In Our Own Backyard: A Teaching Guide for the Rights of the Child

Christine Linge is a past director of the Toronto & District Parent
Co-operative Preschool Corporation and a freelance writer.

In his preface, James Grant, Executive Director of UNICEF, speaks
persuasively of the need for adults in child-serving positions to become
familiar with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (which Canada
ratified in 1991), and refers to the child’s right to an education
that encourages understanding between cultures. In their introduction to
this teaching guide for Grades 1 through 8, the authors augment this
with a special focus on the Convention Rights that describe the
importance of children’s participation in the decisionmaking process.

Indeed, a participatory style of learning is integral to the many
educational resources described in the Thematic Overview. Five theme
categories are explored across two facing pages in a bulletin-board
format under the headings “Exploring,” “Responding,” “Taking
Action,” and “Up for Discussion”; under these headings are
thorough and thought-provoking lists of suggestions for discussion and
activities.

The handbook is accompanied by a colorful wall poster on the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and four pages of “Rights Cards” stating
33 of the United Nations children’s rights. The kit also includes a
page of four case studies (first-person biographies of children whose
rights have been violated). The reverse side of the page has the same
four stories without names or reference to location, making possible
activities that will encourage students to consider the universality of
rights violations. The whole of this well-constructed educational
resource is brightened by many lively illustrations.