Lesson 1: What is Haiti s story? Age range: years Time: 1 hour

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1 Lesson 1: What is Haiti s story? Age range: years Time: 1 hour Outline Pupils will share what they know already about Haiti and then, using the best-known recent story from Haiti in Western countries - the 2010 earthquake - as a starting point, they find out about some of Haiti s other stories. Pupils will begin to discover that, like any other country, Haiti has multiple stories of which the earthquake story is only a single element. Learning Objectives To understand that, like any country, Haiti has multiple stories, not just a single story about an earthquake. To use adjectives to describe images. To explore assumptions about Haiti. To develop a broader knowledge of Haiti. Learning Outcomes Pupils will share any stories they already know about Haiti. Pupils will use adjectives to describe images and explore assumptions about Haiti. Pupils will note initial responses to photographs and videos. Key Questions What stories do I already know about Haiti? Do any of us know more than the single story about the earthquake? What other stories are there about Haiti? England Develop vocabulary actively, building systematically on pupils current knowledge and increase pupils store of words in general. Spoken language: develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising and exploring ideas. Wales Resources Slideshow 1 - Stories from Haiti Part One: Up to 2010 Video 1: Up to 2010 Video 2: Extract from Kembe La by Jeffrey Dessources What is Haiti like? (one per pair of pupils) Stories from Haiti record (one each) Background notes for teachers Optional resources Mail Online worksheet Curriculum links Oracy Skills: Listen and view attentively, responding to a wide range of communication Reading Range: experiencing and responding to a wide range of texts including print media and texts from other cultures Scotland As I listen or watch, I can: Identify and give an accurate account of the purpose and main concerns of the text, and can make inferences from key statements. LIT 3-04a Extend and apply grammatical knowledge, in particular adjectives. Writing Skills: Use the standard forms of English: in particular adjectives Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 1

2 Activity Outline Starter (15min) A single story of Haiti? Show slides 1-3 of slideshow 1. Ask pupils to spend 2-3 minutes noting down any key points they know about Haiti already on the Stories from Haiti record sheet. Select a few pupils to share their knowledge. Some pupils may be aware that there was a large earthquake which hit Haiti s capital city of Port-au-Prince in January If so, ask them how they know this (likely to be from the media in the form of television or radio news and newspapers). Do pupils know any other stories about Haiti? Does anyone know what Haiti was like before the earthquake? Show pupils slides 4-5 or hard copies of the newspaper article published by the Daily Mail on 13 January This introduces many of the themes of this resource. Point out that this kind of story was told by hundreds of news outlets around the world because the earthquake was so destructive. Ask pupils to think about how this relates to what they know about Haiti already. Do any of them remember this? Briefly highlight to pupils the emotive language used by the reporter, such as Blood-stained bodies lay strewn and full horror and point out that pupils will be looking in more depth at the language choices of writers later in the unit. Also point out that the article makes some references to other stories about Haiti in its history (the last earthquake was in 1770), geography (other Caribbean islands were affected by the earthquake) and personal stories (the story of Haitians digging with their bare hands to help the woman featured in the photograph). Again, tell pupils they will be exploring these other stories from Haiti in more detail later. Activity 1.1 (15min) What is Haiti like? Show slide 6. In pairs, ask pupils to list adjectives which describe the photograph on their What is Haiti like? sheet, such as poor, dirty, crowded or flooded. Select pupils to share some of these. Point out that if pupils only saw this image of Haiti, they might think this is Haiti s whole story, rather than the single story it is telling. Now show pupils slide 7 of the UK. If this was the only image a Haitian child had ever seen of the UK, would they have an accurate understanding of the country? Why not? Draw out all-or-nothing assumptions, such as how they might think all buildings in the UK are old, or that all buildings in the UK have clock towers in them. Show slide 8 to illustrate a different perspective on the UK: inequality in central London. Now show slides 9-13, which give other perspectives of Haiti. In pairs, ask pupils to list further words to describe each photograph in turn on their sheets and select pupils to share these at the end. Point out that the more images of a country we see, the more accurate our understanding will be because we move from having a single story to having multiple stories with many different perspectives. Activity 1.2 (20 mins) Introductory videos Show pupils Stories from Haiti video 1. Before you start, ask pupils to listen for people speaking different languages and to try to identify any spoken. Afterwards, allow pupils time to ask questions and discuss their responses (see Background notes for teachers). Some pupils Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 2

3 may have been able to identify three different languages being used in the video: English, French and Creole. Explain the use of these languages in Haiti and how this contributes to Haiti s inequality (see Background notes for teachers). Show slide 15, which lists some of Haiti s multiple stories, including historical, geographical, political and personal stories. Explain to pupils that Stories from Haiti will give them a chance not only to find out more about the time of the earthquake and what happened afterwards, but also to find out about some of these other stories about Haiti, some of which contributed to the high level of devastation caused by the earthquake and the slow rate of recovery afterwards. Point to artists stories on slide 15 and then show pupils Stories from Haiti video 2. Explain to pupils that Dessources - also known as MrJeffDess - wrote this poem in response to the earthquake. Ask pupils why they think MrJeffDess chose Kembe La (Hold On) - as the title for his poem. Although written in English, why do pupils think Dessources included Creole in his poem? Ask pupils to share their response to watching the second video with their partners and class and tell them that they will be studying the full poem in detail in the next lesson. Plenary (10 mins) Give pupils 2-3 minutes to note down some of the new things they now know about Haiti on their Stories from Haiti record sheets. Tell pupils to keep this chart as they will be adding to it throughout the unit. Ask pupils to share in pairs the new perspective they have gained about Haiti during this lesson and select pupils to share their thinking with the class. Terms of use Copyright Oxfam GB You may use these photographs and associated information for the educational purposes at your educational institution. With each use, you must credit the photographer named for that image and Oxfam. You may not use images and associated information for commercial purposes or outside your educational institution. All information associated with these images relates to the date and time that project work took place. Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 3

4 Background notes for teachers For a short fact file on Haiti and other relevant information, see the Teachers Overview. Multiple stories You might like to watch an excellent talk entitled The Danger of the Single Story given by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the dangers of knowing or telling only a single story about a person or place. Stories from Haiti video 1: Up to 2010 This video begins by giving examples of the many different stories from Haiti: history, geography, music, art, carnival, sport, writers stories, media stories and personal stories. It then shows footage of Port-au-Prince in the first few weeks and months following the earthquake in January Note that there is further information in lesson 3 about the geographical and historical stories which contributed to the vulnerability of the Haitian people when the earthquake struck. Transcript: Like any country in the world, Haiti is a country with many stories. Stories of music and art, stories about history, geography, carnival and sport, writers stories, media stories and personal stories. However, the story that many people around the world know about Haiti is just one single story: a story of disaster when a massive earthquake struck in January This first film introduces this story as a starting point for learning more about Haiti and its many other stories. These help us understand better the impact of the earthquake and why it still affects the lives of so many people in Haiti today. Devastation The Caribbean country of Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. There are many reasons for this, including the legacy of its history and where it is in the world: Haiti lies in a place where earthquakes, as well as hurricanes and floods, are likely to happen. The repetition of these kinds of events can make it difficult for people to get on with ordinary life and make it harder for the country to develop. Haiti is also one of the most unequal countries in the Western Hemisphere, with a wide gap between the way in which the richest and poorest people live. Extreme inequality keeps some people poor while others do well. On January 12 th 2010 a massive earthquake struck Haiti. It killed more than 200,000 people, injured over 300,000 more and caused widespread destruction. The earthquake was powerful - measuring 7 on the Richter Scale - and close to the surface. It was followed by a number of aftershocks, each causing more destruction. Even worse, its centre was just 10 miles from Haiti s capital city, Port-au-Prince, where millions of Haitians live. An earthquake of this power would cause huge damage wherever it hit, but Haiti was especially vulnerable. Many buildings in Port-au-Prince were badly built, so they fell over easily in the quake. This killed and injured many and raised the number of homeless people to over 1.5 million. Hospital Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 4

5 and emergency services were quickly overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis, having lost staff, buildings and equipment. The Haitian government was also badly affected in this way. Relief Having worked in Haiti for more than 35 years, Oxfam was in a good position to provide help immediately after the quake. This reached about half a million people, mainly focusing on providing clean water, toilets and washing facilities which help to prevent diseases spreading. Oxfam also paid earthquake survivors to provide plastic sheeting for temporary shelters. These workers could then use the money they earned to buy items they needed after losing so many of their belongings. Oxfam set up 80 canteens, employing people with experience in running shops and restaurants to provide hot meals for survivors in the first few months after the quake. The earthquake crisis created a long-lasting challenge to rebuild the lives of survivors who continue to face the effects of tropical storms and outbreaks of deadly diseases like cholera. Despite working hard to help themselves, the United Nations estimated that more than 800,000 Haitian people were still in need of extra help four years later. Video ends Inequality in Haiti One legacy of Haiti s colonial history is that French is one of two official languages, used in most written texts and for administrative purposes. Yet only around 10% of Haitians have sufficient secondary-school education to read and speak this. The second official language is Haitian Creole, spoken by the vast majority of Haitians. Its vocabulary is derived principally from French, but has influences from West Africa, Taino, Spanish and Portuguese That so much of the population cannot access one of the official languages, French, contributes to Haiti s high levels of inequality because those who speak, read and write French fluently usually have access to better-paid work. There are many examples of extreme inequality in Haiti. Inequality - or a wide gap between people in terms of their resources or opportunities - is known to keep many of the poorest members of a community in poverty. For example, unequal access to land in Haiti limits farmers to how much food they can grow. Furthermore, rebuilding after the quake was slowed down because of disputes between land owners and those who had been made homeless. For further information on inequality in Haiti, see the Teachers Overview. Stories from Haiti video 2: Extract from Kembe La by Jeffrey Dessources This video shows further footage of Port-au-Prince in the first few weeks and months after the earthquake, accompanied by an extract from a poem written in response to the earthquake by Jeffrey Dessources, also known as MrJeffDess. Pupils will be analysing this poem in detail in lesson 2. Kembe La is an appropriate title for the poem because it was the poorest, Creole-speaking Haitians living in and around Port-au-Prince who suffered most as a result of the earthquake. Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 5

6 Extract from Kembe La used in video 2 When the dust eventually clears my tears of hope will cleanse the souls of lives lost My hopeful heart does not wave goodbye but waves go forth with deep intensity and memory My communication is not by phone but I will reach through the rubble and hold your hands when no one can My mornings are filled with prayers for your afternoons and evenings My rainbow colored smile will illuminate your surrounding darkness My dull pencils will serve as additional soldiers in your battlefield My tongue is saturated with the moisture you need to survive My words will create coverage for the moments that rain explodes and runs down your cheek My blood is your blood My pain is your pain Your strength is my strength Your language is my speech We stand united when we re expected to fall We are Mankind We are Humanity Hear us roar and hear us sing songs of peace When the earth shook and swallowed our beauty The earth became filled with peace and love After shaking we sing and pray and laugh and cry and live Together we shall drink each other s tears of joy and pain to negate our nightmare and to empower our dreams Kembe La because it is necessary Kembe La because they need us to Kembe La Kembe La Kembe La Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 6

7 Thousands feared dead as earthquake measuring 7.0 devastates Haiti By DAVID GARDNER and LIZ HAZELTON UPDATED: 14:18, 13 January 2010 Death toll unknown, communication cut off Presidential palace in ruins and UN building reduced to rubble 200 feared dead in one hotel collapse alone Red Cross fears up to three million people could be affected Quake felt in Jamaica, Cuba and Dominican Republic Strongest earthquake to hit Haiti since 1770 Thousands of people are feared dead in Haiti after a massive 7.0 earthquake devastated one of the world s poorest countries. Bloodstained bodies lay strewn in the street of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as the full horror of the disaster began to emerge in the early hours of today. Eyewitnesses said gravely injured Haitians were crying out from the rubble, pleading for doctors as night fell. With the country in chaos and facing still more damage from a series of 30 aftershocks, their cries went mostly unheard. Digging with their bare hands: A woman receives assistance in a collapsed building in Portau-Prince. Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 7

8 Stories from Haiti record sheet: part 1 (lessons 1-6) What I already know about Haiti Lessons What new stories I learnt about Haiti How I felt about these stories Most interesting points 1. What is Haiti s story? 2. Artists stories 3. Where and when stories Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 8

9 Lessons What new stories I learnt about Haiti How I felt about these stories Most interesting points 4. Earthquake: media stories 5. Earthquake: role play 6. Earthquake: a Haitian-style story Reflection: key points I now know about Haiti Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 9

10 Stories from Haiti record sheet: part 2 (lessons 7-12) Oxfam Education Lessons What new stories I learnt about Haiti How I felt about these stories Most interesting points 7. Rebuilding: media stories 8. Rebuilding: survivors stories 9. Rebuilding: a fair story? Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 10

11 Lessons What new stories I learnt about Haiti How I felt about these stories Most interesting points 10. Rebuilding: a new story 11. Sharing the story 12. Telling our own story Reflection: key message(s) for my own story of Haiti Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 11

12 What is Haiti like? Brainstorm as many adjectives (descriptive words) as you can based on each photograph of Haiti you see. Start a new scroll for each photograph. Copyright Oxfam GB. You may reproduce this document for educational purposes only. Page 12