay there for Christmas.
Ask the class:
Who has already bought the single?
Do you know why the group are called Band Aid 20?
They formed 20 years after the original Band Aid.
What do you know about the original Band Aid?
Band Aid is an unusual example of charity. A few people got disturbed by the way things were the other side of the globe. They felt that it was wrong that we should tolerate watching news of others dying of starvation while we ate our ample dinners.
They were quite famous people with famous friends. They thought of a way to sing about their feelings and get others who shared that feeling to buy the single they made.
That was Band Aid 1984. It became a global phenomenon. It started with 2 people saying, "This isn't right!"
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BAND AID
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Give each student a copy of this worksheet detailing the history of Band Aid and read it out to the class.
Students answer the questions at the bottom.
1. What was happening in Ethiopia in 1984?
2. What is famine?
3. Who is Bob Geldof?
4. What did he do?
5. Who else helped raise money for people in Ethiopia?
6. What was Live Aid?
7. How much money was raised from Live Aid?
8. How much money was raised through the sale of the original single Do They Know It's Christmas? / Feed The World?
9. How much money was raised in total for the people of Ethiopia?
How are charities like Band Aid born?
People give in different ways when they feel concerned enough. They:
give time and energy
lend their voice to make people more aware of an issue or problem
give their own money
But big things can change when there's a surge of action behind a dream of a better world.
Warm-up
This activity is available as a printable worksheet
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BAND AID 20 WORKSHEETS
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Below are some thoughts about the Band Aid 20 single. They were written by children logging onto the Newsround website.
"This song touched me. I hope this song raises millions of pounds. I really like Dizzie Rascal's rap it."
Connie, 12, Preston
"How can so many good singers make such an awful song? The rap is atrocious! It is for charity so it will get to number 1 though."
Tom, 12, Portsmouth
"I think it is fantastic, it should have been extended so that people got more to sing but it's definitely going to get a number 1!!!& hopefully raise loads for charity!"
Katie, 12, Norwich
"It's definitely not as good as the original - the rap ruins it!!! But there are still some fantastic artists on it, and I'll definitely be buying it!"
Julia, 14, Belfast
"Buy, it!!! Africans need help, they are soo sad, and would love some pressies at Xmas. Don't listen to the song, buy the single and save someone's lives, 'cos they need you!!!"
Holly, 14, Northampton
Ask students:
1. What did, or would, make you buy the band aid single?
2. How much did you know about Band Aid before Band Aid 20 came along?
3. Do you think it was worth recording and releasing again?
4. Has it made you think more about issues of poverty and starvation?
5. Does it make you more likely to give or want to commit to helping poverty or is it too big an issue to think you can change?
Main activity
If I started a charity
This activity is available as a printable worksheet. See above.
People usually give their time or money because they want to make the world a fairer place.
In groups, students answer these questions:
1. Which of these describe the world you'd like to see most?
Where human rights are given to everyone
Where everyone has enough to live on and feed their families
Where fewer people die sooner than they should
Where animals are treated as well as we would treat people
2. Imagine you have formed a charity to do something about this issue or help the people you are thinking about. Write down three things that you want this charity to achieve.
3. Who would you need to get on side to help you achieve your aims? What sort of skills would they need to bring?
4. What activities would you need to carry out to achieve your aims?
5. How would you keep people supporting your charity after you've got them interested?
Extension activity
People who change the world
Ask the students to name famous people who started charities.
Here's a list of some they might know:
Marie Curie (Marie Curie Cancer Care)
Dr Barnado
Leonard Cheshire
Richard Curtis (Comic Relief - although they might say Lenny Henry who joined early on)
Diana Princess of Wales (Trust)
Prince Charles (The Prince's Trust)
Macmillan's (Cancer Trust) - Douglas Macmillan
Baden Powell (The Scouts/Guides)
Sue Ryder (Care)
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FAMOUS CHARITY FACES
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Quarrier (Homes)
Wallace & Gromit (The Wrong Trousers Foundation)
For more information, check out these profiles of:
Richard Curtis, co-founder of Comic Relief
Marie Curie, who lent her name to Marie Curie Cancer Care
Tim Smit, the man behind the Eden Project
Plenary
1. What issue did students decide was most important?
2. Each group tells the story of their charity - what did the charity do, how did you convince others to get involved and support you, how did you keep that support going and what did you do to raise money and organise activities?
3. Class discuss how successful they think the charities would be and what impact they think the charities would have in the short term and over a longer period of time?
4. Class discuss what they as individuals could do to support the work of charities?
Most people that start charities give their whole lives to the cause they believe in - they don't give spare cash - they give their all to build the dream, that's usually what it takes.
What do you think these charities have achieved?
What do you think needs to happen so that the world becomes a fairer place?
For loads of ideas on how students can get involved with charities and great teaching resources, click on the link to the G-Nation website on the right hand side of this page.
Teachers' background
How to make the world a fairer place
1. Convince others you've got a good idea - this takes a lot of energy
2. Recruit more people to support the idea - those with the right skills to build the dream
3. Get the money to make it happen
4. Organise the action of the charity
5. Learn from what you've done how to do it better!
For more information on the following organisations, click on the website links on the right hand side.
G-Nation
Giving Nation is a Citizenship Foundation project that supports secondary schools undertaking work to support charity and community. It is a school's programme and website offering information on everything to do with charity. It aims to engage young people in charity by raising awareness and offering opportunities to give energy, time, voice and money to charity. G-Nation offers schools a free pack that enables both lessons and whole school activities to meet curriculum targets whilst developing the school's activities around giving to others. You can order the pack from the Giving nation website.
The Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is established by law as the regulator and registrar of charities in England and Wales. Its aim is to provide the best possible regulation of these charities in order to increase charities' efficiency and effectiveness and public confidence and trust in them. Most charities in England and Wales have to register with the Charity Commission.
Make Poverty History
Make Poverty History is an organisation that brings together a wide cross section of nearly 100 charities, campaigns, trade unions, faith groups and celebrities who are committed to global change. They include organisations like Oxfam, Save the Children, Comic Relief, The Fairtrade Foundation, the TUC and the Mothers Union. Make Poverty History brings together thee kinds of response to poverty:
More and better aid for poor countries.
Cancellation of debt resulting in the borrowing of poor countries from richer ones or world financial institutions.
Trade justice across international boundaries stopping poor countries having to trade by rules set by the rich ones.
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