This project (2020-1-PT01-KA226-HE-094809) has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Select language  >  EN ES HU IT LT PT RO
Login
Register

Database of Teaching Sources

A database of selected, reviewed, tested, assessed and validated e-learning based language teaching sources addressed to Higher education students for the learning of 18 different European languages.

Back to Teaching Sources

Human rights in the UN Council

Date of Publication

22.06.2021

Target Group

Lecturers
Students

Domain Area

International Relations
Law

Learning Scenario

Autonomous learning
Classroom Context

Target Language

Romanian

Language of Instruction

Any language

CEFR level

B2
C1

Type of Material

Activity/task
Audio

Linguistic Features

Vocabulary

Skills

Listening
Speaking
Critical Thinking

Description

The topic of the podcast (duration – 3:04) is the 47th edition of the UN Council on human rights. Following the discussion of the crises in Myanmar, Belarus and Nicaragua, as well as systemic racism and police violence against the people of African origin, the UN High Commissioner for human rights presented a report on serious violations of human rights in Tigray, Ethiopia, caused by hunger – a report which draws attention to the dramatic situation in the region. In what follows, High Commissioner mentioned the Chinese region Xinjiang in which some serious human rights violations were observed in re-education camps for the Uyghur minority. Moreover, the report discusses the situation in Russia: High Commissioner insists that Moscow respect civil and political rights as the legislative elections are approaching.

Case study

Human rights in the UN Council / Drepturile omului și Consiliul ONU
The podcast on the real-world problems, with multiple educational, cultural and social value, has been used in a 90 minute module with B1/B2/C1 level students who major in Philology. The goal was to develop and test listening skills on human rights and law terminology. The material and the exercises was adapted to students’ linguistic levels; listening activities included pre-teaching of specialized vocabulary. The exercises were resolved successfully, students’ self-confidence and motivation increased during the class. The podcast could also be used in different types of modules to develop and test students’ capacities to critically write and speak on the subject. It is suitable for both individual and group work, online and offline. Mirjana Ćorković, Faculty of Philology, Romanian Language and Literature Department, University of Belgrade

Guidelines

1. Teacher announces the topic – Human rights.
2. Warm up activity. Teacher asks the following questions: What do you know about human rights? What international organisations monitor the way human rights are respected in different countries? How can people fight for human rights? Why is it important that human rights be respected at both national and international level? What is the situation with human rights like in your country?
3. Students listen to the podcast 2-3 times. Teachers gove students a handout with the list of the regions mentioned in the report and the respective problems and select them from the list.
4. Students practice active listening and are encouraged to identify and write down specific terms and phrases related to Human Rights. Students compare lists and all meanings are clarified at this stage.
5. Teacher divides all students in teams of 3. Teacher asks students to prepare a report in reference to human rights in one of the regions mentioned in the UN Council report. Students are randomly assigne these regions or they can choose based on what they are already familiar with. Students are encouraged to
6. Students present their reports in front of the group.
7. The whole group votes for the best report according to the following criteria: a) the relevance of the presented information; b) the power of persuasion – the impact on the audience.
Achieved results:
- the use of the specialized vocabulary from the target field
- the development of the skill of listening to a specialized text and extracting the relevant information
- the accumulation of knowledge in the field of Law and International politics
- the development of critical thinking
- the development of the skill of writing a report.
Risks that have to be taken into account:
- students should be guided by the teacher for an efficient use of the resource

Review

Category
Rate
Comprehensive approach
Capacity to match the needs of lecturers and students

5

Added value
The provided tangible improvements

4

Motivation enhancement
The capacity to motivate students to improve their language skills

5

Innovation
Effectiveness in introducing innovative, creative and previously unknown approaches to LSP learning

2

Transferability
Measurement of the transferable potential and possibility to be a source of further capitalisation/application for other language projects in different countries

4

Skills assessment and validation
Availability of appropriate tools for lecturers to monitor students’ progress and for students to assess own progress and to reflect on learning

4

Adaptability
Flexibility of the contents and possibilities for the LSP lecturers to adapt the contents to their and to students’ need

4

Usability
Assess the technical usability from the point of view of the lecturer and the student

5

Accessibility
Assess the accessibility from the point of view of the lecturer and the student

5

Comments:
The podcast (duration – 3:04) contains a set of terms from the legal and political fields, and its topicality will, no doubt, be of interest for students, enhancing their motivation, all the more as it presents a situation of genuine use of language. Overall, this resource meets the needs of both students and lecturers, as students can use it rather autonomously, while lecturers can add this resource to their set of teaching resources and, based on the video, they can create/adapt other activities/questions/tasks related to the topic. Thus, we recommend using this material during the lessons on the specialized vocabulary in the field of Law and International politics, level B2-C1.
Website of the Teaching Source:
Visit