This is a lesson for advanced high school students about domestic violence. Students describe an image story, then learn about nonviolence through Tibetan Prayer Flags. It’s by PC Romania’s Gender and Development Committee (GAD) and part of a series of lessons from the “16 Days Against Gender Violence” campaign.
*Due to the sensitive nature of the information included in this lesson, it is highly recommended that the teacher consults other teachers and possibly the school director before teaching it. This lesson should be used with discretion, as its topic of domestic violence may evoke strong reactions and discomfort, especially if a class member has experienced domestic violence personally or knows someone who has. This lesson should not be taught if the teacher is not planning on providing students with information concerning local resources for victims of domestic violence.
Lecția aceasta este valabila în română aici (.doc).
Objectives:
- To discuss the problem of domestic violence.
- Provide information about local resources for victims of domestic violence
- Promote non-violence.
- Describe a picture story about domestic violence using present and past tenses.
Resources: Paper, pencils, blackboard, copies of this picture story (.pdf. See preview below).
You will also need information about domestic violence shelters or other resources in your area, which you’ll have to find yourself.
Time: One 50-minute class period.
Warm Up
Using past or present continuous, students guess what the teacher or other students are doing as they perform various actions (i.e. talking on the phone, cleaning, doing homework, etc.)
Presentation
If you feel it will be necessary, teach a short review of the difference between present and past simple (“I walk” and “I walked”) and present and past continuous (“I am walking” and “I was walking”).
Then, divide students into pairs and give each pair a copy of the picture story. Using both present and past tense, the students must describe each picture in writing or through discussion. If needed, the following prompts or similar ones can be given to students for each picture:
This story is sourced from cal.org.
First frame: Who are the people? How are they feeling? What are they thinking at this point in the story?
Second frame: What happened three years later? How did the family change? How are the people feeling?
Third frame: Who is the picture? What did he start doing? Why do you think he might have started doing it? Imagine what events took place before this and how they might have contributed to his behavior.
Fourth frame: Who is in the picture? What did the man start doing? Why do you think he was hitting the woman? What was the woman doing? (Note: the alcohol is a prop in the story to illustrate a possible progression of events; however, you may want to clarify to students that domestic violence occurs without substance abuse as a precursor.)
Fifth frame: What happened next? What did the mother and children begin doing? Why was the mother crying? Why were the children crying?
Sixth frame: What did the man do next? What do you think he was saying? What was the woman thinking during this moment?
Seventh frame: What happened next?
Eighth frame: How did the woman feel at this point? (upset, confused). She was thinking about many things. What was she thinking about? (calling police, effect on kids, alcohol problem, man saying he loves her and won’t do it again, etc.)
Practice
Share answers or students’ written story descriptions as a whole class. The teacher can ask some additional discussion questions such as: What do you think the woman did? Why? (If they answer “she stayed,” maybe it’s for reasons of loving husband, wanting to keep the family together, embarrassed that community will find out, etc.) What do you think the woman should have done? Why? What could she have done if she lived in your community?
At this point, the opportunity arises for the teacher(s) to discuss the problems a victim of abuse faces and sources of help available in the local community. It is very important to provide students with information concerning what they can do in their community if they are being abused or if someone they know is being abused. For example, information about a local shelter and about calling the police could be given to the students.
Application
Teacher now transitions into promoting a peaceful, positive way of life by giving students a brief explanation of Tibetan prayer flags.
“Prayer Flags are inscribed with auspicious symbols, invocations, prayers, and mantras. Tibetan Buddhists for centuries have planted these flags outside their homes and places of spiritual practice for the wind to carry the beneficent vibrations across the countryside. Prayer flags are said to bring happiness, long life and prosperity to the flag planter and those in the vicinity.…. iconography do not stand for external beings, but represent aspects of enlightened mind i.e. compassion, perfect action, fearlessness, etc….”
Students are given scraps of small colored paper and have the students write out hopes that they wish to spread across their school, their community, their country, or the world (sticking to the theme of non-violence). These flags can be labeled something like flags of peace, (insert school’s name here)’s flags of hope, etc.
Flags can be posted in the room or around school.
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