TeachUNICEF

TeachUNICEF helps teachers engage students as active global citizens in learning about UNICEF — the United Nations Children's Fund — and its efforts on behalf of children worldwide

What is TeachUNICEF?

IRAQ: A teacher helps students, sitting three to a desk, with their lesson in a classroom at Al-Mustafa Primary School in the village of Al-Zuraiji, near the southern port city of Basra. The school, like many in the area, has been rehabilitated by the community with assistance from UNICEF.

TeachUNICEF launched in 2005 as a resource for educators of school children throughout the United States. It is recognized that U.S. educators need effective tools to help their students develop the skills needed to survive and thrive in a world of dynamic change. This domestic education program is designed to help educators bring a global understanding of the needs of children and families around the world into the classroom.

Based on UNICEF's annual flagship publication, the State of the World's Children (SOWC), the U.S. Fund for UNICEF has developed lesson plans for educators to use with students in grades 6-12.

There is a middle school and a high school version of each lesson plan and they are free and downloadable. All of the current lessons are based on recent themes of the SOWC report. UNICEF has made many advances in the world by focusing on specific issues such as HIV/AIDS, girls' education, nutrition and early childhood development. These lessons, however, focus on the millions of children who have not been the beneficiaries of past gains, the ones who are excluded or invisible.


	Grades K-5 (2 MB)
	Grades 6-8 (2 MB)
	Grades 9-12 (2 MB)

Water and Sanitation for All: Bringing the Issue Home

TeachUNICEF lessons plans for elementary, middle and high school students

Water and Sanitation for All is a unit of three lessons designed to:

Raise awareness of the problems facing children with inadequate access to clean water or sanitation facilities
Increase students' understanding of the issue as one that affects them as well
Explore how organizations, agencies and individuals are working to address the problems
Encourage students to take their own steps in addressing the local and global issues of water and sanitation

Lesson 1: Students explore the "big picture" of water and sanitation and begin to see how vital water and sanitation are to life, health, education and well-being. They learn about what UNICEF is doing in countries across the world to aid children and communities affected by lack of safe water or adequate sanitation facilities.

Lesson 2: Students become familiar with why it is so important to have clean water and sanitation facilities and discuss some of the consequences of their absence. They read about how simple steps such as hand washing and treating water at home have helped to dramatically decrease disease.

Lesson 3: Students learn about young people around the world who are acting on local, national and global levels to help find solutions to the challenges facing all of us around water and sanitation. They brainstorm and design their own plans for action.


	Grades 6-8 (790K)
	Grades 9-12 (905K)

Measuring Success: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

TeachUNICEF lessons plans for grades 6-8 and 9-12

This set of lessons in the TeachUNICEF series in entitled: Measuring Success: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Begin downloading the free lesson plan now by following the links at right.

As with other TeachUNICEF units, this is a three day series of lessons designed to:

Raise students' awareness of the problems facing children worldwide and how world leaders and governments have pledged to solve them
Increase students' understanding of these problems through learning about the Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Explore how various organizations, agencies, and individuals are working to meet the MDGs
Show students how they can help meet the MDGs

Students will need access to the full SOWC 2006 report in order to complete their assignments. Complete instructions on downloading the report are enclosed with the lesson plans. For additional SOWC 2006 resources, please visit www.unicef.org/sowc06.


	Grades 6-8 (419K)
	Grades 9-12 (421K)

"The Root Causes of Exclusion"

TeachUNICEF lesson plans for students in grades 6-8 and 9-12

This set of lesson plans in the TeachUNICEF series is entitled: The Root Causes of Exclusion. While vulnerable and excluded children live in all countries, children in the poorest countries are most at risk of missing out on the most basic necessities for a healthy life.

These lessons are available for download free of charge in two grade-specific versions—middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). Students will examine four root causes of exclusion and examine the ways in which they render children and their families invisible. Click the links at right to begin downloading the lesson plan PDFs now.

The Root Causes of Exclusion is a three-day unit of lesson plans designed to:

(A) Raise awareness and increase students' understanding of excluded children and the four root causes contributing to their exclusion:

Discrimination, based on gender, ethnicity or disability
Poverty
HIV/AIDS pandemic
Armed Conflict/Fragile States

(B) Build students' analytic problem-solving and presentation skills through use of primary source material—Chapter 2 of UNICEF's annual report, The State of the World's Children 2006, "Excluded and Invisible Children" (SOWC 2006).

As with other TeachUNICEF units, The Root Causes of Exclusion will help teachers engage students by:

Promoting student reflection and critical thinking about being global citizens
Encouraging understanding about the ways in which children are excluded from education and essential services around the world
Introducing UNICEF programs that address the root causes of the exclusion of children
Drawing parallels between the exclusion of children in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries and exclusion around the world today

Students will need access to the full SOWC 2006 report in order to complete their assignments. Complete instructions on downloading the report are enclosed with the lesson plas. For additional SOWC 2006 resources, please visit www.unicef.org/sowc06.

The U.S. Fund for UNCEF will pilot test this TeachUNICEF series in the Spring and Fall of 2007. If you are a middle school or high school teacher interested in providing feedback for the pilot, please contact us at TeachUNICEF@unicefusa.org. For more information, click here.


	Himal, Age 16 Nepal		Martha, Age 15 Sierra Leone

	Ali, Age 16 Jordan		Nodira, Age 18 Uzbekistan

"Real Life Stories"

How UNICEF is helping four teens survive and thrive in the developing world

Based on UNICEF's flagship report, The State of the World's Children—a comprehensive annual assessment of the world's most vulnerable children—TeachUNICEF lesson plans help students gain a deeper knowledge of the issues facing children and youth around the world.

By telling the stories of four teens—Himal, Martha, Ali and Nodira—as they cope with poverty, armed conflict, child labor and physical disabilities—the grade-specific lesson plans at right illustrate how all four teens' lives are improving.

Each unit includes:

Background information for the teacher
Links to UNICEF online resources
Service-based learning opportunities

Click the images at right to access the Real Life Stories and UNICEF's Response lesson plans.

UNICEF in Emergencies

On December 26, 2004, a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people and forever changed the lives of millions more. UNICEF immediately went into action.

The world watched the disaster unfurl on TV screens. Donations flowed immediately to relief organizations. UNICEF, known since 1946 for its ability to quickly provide humanitarian assistance, received a record $442 million in cash and pledges for tsunami relief.

Millions of educators and students raised funds for UNICEF's tsunami relief. This micro-site, created by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, is our report to you on how UNICEF responded to this unprecedented disaster and how your money has been put to good use.

Click here to launch the micro-site.