How to teach students to be global citizens

Jeanne Perrett
Children working together outdoors picking up litter
Reading time: 4.5 minutes

As teachers, weallwant ourstudents towork toward making the world a better place. Through focusing onglobal citizenship,this drive to change the world is something we can help foster every day in the classroom.In this post, we’ll explore how.

What are global citizens?

A global citizen is someone who knows that they are part of a worldwide community. They understand that there are people who have completely different lifestyles, appearances, cultures and routines but with whom we share common values and responsibilities. Global citizenship encourages tolerance and understanding, and learning about it helps children become open-minded adults.

In a primary English classroom, helping students become aware of themselves as citizens of the world will introduce them to a global way of thinking. We can do this while also helping them become familiar with, and proficient in, English.

How can we introduce the concept?

Beforestudents put themselves in a global context, they should get to know themselves as individuals. But they should also get to know themselves as people whoare part oftheir immediate communities.

In the classroom, this can be done by encouraging students to think about something personal, such as their likes and dislikes. We can then encourage students to look a little further: What kinds of homes do they see in their communities? What makes a house a home to them? What about people working in their communities — what important jobs do they do, and how do they make an impact?

For language teachers,the idea is tocombine vocabulary and grammar structures with a slowly widening view of our world.Simply by introducing the conceptthat we are part of a worldwide communitycantake the children out of their own experiences and help them start to consider others.

Tips and activities

Social media makes it possibleforteachers to contact each other across borders and to collaborate between their schools. Something simple, like organizing a class video call for students after lunchtime and encouraging students in different countries to discuss what they ate in English,canhelp learners become more globally aware.

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How can we teach students to be proactive?

Once students know something, they can progress to putting their knowledge into action. Teachers can foster thisby encouraging good habits –a simple example ishow weteachvery youngchildren to throw their litter in a bin. As they grow older, we can‘unpack’ these habits. That is,we can helpchildrenlook deeper into whythey're so important.Using the example of litter again,thiscould meanmaking students aware about how their civic responsibility has a real environmental impact.

Let’s look at how we cango from knowing to doing, in simple stages, with a range of topicsthat are common in thelanguageclassroom:

Food

  • Ask students to think about what they like and dislike.
  • Ask students to name foods that are good for us and what we should eat more of.
  • Teach about school lunches in other countries.
  • Teach about dishes eaten on special occasions around the world.
  • Haveafood festivalor ‘munch day’ where students make snacks from around the world.

Buildings

  • Ask students to talk about their own homes.
  • Teach about types of homes in other countries.
  • Discuss eco-architecture – such as solar panels, living walls, wind turbines on roofs, and local materials that might be used in building processes.
  • Venture outside as a class to plantpottedflowers and improve the school yard or make a container to collect rainwater for the school garden.

Jobs

  • Teach about the jobs people do at school – such as cleaning, cooking, or driving.
  • Think about jobs withinthe communityand why they are necessary.
  • Think about what skills each child and their parents have and how these skills are needed for different jobs.
  • Have a skill-sharing day wherestudentsteacheach othersomething new.
  • Hosta‘kids take over day’where studentsget todo an important jobatschool (such ascleaning the classroomsorserving lunch).

Technology

  • Discuss the different types of technology used at home and school.
  • Think about how to use this technology responsibly.
  • Talk about different householdsand find outhow and whentablets, laptops and phones are used. For example, who is allowed to watch videos while eating?Who can read on their tablet in bed?
  • Make your own set of technology rules for the classroom and discuss why they’re important.

Holidays

  • Ask students what they like to do on holiday.
  • Teach about how to stay safe at the ocean or in the countryside.
  • Talk about other countries students have travelled to or would like to travel to and learn about interesting landmarks in those countries.
  • Discuss eco-tourism efforts and why they are important.
  • Have a‘Let’s go to[name of a city or country)day.’Make posters about famous sights, learn some phrases of the language spoken thereandhave studentsimaginetheyhave gone abroad for the day.

Sharing the message

The United Nationshas set out a collection of17global goals, called the(SDGs), which aim to create a better future by 2030. They address issues like gender equality, hunger and poverty and can be an excellent resource for teachers to use in the classroom when discussing how global citizenship can help to improve our world.

Teachers can encourage students to spread the message aboutSDGs invariousways. For example, students can:

  • Give speeches– at school or in the local community.
  • Begin a fundraisingcampaign.
  • Write letters to politicians.

Teaching students to be global citizens may sound like a big task. However, through weaving these ideas through language lessons, teachers have the opportunity to plant an important seed in students. Because who knows, they may really grow up to change the world.

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