What does Peace mean? TEF Fellow Emily talks to students in Chemnitz
On April 9, our Transatlantic Educators Fellow, Emily, visited Landesschule für Blinde und Sehbehinderte Chemnitz’s Tag der offenen Tür. Read her short report below.
After listening to the first hand testimonies and realities of the war in Ukraine during the DAIS »Ukraine on our Minds« event, my colleagues and I began organizing lessons for our students about peace at Landesschule für Blinde und Sehbehinderte Chemnitz.
Never in my lifetime has conflict been more of a reality, so that calls into question what peace means. The students in the older classes (10/9/8/7/6) gathered words and new information about peace from making mind maps and reading about peace profiles.
I compiled information of four notable peace profiles, Martin Luther King Jr., Helen Keller, Mahatma Gandhi, and Malala Yousafzai. The students worked together to read about a peace activist and shared with the class who the activist is, what their mission is, and what peace is through their work. This elicited some meaningful discussions about what peace can mean to each person.
The students collected some words and their own definitions of peace. Then, students wrote what peace means for them on individual flower petals, and when they were put together, each petal contributed to a class peace flower. Class 3 and 4 also put together peace flowers with an adjusted lesson for their language skills. The peace flowers were hung for the »Tag der offenen Tür« event at the Saxon Rehabilitationszentrum community day. The public was able to see our peace flowers and hear more about the English program at LBS.
The Transatlantic Educators Fellowship strengthens transatlantic perspectives in classrooms with a resourceful group of transatlantic educators.
The program facilitates a network to connect and encourage transatlantic dialogue at schools in Central Germany.
Find out more about the Transatlantic Educators Fellowship 2022 here!