Ask the class:

• Is it fair that the character is beaten?
• Is it right that she has to work?

Ask the class why they think children work?

Divide class into groups of 4 or 5 and give each group an atlas. Ask students to look at the labels in their clothes and using an atlas find out where they are made. Make a list of the countries.

Extension activity
Students should read out their lists. Which countries were the most popular?

Place stickers on relevant countries on a map of the world.

Explain what a developing country is. Ask why they think that most of the countries we import our clothes from are developing countries?

When we have the skills and technology in the UK to produce them, does it make environmental sense in terms of fuel consumption to fly such products across the world.

Plenary
Students could write a letter to a clothing or sports shop to ask if the workers who make the clothes they sell get a fair wage.

Say why cheap labour is unfair and who suffers as a result. The point is not to demand an end to trading with developing countries, but to demand that workers receive a fair wage and that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is respected.

Teachers' Background

• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an agreement between countries to obey the same laws and all but 2 countries have signed up to the Convention.
• With rights come responsibilities and that as global citizens we all have responsibilities.
• Paying low wages means the whole family suffers. If poor parents can't afford to provide decent shelter or nutritious food then children have to work to help pay for these rights. Thus the child loses their right to an education. Without an education the cycle of poverty continues.
• Even when education is free, uniform, schoolbooks and exam fees often are not, and so families still cannot send their children to school.
• UNICEF's National Non-Uniform Day, Day for Change is an annual event held in thousands of schools all over the UK. This year, NNUD is raising money for UNICEF's education projects in Bangladesh and Brazil. To register your school email day4change@unicef.org.uk and receive further lesson plans and resources free.