A writing contest for Canadian students in Grades 5 to 8
Teaching Tool:
A resource to get students thinking globally and acting locally!
About the Contest
WLC’s Write for a Better World contest is designed for Canadian elementary school children to think of themselves as
global citizens with the ability and responsibility to participate actively in world affairs.
We believe that global citizens are ready for the world of opportunities and capable of being inquirers, thinkers,
communicators and risk takers, while being open minded, reflective and caring.
The following activity is designed to help you and your students practice developing these qualities.
Classroom Activity
Global Citizenship is a feeling of community shared between all people on earth.
We show that we are Global Citizens through:
• awareness of the issues affecting people living in other countries;
• appreciation and respect for the diversity of cultures around the world;
• empathy for the distressing situations facing some members of our global community;
• a feeling of responsibility to take action and change things for the better.
We do not need to travel to far-away countries in order to practice global citizenship! It can begin in the classroom among
our peers. This activity will explore what it means to be a global citizen and to show respect for different beliefs.
Tools Needed: Marker, flip chart paper, pen/pencil, paper, introductory/ hook poem, web diagram example,
overhead projector (optional).
Teacher’s Preparation:
• Introduce the concept of globalization by reading the poem below (or one of your choice) together as a class.
• After reading the poem, ask students to “think/ pair/ share” by thinking about the poem, discussing with their partners, and sharing their opinions with the class.
• Explain the web diagram activity and show the example of the web diagram to be created by drawing it on
chart paper or on the overhead projector.
• Divide the class into groups of 3-5 (approximately 5-7 groups).
• Ask students to write the words “Global Citizen” in the middle of the flipchart paper and complete the activity.
• After each group presents their web diagrams, ask students to individually write a short paragraph about a
life lesson that connects to being a global citizen.
Student Steps:
SHARE: their thoughts on the poem with their partners and the rest of the class.
CREATE: a web diagram around the word “Global Citizen” expanding on the characteristics of a global citizen
and examples of what it means to be a global citizen.
PRESENT: the diagram to the class (each group).
THINK: individually about an important experience in your life that has taught you a lesson (teacher may want
to share a personal example here).
WRITE: a short paragraph describing a life lesson and how it connects to being a global citizen.
PRESENT: your short to paragraph with the class (a few students who volunteer).
Now that your creative juices are flowing you will be more than able to write an amazing story for the Write
for a Better World contest!
Good Luck!
Web Diagram Example
empathetic
= understanding others
global
citizen
respectful
=
appreciating others
aware of
different cultures
mexico
language: spanish
Poem Example
All Are Global Citizens
By: Cecilia R.
A field of wildflowers
brushed by the breeze
mingled with grasses
guarded by trees.
Each flower is needed
for nature’s bouquet;
no flower has the right
to push others away.
Flowers – of all colors,
all sizes, all scents,
those which are fading,
the fresh innocents.
Fields, in earth’s glory,
Can help us to see
how people’s, like flowers’,
growth should be free.
For humans, like flowers,
Cover this earth.
Each one is different;
Each one has worth.
The wise, in their gardens,
never would seek,
for the strong and the showy,
to stifle the meek.
The wise, in this world,
should do what they can
to give life and hope
to each woman and man.
All of earth’s people
should have what they need
to work well and live well,
to plant their own seed.
As published on: http://www.globalcitizencorps.org/