Describe how this young person might feel, what they might hear, see and smell.

KQ: Should children have to go to war? Learning objectives: To understand why child soldiers are used. To understand the effects of this experience has on these children.

What is a child soldier? Watch the video (Child Soldiers 2) and answer the questions in the back of your book. Facts What countries are they in? How many child soldiers are there? Feelings How did you feel when you were watching those videos? What things shocked you? Questions What would you like to know? Any words you did not understand?

2min: add to your definition using the one below What is a Child Soldier? Working in pairs, compare your answers, (peer assess answers) Be ready to share an agreed definition of what a child soldier is. Using a dictionary, define any words you did not understand in your book. Come up with your own definition of what a child soldier is Use your facts, feelings and questions notes to write up full sentence responses in the front of your book A Child Soldier is…… The internationally agreed definition for a child associated with an armed force or armed group (child soldier) is any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities. (Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, 2007.)

Recap: What was funding the war in Sierra Leone? What is the name of the armed group in control of this area? What are they doing?

Note down words that show evidence of emotion/how he’s feeling? TASK: Using the quotes from the autobiographical story from Ishmael Beah answer the following questions in your book: “There were all kinds of stories….the passersbys told were exaggerated.” P6, first page of Chap 1. Listen to the reader Note down words that show evidence of emotion/how he’s feeling?

Becoming a Child Soldier What evidence can you find in the text to support this? Becoming a Child Soldier TASK: Using the quotes from the autobiographical story from Ishmael Beah answer the following questions in your book: Answer the questions below, referring to the text – What is Ishmaels quality of life as a child soldier? explain? What was Ishmael’s life like before he became a child soldier? How did Ishmael become a child soldier? What did Ishmael have to do as a child soldier, why did he do it? How did he feel when he was a child soldier? Challenge Differentiation- LA writers could highlight quotes from the worksheet in different colours to show that they would use that as evidence in their answers. Using key words from starter, read through the text with them and find examples that show evidence of these emotions. “This shows he is angry because….” What is war like for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old soldier? How does a child become a killer? What do you think Ishmael’s commanders thought of him? Why do they chose to use children as Soliders? The boy soldiers are given white tablets by their army superiors.What are these? Why were they being handed out?

What happened next? So what can we do next? Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980 and moved to the U.S. in 1998. In 2004 he graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in political science. He is a member of Human Rights Watch Children’s Division Advisory Committee, and has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Centre for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. He now lives in New York City. So what can we do next?

Child slavery tasks: Produce a short newspaper article to explain the key issues of child solders. Consider what you could tell the reader to do to stop the issue Produce a poster to highlight the issues of a child soldier. Use A4 paper. Stick it in your book and explain your poster on the page next to it. Produce an Acrostic poem using a key word from todays lesson I.E  Child Soldier, Sierra Leone, Ishmael Beah How are they affected by this conflict directly? Who is involved? Why are they involved? How do they feel about being soldiers? What do they have to do? Share your poem or advert/poster with a student on the other side of the class room. Explain what it says about Child Soldiers and their experience of conflict.

Plenary How do children become soldiers? Complete this sentence. Whilst watching the videos I felt…because… 3) #IamluckytoliveinBritain because…