Resources

Oxfam's catalogue for schools

Children and diversity

Countries and continents

Disasters and emergencies

Food, trade and globalisation

Peace and conflict

Making Sense of World Conflicts

Sudan: Crisis in Darfur

Iraq: War and peace

Rights and social justice

Sustainability

Water

Welsh language

Making Sense of World Conflicts

Activities and resources for teachers of English and Citizenship

This resource features six free downloadable lesson plans.

As you read this there are at least 30 armed conflicts in the world. In today’s wars, most of the people killed are civilians, and almost half of those casualties are children. This resource explores the connections between conflict and poverty, and the changing nature of conflict. It will help pupils to develop many skills including:

• information processing
• reasoning
• enquiry
• creative thinking
• evaluation

This resource draws on a wide range of source material including case studies of different conflicts, poetry, photographs, media reports, personal testimonies, country information and statistics. The suggested activities include role-play, debate, and examining evidence. Suitable for use with 13 – 17 year olds.

These pages have been adapted from Oxfam's print publication, Making Sense of World Conflicts which you can order online.

Resources for use in the classroom

Resources for use in the classroom – a series of ready-made lesson plans :

• Lesson plan: Finding out about armed conflict    helps pupils examine their knowledge about conflict and find out more about conflict in today’s world.
• Lesson plan: The increasing use of small arms – putting over a message     provides facts about the consequences of the increase in small arms around the world and gives opportunities for examining the power of visual images.
• NEW! Lesson plan: The arms bazaar – a mystery     a thinking-skills activity in which pupils learn about the arms trade.
• NEW! Lesson plan: Futures    gives pupils the opportunity to think about how positive change happens in different parts of the world.
• NEW! Lesson plan: Is it war?    examines the language we use to talk about war and conflict. Is there such a thing as a ‘war on terror’?
• NEW! Lesson plan: Conflict – are you buying it? encourages pupils to think about combat gear as fashion, and introduces case studies of child soldiers in Liberia.
• NEW! Lesson plan: Million Faces – evaluating a campaign activity    asks pupils to think about the ways in which messages can be communicated and people persuaded to support campaigns.
• NEW! Lesson plan: Corneille – Music of life    introduces Rwandan R’n’ B singer, Corneille, who survived the genocide and communicates his feelings and experiences through his songs.