Literacy Circles Global Citizens

Activity 1 Introduction
Complete the questions on your own first then gather as your group and compare
answers.
What do Global Citizens
Feel?

What do Global Citizens Do?

What do Global Citizens

Think?

How do Global Citizens

Listen?

What do global citizens say?

A Global Citizen Is
Page 3-7
Before Reading: Discuss with your group
1. Discuss in your group the talk about it question on page 3 and make notes
in your language book.
Preview the Text:
2. Scan page 3 and 4. Note the way the pages are structured. How do headings
let us know the order of importance in an article?
During Reading:
3. Do you think you are a good global citizen? Why?
4. What personal connection do you make to the list on page 3?
5. How do your connections help you visualize a good global citizen?
6. After page 4 what text-to-text connections can you make with the photo on
page 4?
7. How does the information on human rights connect with what you know
about how some people around the world struggle for basic human rights?
8. Read page 4 and 5 What text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world
connections did you make with these pages?
9. Read page 6 what are the key points of these sections?
10.What kinds of connections do you make when reading these sections?
11.Read page 7 What is a tariff?
12.What is free trade?
13.What connections can you make when you view the photo on page 7?
14.What conclusion about free trade do you draw after making this connection
and reading this selection?
After Reading:
15.What issue in this selection did you make the strongest connection to? Why?
16.Different readers rely more heavily on some types of connections to help
them understand a specific text. Which type of connections was most helpful
to you while reading this article?
17.Of all the issues in this section, which one have you heard about most often
in the news? What sort of viewpoint is most often connected with that issue?
Discussion:
1. How can one person make a positive difference in the world?
2. Have your opinions changed after reading this selection? How and Why?

3. After reading the list of what makes a global citizen (pg. 3) which
characteristics do you think you already have, and which would you like to
develop?
Writing:
Plan your own blog entry that describes your actions as global citizens. Remember
that a blog is like an electronic diary that people post online and have people
comment on their writings. Create one intelligent comment a reader may leave on
your blog post and respond to that comment in a well thought-out manner.

What is Child Labour? (pg 27 29)

Before Reading: Discuss with your group

1. What part-time jobs have you had? Shovelling snow, cutting grass,
babysitting, etc.? How many hours did you have to work? How much were
you paid per hour? What were the conditions like?
2. Discuss the talk about it question on pg. 27 what do you already know
about the issue of child labour?
3. Consider how your work experiences compared with child labour around the
world.
During Reading:
1. Read the title, introduction and first paragraph on pg. 27
2. What does the main topic of this article seem to be?
3. How do the questions in the first paragraph help to narrow the topic?
4. How does the introduction help introduce the main idea?
5. Read pg. 28 What is the ILO?
6. Read the rest of the article. What details do you learn from these paragraphs?
7. How do these details relate to the main idea of the article?
8. Look at the photos and captions. How are the photos and captions effective?
9. How do they help convey the main message of the article?
10.What research do you think the author had to do to prepare this article?
11.How does the final paragraph reinforce the main message?
After Reading:
1. What evidence did you find in this selection that the author carefully
researched the topic?
2. How did making connections help you understand this article?
3. What did the author do to help you understand the reality of child labour?
Group Discussion:
1. Review your initial responses to What do you already know about the issue
of child labour? Have your views changed since reading this article?
2. Do you think the information in this article would spur people to take action?
What kind of action do you think could be taken?
3. How does reading this article, which contains direct quotations, rhetorical
questions, definitions, and statistics, help you identify and develop ideas on
child labour?
Activity
3

Select one of the photographs in the selection and brainstorm ideas for a key
message that the child in the photo might give in a one minute speech. Hand in the
hard copy of your speech and perform it for your small group on the assigned day.

Who Owns the Land? (36 37)

Before Reading
1. Develop a list of your most treasured possessions. Why do you value these
items? Which of these do you not have any more? why
Discuss in your groups: What rights and responsibilities to property owners have?
-

A huge limb from my neighbours tree broke and fell, causing damage to my
deck. Theres another big limb overhanging my property. Can I go ahead and
chop the limb off before it falls and hurts my kids while they are playing in
our yard?
- I want to raise chickens in my backyard so I can help the environment by
feeding them scraps from the kitchen. Even though I own the land, the city
wont let me do this. Why should the city tell me what I can do on my own
property?
- I was out of town for a few days in the winter during a heavy snowfall. When
I got home, I received a fine of $105.00 for not clearing the snow on the
sidewalk. But the city owns the sidewalk! I Dont! Why should I be fined for
not clearing the snow on city property
Discuss your groups answers as a class. Compare and contrast with other
groups.
During Reading: Answer on your own in writing
1. Read the title on pg. 32. What predictions about this selection can you make
2. Ms. Simon will read the story out loud.
3. Why types of connections did you make as you listened to the selection
4. What did you visualize as you listened to this oral tale
5. What relevant questions did you ask yourself as you listed to this oral tale
6. Which aspect of listening effectively most helped you make sense of this text
making connections, visualizing, or asking questions? Explain how that
strategy helped.
After reading: Answer on your own in writing.
1. When you dont understand or agree with others, what effective listening
strategies have you used to resolve any problems?
2. When we watch movies or TV programs in which there is a dispute, we often
see lengthy court cases. How is the resolution different in this selection?
What has the story teller done to create this difference?
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3. Who do you agree with in this dispute: the man who tended the land, the
man who owned it, or Hodja? Support your response with evidence from the
text and your own experience.
Discuss with your group:
1. With what types of court cases or disputes do you think Hodja would be very
helpful today, and why?
2. Hodja reminds us that humans have a relatively small place on Earth. When
have you been reminded that nature, the environment, or the world is very
powerful forces compared with humans?
Assignment: Write your own Folktale
Come up with a conflict for Hodja to resolve and create a folktale that Hodja
resolves in his characteristically surprising way. This can be a written story, a comic,
or a childrens book.
Global Kitchens (Pg. 42 45)
Before Reading:
Discuss: What do you know about photo essays? What do you expect from
them?
Please know that the photo essay you are about to view shows what families around
the world eat during an average week. No Canadian family is shown here but what
would a photo for Canada contain?
During Reading: Answer on your own in writing.
1. Read page 38 39. Read the title and paragraphs on page 42. What could be
a possible purpose of this photo essay? Why do you think so?
2. Look at photos on page 43. What information do the captions and images
give you?
3. What information does the background give?
4. View the remaining photos and read the remaining captions. Do you think this
photo essay has any other purpose than to inform?
5. What elements in the photo essay help you identify its purpose? How
effectively would you say this photo essay achieves its purpose and why?
6. Who would you say the target audience is, and why?
After reading: Discuss with your groups
1. If you were to create a similar photo essay, but with a different theme
purpose what would you focus on?
2. How does the format of the photo essay effectively communicate its content
and purpose?
After Reading: On your own
1. What do you learn from this selection about the presentation of information
that you might use elsewhere?
Assignment: Oral Presentation
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You will create your own oral presentation (you will present for the class) on the
topic of food and culture. You can use your own family background as an example
or pick something different to research. The purpose is to inform your audience of
the connections you can make between food and culture.
Discuss: where the food comes from, the cultural or family events or traditions the
food is associated with, the people who produce/make the food, the ingredients that
are used in special dishes, etc.
You may use visual aids or PowerPoint if you choose or you may choose to deliver
this in a simple speech form.

Doctors Without Borders pg. 47 50

Before Reading:
Discuss with your groups the following:
1. What is the procedure for getting medical care here in Canada?
2. Have you had, or know about, experiences of having to see a doctor while in
another country?
3. What do you think the organization Doctors Without Borders does?
During Reading:
1. Read the title, byline, and introductory paragraph on pg 47.
a. How does the structure of this selection clearly indicate the order of
events?
b. How does this selection indicate that the order is important?
2. Read page 47
a. What evidence can you find of a time order sequence?
3. Read pg 48
a. What do these highlighted key words tell you about the sequence of
events on Day 5?
4. Read the timeline on pg 49
a. How does the timeline organize events?
b. What does the timeline show about Doctors Without Borders?
5. Read page 50
a. What evidence of sequence pattern can you identify on this page?
b. How does this sequence text pattern help you as a reader?
After Reading:
1. If you wanted to arrange the timeline not chronologically but by most
important events, which three events would you place first? Which three
events would you place last?
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2. How does knowing about sequence text pattern help you understand the
selections purpose?
3. What words in this selection clearly reveal the authors perspective on
Doctors Without Borders?
Discussion:
1. How does this selection affect your opinion of the health care we have in
Canada?
2. How does your understanding of world events help you to realize the extent
of the contribution made by Doctors Without Borders?
3. Why do you think its important that Doctors Without Borders publish stories,
photos, and videos of the work it does in countries around the world?
Activity:
Imagine you belong to a refugee family from Darfur. Tell in a short story how
Doctors Without Borders assisted your family. Use the sequence text pattern to
organize your story. You can refer to the text to list events the refugees experience
in Chad before and after Doctors Without Borders. Sequence your events in time
order, and write your story explaining why you are grateful to Doctors Without
Borders and the difference that these volunteers have made to your lives.