Peacemakers and peace-breakers

Use this lesson in face-to-face or online teaching to promote the values of peace, respect and tolerance in your primary classroom.

Author

Katherine Bilsborough

By promoting peace, respect and tolerance in the classroom, teachers can help to instil important values in their learners that will help them be responsible citizens. There are two versions of this lesson plan – one for face-to-face teaching and an adapted lesson plan for teachers providing online classes.

The lesson starts by looking at different ways of saying and writing the word 'peace' around the world. In the main part of the lesson, learners focus on peacemakers and peace-breakers in a classroom context. Information is presented in a fun way through a jigsaw reading activity in which pupils practise saying letters of the alphabet. Learners apply the ideas to practical scenarios and imagine or perform dialogues that illustrate positive and not so-positive ways of dealing with conflicts. As an extension in the F-2-F session learners can collaborate to make a poster for the classroom.

Learning outcomes

Review classroom rules
Promote the values of peace, respect and tolerance in the classroom
Use English creatively
Practice giving opinions
Practise saying letters of the alphabet

Age and level

Aged 9–12 years (CEFR A2+)

Time

65–80 minutes

Materials

Lesson plan
Presentation

Additional materials for face-to face lesson

Card, glue, crayons or felt tips for making a poster
Worksheet
Large slips of paper to stick on the board

Face-to-face lesson

Before the lesson

•    Select the word peace in several different languages that are unfamiliar to the students. Note: Choose from this list or find others online:
1.    pace (Italian)
2.    pokój (Polish)
3.    mир (Russian)
4.    paix (French)
5.    سلام (Arabic)
6.    שלום (Hebrew)
7.    heddwch (Welsh),
8.    fred (Danish),
9.    friede (Germany),
10.    eιρήνη (Greek),
11.    paz (Spanish),
12.    vrede (Dutch)
Tip: A website such as https://forvo.com/ allows you to listen to the correct pronunciation of the different words above. Select words you can spell.

Warmer (10 mins)

•    Ask learners to get their notebooks and pencils out. Tell them they must listen and write the words you spell. You can share slide 2.
•    Dictate the spelling of the unknown words for peace to learners.
•    Explain that the words all mean the same thing in different languages. Get students to guess what the word is in English or in their own language.

Generating ideas (10 minutes)

•    Display slide 3. Ask learners how we achieve and maintain peace in the classroom. Display slide 4, which has functional language learners can use in giving opinions. Or write on the board:
I think the most important is…
1. Yes, I think you’re right
2. I think the next one is…
3. Hmm, I’m not sure. I think …is more important
4. Why?
5. Because
6. Ok, maybe you‘re right
•    Elicit or suggest that rules can help us make things fair and provide a way to help resolve conflicts. Prompt learners to use the target language as they give their opinions
•    Ask learners to give examples of classroom rules that help us work together peacefully, e.g. be polite to everybody, listen to each other, don’t cheat in games, don’t shout or fight, tell the teacher if there’s a problem, etc.
•    Put learners into small groups. Give them three slips of paper and ask them to write a rule of each slip of paper

Memorising ideas (10 minutes)

Play a few rounds of Kim’s game:
•    Stick the slips of paper with rules randomly on the board. Discard any repeated rules.
•    Tell learners to close their eyes. Remove one rule from the board.
•    Ask the learners to identify which idea is missing.
•    Repeat this action several times.

Jigsaw reading (20 mins)

•    One the board write peacemaker. Explain that this is a person and ask students to suggest how a peacemaker behaves. Then do the same with peace-breaker. Tell students that they are going to learn more about peacemakers and peace-breakers.
•    Put learners into pairs, A and B. and give each student a worksheet.
•    Select one learner who has worksheet B to demonstrate the activity with while the other learners observe.
•    Show learners you have worksheet A but indicate that you are hiding it from your partner.
•    Ask your demonstration partner ‘What’s number 1?’. They will read the words.
•    Then ask them ‘How do you spell kind?’
•    Show that you’re writing the answer as your partner spells it
•    Prompt your presentation partner to ask you ‘What’s number 2? and ‘How do you spell manners? Give them the answer and make sure they write it down.
•    Tell learners they are going to do this activity.
•    Elicit the two questions needed to complete the task:
1.    What’s number ___?
2.    How do you spell _____?
•    Explain that they must not show their partner their sheet.
•    They take turns to ask for the missing words and complete the gaps in their worksheet with the missing information.
•    Get students to say and spell the words, letter by letter. Monitor and support as needed
•    When everyone has finished ask learners to share their worksheets and check their spelling.
Note: Encouraging self-checking is part of learner training

Answers

Peacemakers...

… are kind
… have good manners
… help each other
… listen to the teacher
… take care of things in the classroom
… follow the rules
… play fairly
… tell the truth

Peace-breakers...

… don’t listen to the teacher
… don’t help their friends
… are mean
… are unkind
… are untidy
… break the rules
… talk loudly in class
… throw rubbish on the floor

Whole class discussion (10 mins)

• Ask students to think about whether they are peacemaker or a peace-breaker in the classroom. Display slide 5 and elicit answers to the questions.

Your classmate uses your favourite eraser without asking!
Now it’s dirty and you are very unhappy about it.
What is a positive way to react?
What is a not-so-positive way to react?
How can you both solve this peacefully?

Make a Peace poster (25-30 mins) - Optional

•    Make a Peace poster for the classroom.
•    Design the poster on the board first, asking students to make suggestions.
•    Prompt them to think about words, images, sentences or captions, a heading, etc.
•    Put learners into groups. Each group will make a poster.
•    Students draw and colour pictures, write peace in different languages, write do’s and don’ts based on their jigsaw readings, etc. Use their work to decorate large piece of card or paper.
•    Then display the poster in a prominent place in the classroom or somewhere else in the school.

Setting up homework (5 minutes)

•    Tell the learners that now they are going to think about what helps them interact peacefully with their family and with their friends.
•    Elicit a couple of ideas first, for example share your toys with your brothers and sisters, tell a parent/carer if you have a problem with someone, etc.
•    Learners write 5 sentences for homework
•    In the following lesson put learners into small groups to share their ideas and select their top 10 ideas. Groups then present their ideas to the rest of the class.

Follow up practice (20 minutes)

•    Display slide 5 again.
•    Tell learners they are going to think about different ways of reacting to situations and how to resolve them peacefully. They will think about positive and not-so-positive ways and make example dialogues.
•    Give the learners the example situation, e.g. a classmate uses your favourite eraser without asking. Ask them what a positive way would be for both you and your classmate to react and what wouldn’t be.
•    Elicit some ideas, for example:
1. You could explain how it’s your favourite eraser so you feel unhappy. Your classmate could say sorry and promise to ask next time.
2. You could shout at your classmate. Your classmate could refuse to give the eraser back.
•    Display slides 6 and 7. Depending on your learners, ask two of them to role play the being peaceful dialogue and two the bad situation dialogue for this example situation.
•    Display slide 8. Put learners into pairs
•    Ask them to write a positive and not-so-positive dialogue for the situation they chose then role-play it
•    When they have finished, learners can either perform their dialogues for the class to watch
•    Ask learners which is the positive version, and which they thought was the most peaceful, realistic, funny, etc.
•    Alternatively, you could give the learners similar situations, but with options for solutions, for example for the situation where a classmate uses your favourite eraser without asking, the solutions could be:
1. you calmly ask your classmate to give the eraser back
2. you shout at your classmate and call them a rude name
3. you tell the teacher what happened
•    Learners could say what they think are the advantages and disadvantages of each option and vote on the ‘best’ one.

Optional extras

• Follow the link to find out how children celebrate World Peace Day around the world.
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/your-turn/world-peace-day

A song about peace that has spelling (starts at 0.18): https://youtu.be/F62L1TaDIUk?si=CfqEDxMgrHjIPG4o

Online lesson

Before the lesson

•    Prior to the lesson, decide which of the languages you will play in stage 2. Select @5 languages. Make sure you can spell the words.
•    Before you start the lesson:
-    Test your microphone and camera to make sure they work.
-    Make sure that you have the accompanying PowerPoint open and shared.

Start of the lesson

Welcome the learners as they arrive. Display slide 1 and:

Check that you can all hear and see each other.
Check that they can see the first slide.
If they can’t, ask them (or ideally an adult they have present) to check their settings or troubleshoot in the way you have shown them previously. You may need to write this in the chat facility if they cannot hear you.

Tips:

Consider having a short task for the learners to do until they have all arrived. For example, you could have a poll set up (if your platform has this function) or a simple activity where they write in the chat, such as to say what they’ve done that week.
Consider muting learners’ microphones after greeting them to avoid having too much background noise when you get started. Tell them if you do this and explain why. You could also suggest that if possible they use a headset with a mic rather than their device’s in-built speakers and mic.

Warmer (10 minutes)

Ask learners to have their notebooks and pencils (or pens) ready and display slide 2
Tell learners that you are going to play some recordings of words in different languages.
Play a selection of words from here, choosing ones you can spell aloud and think the learners might be able to guess, but not too easily: https://forvo.com/search-translations/peace/
After playing each word spell it and ask learners to write the word.
Note: You can also choose 5 words from this list:
1. pace (Italian)
2. pokój (Polish)
3. mир (Russian)
4. paix (French)
5. سلام (Arabic)
6. שלום (Hebrew)
7. heddwch (Welsh),
8. fred (Danish),
9. friede (Germany),
10. eιρήνη (Greek),
11. paz (Spanish),
12. vrede (Dutch)
Use the chat or annotation to check spelling at the end
Tell learners that all the words have the same meaning.
Ask them to look at their notes and say what they think the English word is.
Elicit or give the answer (peace)
Ask learners if they know any symbols for peace. If your platform has an annotate function, learners could draw or write the symbols on the slide.

Generating ideas (10 minutes)

Display slide 3. Ask learners how we achieve and maintain peace in the classroom. Elicit or suggest that rules can help us make things fair and provide a way to help resolve conflicts.
Ask learners to give examples of classroom rules that help us work together peacefully, e.g. be polite to everybody, listen to each other, don’t cheat in games, don’t shout or fight, tell the teacher if there’s a problem, etc.
Write their ideas on a blank document that you share. Correct and drill any errors as you write.

Memorising ideas (10 minutes

Play a few rounds of Kim’s game:

Stop screen sharing the document, cover or remove one of the ideas then screen share again.
Ask the learners to identify which idea is missing.
Repeat this action several times.

Ranking (15 minutes)

Note: For this activity the learners will ideally work in groups in breakout rooms, if the platform you’re using has this function, and your learners are comfortable and responsible when working in breakout rooms.

Ask learners to take a photograph or screenshot of their ideas
Tell learners they will work in groups to decide which are the most important rules.
Display slide 4 and drill the functional language. Nominate a couple of stronger learners to give you an opinion
Remind learners of the rules for breakout rooms (speak English, stay on task, let each other speak). Let them know they will be monitored.
Move learners into 2 or more groups. Move around the groups with your camera off to check they are on task. Prompt them to use the language of opinion.
Bring learners back together, so groups can share their list

Note: This can also be done as a whole class activity by asking each learner to write their ideas in the chat, either to you and their groupmates if possible, for you to collate. Showing learners how to chat directly to their partner is a useful learner training strategy.

Production (20 minutes)

Display slide 5. Ask them to write Y in the chat if they think they are peacemakers, or N if they think they aren’t.
Tell learners they are going to think about different ways of reacting to situations and how to resolve them peacefully. They will think about positive and not-so-positive ways and make example dialogues.
Give the learners the example situation, e.g. a classmate uses your favourite eraser without asking. Ask them what a positive way would be for both you and your classmate to react and what wouldn’t be.
Elicit some ideas, for example:

You could explain how it’s your favourite eraser so you feel unhappy. Your classmate could say sorry and promise to ask next time.
You could shout at your classmate. Your classmate could refuse to give the eraser back.

Display slides 6 and 7. Ask two learners to role play the being peaceful dialogue and two the bad situation dialogue for this example situation.

Additional practice (15 minutes) - Optional

Display slide 8. Decide if the learners will work in pairs or small groups in breakout rooms, if they will use the chat to write to a partner, or if they will work individually.
If learners are working in breakout rooms, ask them to either role play or write a positive and not-so-positive dialogue for the situation they chose.
If learners are working with a partner via chat or individually, ask them to write their dialogues.
When they have finished, learners can either perform their dialogues for the class to watch, or put them in the chat or show them to the camera for the other learners to read.
Ask learners which is the positive version, and which they thought was the most peaceful, realistic, funny, etc.
Alternatively, you could give the learners similar situations, but with options for solutions, for example for the situation where a classmate uses your favourite eraser without asking, the solutions could be:

you calmly ask your classmate to give the eraser back
you shout at your classmate and call them a rude name
you tell the teacher what happened

Learners could say what they think are the advantages and disadvantages of each option and vote on the ‘best’ one.

Setting homework (5 minutes)

Tell the learners that now they are going to think about what helps them interact peacefully with their family and with their friends.
Elicit a couple of ideas first, for example share your toys with your brothers and sisters, tell a parent/carer if you have a problem with someone, etc.
Learners write 5 sentences for homework

End of the lesson

Display slide 9
Praise the learners for their participation and work and tell them you’re looking forward to seeing them again in the next lesson.
Make sure they know how to exit the platform and wait until they all leave before leaving yourself.

Further ideas and resources