1. Introduction: Read the quotation from the child soldier. After reading the quote, have students describe who they think might have spoken those words (age, sex, country of origin, etc).
2. Provide students with Child Soldiers Activity Sheet and have them complete it to the best of their ability. Once students have completed the Activity Sheet, ask which points they found most interesting or surprising.
3. Show the Sierra Leone segment of "Musicians in The War Zone". Using the questions from the Teacher's Study Guide, debrief the segment with students.
4. Provide students with a map of the locations of child soldiers all over the world.
5. Students will complete a research project to gain a better understanding of the use of child soldiers. Students will be divided into groups where they will each choose a different country to focus on. Students will be required to gather the following information about their specific countries:
a) approximate number of existing child soldiers
b) role of child soldiers
c) method of recruiting child soldiers
d) financial funding for the recruitment of soldiers
e) conflict in which child soldiers are involved
f) steps taken to eliminate child soldiers
6. Provide students with the Organizer for Child Soldier Research, and direct them to the Global Report 2001 at www.child-soldiers.org.
7. Based on their research, have students create an educational poster about child soldiers. Students will be assessed holistically for their abilities to work collaboratively with group members during the research project.
8. Have students present their posters to the class and educate others about their country of focus.
9. During the presentations, students listening will be required to come up with the answer to the following questions:
- What country has done the most to eliminate child soldiers?
- What else can be done to eliminate the use of child soldiers?
- Is enough being done to eliminate the use of child soldiers?
Students can conduct research about the economic issues that are contributing to the use of child soldiers (e.g. poverty, conflict diamonds, coltan etc).
