Global Voices Information Sheet

The Barrack Young Controllers – Liberia’s Championship Team

Liberia: A Brief History

· Founding: Liberia was founded in 1822 as a place where freed slaves were returned
from America. It gained independence in 1847. It should be noted most of the freed
slaves were born in America and their heritage came from other parts of Africa. They
became known as Americo-Liberians.
· First Civil War: From 1989, Liberia began a civil war between government forces and
the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, headed by Charles Taylor. The war killed nearly
200,000 and caused millions of refugees to flee. This continued until 1996, when Taylor
was elected president.
· Second Civil War: Taylor won the presidential campaign largely due to terrorizing
people. He committed many human rights crimes against his people. And, he is said to
have supported forces in Sierra Leone, trading weapons for diamonds, and have used
child soldiers. Opposition to Taylor started almost immediately. The war restarted in
1997, lasting until 2003.
· Present: In 2003, Charles Taylor resigned his presidency, ending the war and fleeing
into Nigeria. He was eventually turned over to the International Criminal Court and is
currently being tried for war crimes. In 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President
of Liberia. She is the first elected female head of state for Africa.
Soccer in the Developing World

· Football (or soccer as we call it in North America) is the most popular sport across Africa.
· Most young people who live in poverty do not have money to buy a real ball. So, they
often play in bare feet with balls made of old plastic bags and twine.
· Each country’s football team is usually a great source of pride across the nation.
· Watch the following clip from “Shameless Idealists” to find out what K’naan has to say
about football in Africa. http://watch.ctv.ca/#clip358622
Key Terms

· barrack – a building or group of buildings where soldiers live

· civil war – a war between parties, factions or groups within the same country
· demobilize – to discharge from military service
· infrastructure – the fundamental things that serve a country, city or area, such as
roadways or schools
· recruiter – someone who seeks out and finds new players on a team

For more information on the history of Liberia view the interactive history at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,988886,00.html
Global Voices Secondary Educator Resources

Note to Educators:
The following activities are designed to stimulate a current events discussion. Generative in nature,
these questions can be a launching point for additional assignments or research projects.
Teachers are encouraged to adapt these activities to meet the contextual needs of their classroom.

In some cases, reading the article with students may be appropriate, coupled with reviewing the
information sheet to further explore the concepts and contexts being discussed. From here, teachers
can select from the questions provided below. Activities are structured to introduce students to the
issues, then allow them to explore and apply their learnings. Extension and conclusion activities are
included to challenge students and finally, encourage them to reflect on the issues at hand.

Since these activities are designed as discussions rather than formal lessons, assessment strategies
are not included.

Themes and Course Connections

 Sportsmanship, physical activity, cooperation, participation, social involvement, physical
fitness
 Course Connections: Canadian and World Studies, English, Physical Education

Materials
 Computers and internet
 Chart paper or black board
 Paper
 Writing utensils

Specific Expectations and Learning Goals

Students will:
 Learn the social and physical benefits of physical activity.
 Participate in active class discussions.
 Refine their media literacy skills.
 Profile a Canadian athlete.
 Explore their interests and highlight their talents by reflecting on their favorite sport.
 Propose that a new sport be brought to their school, with the possibility of presenting their
argument to the principle.

Knowledge and Understanding

1. Involvement in Sport (estimated time: 10 minutes)
a. Show students the following video to demonstrate the impact that sport can have
on an individual’s choices and life path.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxR0YvxfaVs&feature=rec-LGOUT-farside_rn-
2r-6-HM
b. Following the video clip, divide the class into groups of three to four students and
ask them to discuss the following questions for 5-10 minutes:
i. What did you see in this video?
ii. What did this teach you about opportunity?
iii. What did it teach you about physical activity?

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 iv. If this boy did not have sports to turn to, what do you think would have
happened to him?
c. Bring the class back together for a larger discussion.

Thinking
1. Read the Global Voices Column independently (estimated time: 10 minutes)
a. Reflection:
i. Ask students to record point form notes in response to the article.
ii. Ask students to record five questions that they are unsure of from their
initial reading of the article.
iii. Make sure that students do not record a plot summary; instead, ask that
they address new things that they learned and questions that they have.

2. Media Literacy (estimated time: 30 minutes)

a. Explain to students that media literacy emphasizes the skills of critical thinking
about media messages – applying a process of inquiry to ask critical questions
about what you watch, see, listen, and read.
b. Ask students to begin by doing an OPVL analysis of the Global Voices column,
then continuing on to search through the internet and look for articles in the
sports section – students must select three different articles then they must do an
OPVL media literacy analysis on the different articles they find.
i. Origin: what is the source of this column?
ii. Purpose: why was this column written?
iii. Value: what are the facts and statistics in this column that give it value?
iv. Limitations: whose perspective is the column written from, does this
cause limitations?
c. When this is complete, bring the class back together and discuss student
answers.

Communication
1. My Sport (estimated time: 15 minutes)
a. This is an opportunity for the students to explore their interests and highlight their
talents by reflecting on their favourite sport.
b. Ask students to write a paragraph reflecting on their favourite sport listing its
benefits mentally, socially and physically, as well as the positive effect that this
particular sport has had on their life.

2. Profile a Canadian Athlete: Biography (estimated time: continuous project)

a. Explain to students that athletes play a significant role in our society they have
also sacrificed a great deal in their own life in order to experience their
successes.
b. Ask students to choose a Canadian athlete that they admire, and explain that
they will be creating a biography on this athlete. Ask:
i. What is a biography? (Teacher Note: a biography is a
detailed description or account of someone's life and the times, which is
or told by that same person. A biography is more than a list of
impersonal facts [education, work, relationships, and death]; it also
portrays the subject's experience of those events.)
c. Have students create their biography using the following steps:
i. Choose your athlete.
ii. Research your athlete. Use resources such as books, the internet and
newspaper archives to gather information.
iii. Get the basics: your athlete’s place of birth, hometown, what sport they
play, when they started in the sport. Emphasize any prominent family
members and their particular contributions to the subject’s life etc.
iv. Outline major events in the athlete’s life: education, relationships, and
jobs.
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 v. Start writing!
vi. Write a rough draft using your research as inspiration. Follow a
chronological order of the person’s life if possible and include noteworthy
accomplishments, events, tragedies, successes and more.
vii. Read and revise your draft.
viii. Submit the biography to your teacher.
d. When the students have completed their biographies, ask each student to
present their athlete to the class, give a brief overview of their life achievements
and describe what they admire about their chosen athlete.
e. Allow for a reading session in the classroom so that students can swap
biographies and learn about different athletes.

Application
1. What’s missing? (estimated time: 30 minutes)
a. Ask the students to list all of the sports that are offered in their school; write
answers on the board.
b. Tell the students to look at the list, ask:
i. Are there any sports missing from this list that should be brought into
their school? Why? Write suggestions on the board.
c. Ask each student to choose one sport that they want to see introduced into their
school and ask students who selected the same sport to join together in a group.
d. In their groups, have students work together to write a proposal stating why this
sport should be brought into their school. They should outline:
i. The mental, physical and social benefits this sport has.
ii. How this sport will contribute to school life.
iii. The facilities and resources required to run this sport.
e. When each group has finished their proposal, ask each group to present their
case to the class.
f. When this activity is complete, if there are any groups that have created a valid
argument, encourage them to present their argument to the principle of the
school in hopes to bring the sport to the school.

Additional Resources:

In addition to the above lesson plans, you may want to share some additional resources with your
students. Listed below are some links to useful online resources:

Vancouver Olympics - http://www.vancouver2010.com/

Athletes Canada - http://www.athletescan.com/content/index.asp
Stephen Covey Video about Kyambadde Stone from Uganda -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75VZRXzUqAQ