Year 8 Home Learning Project

Child Soldiers – Project Africa

Name:................................Year Group:......................Teacher:...........................Due Date:..........................

Levels 5-7

Home Learning Project

Year 8

Project Africa

Name:

Class:

Digital Studies Teacher:

Teacher’s Comment (WWW):

Level for writing:

To improve (EBI):

Level for reading:

Project Africa

This home learning project is about charities in Africa who are trying to help children who become child soldiers.

Start looking in newspapers, on the internet or watch the news to find out information about child soldiers in Africa.

How to complete this bookletYou should complete each activity in order to build up your skills and knowledge. Altogether the assignments should take about six hours to complete.

If you do not have access to a computer at home, remember you can use the homework club at JHNCC, the library in your breaks or the Digital Studies rooms if they are available.

Remember, you must always ask your teacher and your parents if you need help or want something to be explained differently.

Read the following article taken from: 20 mins http://www.faze.ca/issue06/child_soldiers.html

More than 300,000 child soldiers are fighting in armed conflicts in more than thirty countries worldwide. 

According to one group commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo, "[children] make good fighters because they're young and want to show off. They think it's all a game, so they're fearless."

A large number come from disrupted family backgrounds, economically or socially deprived families or are children who come from conflict zones themselves. 

Widely perceived to be a cheap and expendable commodity, child soldiers tend to receive little or no training before being thrust into the front line. In the early 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq war, thousands of Iranian children, many straight from school, were sent with popular militias to the frontline, often given a symbolic key to the paradise promised them as martyrs. 

Most prevalent are child soldiers in Africa and Asia, but across the globe it is a growing phenomenon. One of the reasons behind its growth is the shortage of male recruits in countries at war. And with the technological development of smaller more lightweight weapons children are able to load, carry and fire deadly arms. 

One former child soldier from Burundi stated that, "My first role was to carry a torch for grown-up rebels. Later I was shown how to use hand grenades. Barely within a month or so, I was carrying an AK-47 rifle or even a G3."

Once recruited, the children are often treated brutally and punishments for mistakes or desertion are severe.

Not all child soldiers are forced to kill, yet the horrors they suffer will continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives. One Peruvian woman recruited by The Shining Path at the age of 11 recalls, "They beat all the people there, old and young, they killed them all, nearly 10 people... like dogs they killed them... I didn't kill anyone, but I saw them killing... the children who were with them killed too... with weapons... they made us drink the blood of people…"

Besides the risk of death or injury in combat, child soldiers suffer disproportionately from the rigours of military life. Younger children collapse under heavy loads, malnutrition, respiratory and skin infections and other ailments are frequent. 

Reading Skills: Key Word Definitions Task

Key Word Definition Synonyms

(similar words)

Can you use it in a sentence?

Fighting

Cheap

Shortage

Commodity

Expendable

Punished

Illness

Malnutrition

Death

Economic

1) Using a dictionary, research the meaning of the key words for this topic.

40 mins

Reading Skills: Understanding the writer’s viewpoint and language choices. (AF5 and AF6)

How did the article make you feel? Use your emotions to describe what you have read. Pick one piece of information from the text to help explain your answer.

Find three sentences (or parts of sentences) in the text you have read that describe the backgrounds of the children who become child soldiers.

Backgrounds = what the children’s lives were like before they became soldiers.

1.

2.

3.

Look at the image in the article. Describe what you see. Use adjectives, similes (comparisons using like or as) and onomatopoeia (words that imitate sounds) to aid your description.

How do these three things make the reader feel? Can you explain why?

1. Over 300,000 child soldiers

2) Now you have read the online article, answer the questions in the boxes provided.KEY WORDS to use to help you: fighting, cheap, shortage, commodity, expendable, punished, illness, malnutrition, death.

40 mins

2. Cheap, expendable

3. Girls are recruited as soldiers

How do you think you could help these children? Do they even need help?

Digital Literacy

3) Research the following websites and answer the following questions.

1 hour

www.warchild.org.uk www.rescue.org/child-soldiers

What does this charity do?

Explain 3 ways they help children.

What sort of images are used? Why are they effective?

How much money do these charities get from donations?

4) Read the introduction to becoming a child soldier on the following page. Continue the story as if you are the child whose life is about to change. Before you write it you must plan and include the following:

Your feelings – what do you hear, see, smell? How do you feel – scared, honoured, unsure? How are you treated – good, bad? Are you fed and given water? Are you handcuffed or tied up? Do you go on a long journey away from your

family?

30 mins

Notes

5) 1 hour

You're lying in your bed and slowly drift off to sleep. Suddenly, you are awakened by violent screams. You are frozen with fear. The door of your room bursts open and before you know it you have been picked up by strange men in uniform and are being dragged out of your house and thrown into a truck with twenty other teenagers your age. It is still dark outside and difficult to see exactly what is going on. But you already know what's happening.

You are about to become a 'child soldier'.

Your answer must be no less than 500 words and must include adjectives, simple, complex and compound sentences. It should also use punctuation for effect. For example, exclamation marks to show feeling, horror etc.

When you have planned your answer it needs to written up digitally using the computer. You need to use Word for this exercise and ensure your grammar, punctuation and spelling is checked. REMEMBER: if a red dotted line appears under the text, then it is incorrect and needs changing.

Use this space for any additional planning.

Digital Studies: AF1 (Planning, Developing and Evaluating) Level Ladder

Level Success Criteria5 You can demonstrate that you can:

Use a range of ICT tools and techniques to organise solutions to a problem

Judge how successful your work has been in achieving your goal, and identify ways in which you could improve it

Identify the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT both inside and outside school

6 You can demonstrate that you can: Plan and develop ways to solve problems using

different ICT tools and techniques efficiently

Use success criteria and feedback to improve the effectiveness of your solution

Explore the impacts of the use of ICT in work, leisure and home

7 You can demonstrate that you can: Design and plan an ICT-based system by:

Selecting which information is relevant to your query, and ensuring that it is useful and efficient

devising and applying success criteria to ensure a quality solution, refining work as it progresses

identifying the advantages and limitations of the system

Identify the impact of ICT on people, communities and cultures

Digital Literacy: Developing6) Now you have completed your extended

piece of writing, produce a case study on PowerPoint about one of the charities you have researched.

1 hour

What to include:

Produce at least 3 PowerPoint slides to present your case study.

How is the charity helping in one particular region of Africa?

Use appropriate images.

Use descriptive language.

Use an appropriate typeface or font.

Once you have completed it, check it and print it off as a hand out.

7) Now upload your piece of creative writing to your own blog and explain what you have done on your blog.

1 hour

Find your blog on www.wordpress.com

Once you’re happy with your HLP, complete the self-assessment below. After you’ve done it, you might want a parent or adult to have a look – they may think you’ve done better than you think you have or inspire you to redraft.

Self-Assessment: How have I done?

Give yourself a tick if you think you’ve shown the following writing. If you’ve tried – but aren’t sure you’ve mastered it – put a question mark in the box and if you haven’t done it put a cross.

Have I… √? XUsed commas and full stops accuratelyUsed speech marks and colons and semi-colonsUsed varied and interesting words to describeDeveloped ideasUsed simple and compound sentencesUsed complex sentencesUsed connectives, such as meanwhile, although,Used paragraphs which link togetherGiven a clear view pointUsed my imaginationUsed words which suit my audienceSpelt the most commonly used words correctlySpelt most words correctly, including more unusual choicesUsed colour and pictures to appeal to my reader

WRITING Pupil name _____________________________ English Class ________________ Date AF6 – write accurately, using correct sentences and punctuation

AF3 – organise and present texts effectively

AF2 – Produce texts suitable for your purpose and audience

Level 7

I write with a variety of sentence types which I can use judiciously across the text to achieve my purpose and overall effect, with rare loss of control.I use a range of features to shape/craft sentences that have individual merit and contribute to the overall development of the text.

My writing uses information, ideas and events which are skilfully managed and shaped to achieve my intended purpose and effect, e.g. development of character, plot, event, or sides of an argument, are paced across the text.I also use a variety of devices to position the reader.

I can make imaginative and generally successful adaptations of a wide range of forms and conventions to suit a variety of purposes and audiences. I write with a well judged, distinctive individual voice and point of view which is established and sustained throughout my writing. I can vary the level of formality and choose to use other stylistic devices within my writing for effect.

Level 6

My sentences use the full range of punctuation and are consistently accurate. There is variety in my sentence structure with only occasional errors in ambitious structures, e.g. only occasional comma splices, some use of semi-colons, not always accurate.

My writing is clearly controlled and sequenced, taking account of the reader’s likely reaction, e.g. differing length paragraphs, use of flashback in narrative, anticipating reader’s questions.I use a range of features to clearly signal the overall direction of the text for the reader.

My writing is imaginative and I am familiar with different writing conventions, which I try to use. I can establish a point of view and try to sustain it throughout. I try to change my formality and use stylistic devices to suit my audience and purpose, for example I can use literary devices as easily as I can use conversational style.

Level 5

You use a full range of punctuation correctly most of the timeYou use punctuation within sentences correctly and structure your sentences carefully

Your ideas are structured clearly Your closing paragraph refers back to your opening paragraphYou link your paragraphs clearly

You clearly write to inform, explain and describe, using appropriate devicesYou use the right style and keep your reader interested

Look at the writing grid above. Tick what you think you have done really well. What level do you think you have achieved for your child soldier piece of writing?

My level is _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

I need to improve on _________________________________________________________________________________________

STAR