Write for Rights lesson plan #WFR2021

Every year around Human Rights Day (Dec 10), Amnesty International supporters around the world send letters, emails and petitions in support of people at risk of human rights abuses.

It is the tenth time I have managed to get my students invested in Write For Rights- if you want your students to do the same, and practise English while making a difference in the world, check out the following Letter writing toolkit and my lesson plan below:

Write a Letter- Change a Life; Amnesty International letter-writing marathon lesson plan

Before the lesson:

1 Print a copy of the 2021 WFR pack in English

2 Bluetack the stories of the 10 people chosen by Amnesty Int this year on the walls od the classroom, or put them on desks round the classroom

The lesson:

Students walk around the room/ from desk to desk reading the stories.

They choose who to write for and whether they want to target authorities or write a letter of solidarity to the person they chose. You might want to put on some ambient music in the background or light some candles to create a special mood.

This stage might take some 20-30 minutes

4 The ss sit down and actually write their letters: either rewriting the sample target letters to generate as many letters as possible so as to flood the authorities in question, or writing letters of solidarity of their own; or both.

If you want, you might choose to put up also the sample letters next to the stories, and photocopy the letter stationery to use for handwriting the letters.

Optional activities:

You might want to give them an extra task, depending on level of learners and available time, for example:

Vocabulary work:

-use a dictionary to check and write down 5 or 10 new words that you found in the stories and/or sample target letters

Speaking:

-order the stories in terms of gravity, urgency and/or relatability, compare your list to that of a classmate, then try to argue for your choices

Follow up writing- homework?

-write a diary entry of one of the prisoners or a letter they might want to send home

Hope you find it useful!

Just a side note, hope you don’t mind......

If you like my content, maybe you would like to support me and buy me coffee?

Also, you might want to check other materials I create for the English Bilingual Secondary Classes (C1) - I am sure some of them will be useful for the English B HL classes, for example BritSpeak or OpenBookCouples.

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