LESSONS RELATED TO
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 TRAGEDY
The following are lessons initiated by the CATESOL BOARD in response to the unspeakable tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001. It is the Board's hope that these few lessons and resources might contribute, if only a little, to heal the country. They are for teachers to use. Feel free to cut and paste any part of it for use in your classes.
List of Resources:
Prepared by Rosemary Graff, TELL Interest Group Coordinator,
and other CATESOL Board Members
Online Resources for CATESOL Interest Group Lesson Plan
Compiled by Rosemary Jedel Graff
Facts regarding the tragedy:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/sept-eleven.htm
History and background information on Afghanistan
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/news/white/0,6258,175880,00.html
CNN map of Afghanistan and surrounding region
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/afghan.zoom.html
CNN map of Afghan’s Northern Alliance—detailed map of the country.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/afghan.civil.html
Basics of Islam from About.com.
Nearly 1/5 of the world's population is Muslim. What do Muslims believe? How do they live their daily lives? What does the faith of Islam teach about God, the Prophets, and the Hereafter?
http://islam.about.com/blintroa.htm
Related Lesson Plans
From the New York Times Learning Network
Interdisciplinary lessons related to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the United States. This site includes lesson plans, news snapshots for analysis, related articles, helpful websites, and a space for students to submit letters to the editor.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/terrorism/index.html
TIME for Teachers share ideas for addressing the tragedy and moving on.
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/classtime/white/0,6770,174762,00.html
Lesson plan and materials: “How to challenge bias Against Arab and Muslim Americans in the classroom.”
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/current/event.jsp?cid=249
Anti-Defamation League: They have guidelines on how to talk to children.
They also have classroom activities that can be used for students of
different ages.
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/teacher
Other useful sites:
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pentagon/
Background Information
Re ISLAM
Prepared by Cheryl McKenzie, Coordinator: Intercultural Interest Group
What is Islam?
Islam is a religion that has a large number of followers all over the world. Today there are about 1 billion people who believe in the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. These people are called Muslims, and they believe that to be a good Muslim, they must submit to the will of God as it was dictated to the Prophet by the angel Jibril.
Friday is their holy day of worship, and people attend a mosque to pray and to hear sermons; however, Muslims are also called to prayer 5 times a day. They face east toward Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and take time from their daily pursuits to consider the teachings they have learned from the Koran.
The Koran and the Hadith are books that give Islamic spiritual guidance just as the Bible and Talmud give spiritual guidance to the Christians and the Jews of the world. In the writings of the Koran and the Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet) the killing of innocent people is prohibited and suicide is considered a mortal sin, so the tenants of Islam with respect to these acts are the same as those of Christianity and Judiasm.
The words martyr and jihad are frequently in the news as justification for acts of terror. However, in Islamic teachings, these words have special meanings. In Arabic martyr mean witness. A martyr, according to the Prophet Muhammad, is a person that witnesses the truth and gives his life for it--he fights and dies for the sake of God. Jihad is many things: striving for God's cause, striving against temptation and wrongdoing within oneself, as well as defending the community against attack. In neither word, is there an attempt to justify attacks on innocent non-combatants. In fact, early legal authorities like Imam Malik admonished the people against anarchy even in the face of unjust rulers.
Submitted by Elis Lee, NNLEI Coordinator
Introduction: September 11, 2001 is a date that America will never forget. The media has focused on the event in two ways:
The NNLEI-IG has decided to focus on the many countries represented by the people in the World Trade Center. Although the tragedy happened in the United States, much of the world has been affected by it. There were thousands of people with different languages, religion, culture, and dreams. Lives and material property were lost, but much can be gained by learning from other countries. Here are some of the questions one might ask:
The links provided should enable teachers and students to think about September 11, 2001 from a global point of view.
The first link goes to International Newsweek and talks about lessons other countries learned.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/635862.asp
The second one is a very short description of two Chinese people who died in the attack.
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/news/2001-09-21/34746.html
The third link shows how people from all over the world feel about the incident.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/newsid_1550000/1550225.stm
The final link explains what we should learn from the events.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/636338.asp?pne=msn
Activities: Some suggestions for activities are:
Speaking: students might discuss situation in their countries
Reading: students can read the articles and also bring articles they find to share with their classmates
Writing: students can summarize an article, write reactions in their journal, write a comment and submit to a publication
Reading/Writing Lesson Using Information from the Events
Prepared by Elma P. Cabahug
(City College of San Francisco)
Level: Intermediate/CC
Class: Reading/Writing (50 minutes)
Objectives:
I. Pre-Activity: Teacher asks class as to what students know about the tragedy.
II. Teacher distributes the following cursory summary of the tragedy.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, two skyscrapers located in New York City called the World Trade Center were hit by two airplanes. One of the airplanes came from Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C., and the other came from Logan Airport in Boston. In addition, another airplane - also coming from Logan Airport - hit the Pentagon, an important government building in Washington D.C. As if that were not enough, yet another United Airlines flight, which originated from Newark, New Jersey and bound for San Francisco, crashed in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania. The government believes that the terrorist acts were perpetrated by an organization headed by a Saudi exile named Osama bin Laden, who is currently living in Afghanistan.
III. Students read silently to themselves for a few minutes.
IV. Then teacher reads the text aloud to the class punctuating the reading with vocabulary clarification and making sure that meanings are clear. (Examples of words that might need further clarification are highlighted in red.) Vocabulary clarification can also be done prior to silent reading, III above.
V. Teacher discusses the content of the lesson. (Example of discussion questions: How has the tragedy affected you personally? Why do you think the terrorists did what they did?) Teacher makes sure that students are able to express their personal feelings about the tragedy and allows for time that is necessitated by students’ responses.)
VI. Teacher calls students attention to the nature of the information contained in the text: “Is the information in the reading general or specific?” (Short explanation of the difference between the two kinds of information follows.)
VII. HW: Students are given the web resources supplied at the top of this page. They fill out the form below and bring their homework to the next class. Students' oral reading of summary paragraph above should also be done next class & teacher monitor students' pronunciation especially of new vocabulary.
Name: ________________________ Date:
Find an article on the tragedy of September 11th and answer the following questions. (You may use the internet sites given or use your favorite newspaper or magazine.)
1. Name the flights that were involved in the tragedy.
a. ___________
b. ___________
c. ___________
d. ___________
2. Which ones of these flights hit the World Trade Center?
a. ___________
b. ___________
3. Which one crashed in Pennsylvania? ___________
4. Which one hit the Pentagon? ___________
5. What times did the World Trade Center get hit?
a. _________
b. _________
6. What specific government officials work in the Pentagon?
7. Where is Afghanistan? (Name the other countries surrounding its borders.)
8-10. Give at least three specific suggestions as to how we can fight terrorism in the world.
LEARNING ABOUT OTHERS AT WORK
Prepared by: Lynne Wilkins, Teaching English in the Workplace
Objectives:
In this lesson, you will discuss different cultures by
v Giving examples of your culture
v Explaining your family, religious and language background
v Asking co-workers and colleagues about their culture
Warm-up
Introduce yourself to the group by:
Saying your first and last name
Who you were named for
Country you are from
Language spoken at home
Who lives at your house
For example:
My first name is Lynne and my last name is Wilkins.
I was named for my mother's mother, my grandmother, Lena.
I am from the U.S.
We speak English at home.
I live with my husband, John, and our 16-month daughter, Elena.
LANGUAGE BOX
My first name is _________ and my last name is ______________.
I was named for my ____________________.
I am from _________________________.
We speak ________________ at home.
I live with my ____________ and my _________________.
Introduction
Each of us, at work and in our jobs, comes from a part of the world that has something special and different from other parts of the world. These parts make up our culture.
What is Culture?
"Culture refers to the experience, knowledge, values, and behaviors of any one group of people."
"Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, religion, concepts of the universe and material objects acquired by a group of people over generations."
"Human beings draw close to one another by their common nature but habits and customs keep them apart." Confucious
What is your definition of culture?
GRAMMAR BOX
Use the simple present to discuss ideas and ways of living that are generally true for a long time.
For example:
On Jewish holidays, we usually eat flat bread called 'matzoh'.
I don't go to church each week.
Talking About Religion
Answer the following questions.
Write your answers on the lines below.
1. What is your religion?
2. Is there a special book that you read?
3. How is your religion a part of your daily life?
4. What special clothing do you wear?
5. List 3 special foods that you eat for religious celebrations.
6. What are the biggest celebrations or holidays each year?
I am Jewish.
We read the Torah in Sunday School and in the Temple or Synagogue.
Religion isn't a part of my daily life.
Men wear a yamulke (skullcap) when they go to Temple.
Three special foods we eat are potato pancakes, matzoh ball soup and knishes.
The biggest celebrations each year are Passover and Rosh Shashonah.
LANGUAGE BOX
In my religion, we …
The foods we usually eat are …
Each year we celebrate …
The traditional clothing is …
The religious activities we do every day are …
SOME RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
RELIGIONS PEOPLE OF THAT RELIGION
Baptist Baptist
Buddhism Buddhists
Catholicism Catholic
Hinduism Hindi
Islam Muslim
Judaism Jewish
Latter Day Saints Mormon
Lutheran Lutheran
Protestantism Protestant
Other?
