SOURCE: NYTimes.com
by HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO
For today’s lesson, we collaborated again — as we did last fall on a lesson about the famine in Somalia — with the Global Nomads Group, an international organization that creates interactive educational programs for students about global issues, to foster dialogue and understanding about the world.
This lesson can be taught on its own or used in conjunction with Global Nomads’ Human Trafficking webcast, scheduled for Thursday. If you are interested in participating with your classes, visit the Global Nomads Web site.
Overview | In this lesson, students learn about human trafficking, also known as modern slavery, and how it has become one of the largest industries in the world. Using coverage of human trafficking by Nicholas D. Kristof, a Times columnist, they explore the causes of and consequences for victims and traffickers, the role of globalization and ways to respond effectively.
Materials | True-false quiz about human trafficking (see below); computers with Internet access.
Note to Teacher | The topic of human trafficking and the specific content in New York Times coverage can be graphic and may be disturbing to some students. Please preview this lesson and all related content to determine appropriateness for your group, and consider providing students with alternative materials or an alternative option.
Warm-Up | Before class, create a true-false quiz with the following five statements:
- Human trafficking only affects underdeveloped countries where poverty is an extreme problem.
- Human trafficking is the fifth-largest criminal industry worldwide.
- The estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labor are $31.6 million.
- The majority of trafficking victims are 18 to 24.
- Numerous Internet sites are used to facilitate sex trafficking.
Before students arrive, put the term “human trafficking” on the board and invite students to define the term. Write definitions or create a word web on the board with the words and phrases students contribute. Then clarify any misunderstandings and provide them with the definition. Define any unfamiliar terms.
Next, explain that they will be asked to share their basic understanding of human trafficking. Give students the brief quiz to complete independently. After a few minutes, invite students to share their responses and provide the correct answers (1. False; 2. False; 3. False; 4. True; 5. True). Ask: What surprised you?
Explain that they will now read a piece about human trafficking by Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times columnist who has made human trafficking one of the focal points of his work.
Related | In the Sunday Review article “Fighting Back, One Brothel Raid at a Time,” from Nov. 13, 2011, Mr. Kristof puts the story of one human trafficking activist into broader context:
Against my better judgment, I found myself the other day charging into a well-armed brothel in a police raid. But I was comforted to be with one of my heroes, Somaly Mam.Somaly dedicates her life to battling forced prostitution, for she herself was sold as a child to a Cambodian brothel. After enduring torture and rapes, Somaly escaped and reinvented herself as an anti-trafficking activist.It’s partly because of grass-roots activists like Somaly, both in the United States and abroad, that human trafficking is increasingly recognized as a central human rights challenge. A U.N. agency estimates that more than 12 million people are engaged in forced labor, including sexual servitude. Another U.N. report has estimated that in Asia alone, “one million children are involved in the sex trade under conditions that are indistinguishable from slavery.”
Read the entire article with your class, using the questions below.
Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:
- Who is Somaly Mam, and what work do she and her foundation do?
- How many people, including children, are thought to be engaged in false labor, including sexual servitude?
- What kinds of challenges and risks face those in the anti-trafficking movement?
- According to Mr. Kristof, what is the way to end human trafficking and sexual slavery?
- What signs of progress has Mr. Kristof observed?
Activity | Split the class evenly into class into two groups. Explain that each group will delve deeper into an aspect of the topic of human trafficking. Group 1 will look at the overall picture of human trafficking, and Group 2 will explore the contributing factors.
Provide each group with the following guiding prompts.
Group 1: Overview of Human Trafficking
Task: To investigate where human trafficking is occurring and in what forms, and how it has played out worldwide.
Questions:
- What forms do human trafficking and sexual servitude take around the world?
- Where in the world is human trafficking a serious issue? Highlight the countries on a world map.
- What forms does it take in the United States?
- Are there certain cities and towns where it is a serious problem? Highlight these places on a map of the nation.
- How are victims found and “trafficked”? What is the process?
Group 2: Causes of Human Trafficking
Task: To investigate the roots of human trafficking and the factors that play a large role in the industry.
Questions:
- What factors contribute to and exacerbate human trafficking and sex slavery?
- How are human trafficking and economics intertwined? Consider all parties involved: victims and their families, traffickers, customers, local law enforcement agencies and so on.
- How does this issue relate to social, cultural and gender-based factors, laws, politics and poverty?
- What initiatives have been undertaken to combat human trafficking? Do any of these target specific root causes, and if so, which ones and how? How effective do they seem to be?
Resources to use include all New York Times coverage of human trafficking, including Mr. Kristof’s coverage in his column and on his blog, as well as the interactive feature “Fighting Human Trafficking, Country by Country” and therelated article.
When group work is finished, each group presents its findings.
Then share this excerpt from one of Mr. Kristof’s columns, in which he tells the harrowing story of yet another sex trafficking victim, Srey Pov:
So for those of you doubtful that “modern slavery” really is an issue for the new international agenda, think of Srey Pov — and multiply her by millions. If what such girls experience isn’t slavery, that word has no meaning. It’s time for a 21st-century abolitionist movement in the U.S. and around the world.
Discuss the presentations and Mr. Kristof’s statement. Ask: What factors contribute to the growth the industry? How are the United States and other countries – on governmental, institutional and individual levels – trying to combat human trafficking? What obstacles face abolitionists? What can students do to try to raise awareness about and combat human trafficking and sexual slavery?
Going Further | Participate in the Global Nomads Group‘s live webcast on human trafficking on Thursday.
The class can also decide to get involved in the fight against human trafficking, much the way one fourth-grade class from Brookline, Mass., took initiative on anissue the pupils felt strongly about.
One way to do this is to develop a service learning project in connection to human trafficking. You might consult ideas about how to help from organizations likeRestore NYC, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Do Something.
For a project focused on raising awareness, students might do a digital story project, using photographs to tell the stories of the human trafficking industry using videos, photographs, social media or tools like Glogster.
To start the digital story project, students should first identify which facet of the industry they would like to shine a spotlight on. Identifying an angle will allow students to create a storyline and hone in on their message. They should decide on the main character and the setting for the story, as well as eye-opening facts that correlate to the pictures you’ve chosen.
Completed digital stories can be shared at a school event like an assembly, with a wider audience online or in another way that you and your students determine will be effective.
To expand from the topic to delve further into women’s issues worldwide, students read the New York Times Magazine excerpt of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book “Half the Sky.” After reading the article, they peruse the“Woman’s World” photo feature and look at the winners of Mr. Kristof’s “Half the Sky” contest.
They then choose a cause and an organization to support, or do a consciousness-raising campaign to respond to Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn’s assertion that “the paramount moral challenge” of our age is rectifying the injustices suffered by women around the globe.
Standards | This lesson is correlated to McREL’s national standards (it can also be aligned to the new Common Core State Standards):
Behavioral Studies
1. Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity and behavior.
1. Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity and behavior.
Economics
2. Understands characteristics of different economic systems, economic institutions and economic incentives.
2. Understands characteristics of different economic systems, economic institutions and economic incentives.
Geography
2. Knows the location of places, geographic features and patterns of the environment.
6. Understands that culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions.
10. Understands the nature and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
11. Understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s surface.
13. Understands the forces of cooperation and conflict that shape the divisions of Earth’s surface.
2. Knows the location of places, geographic features and patterns of the environment.
6. Understands that culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions.
10. Understands the nature and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
11. Understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s surface.
13. Understands the forces of cooperation and conflict that shape the divisions of Earth’s surface.
World History
44. Understands the search for community, stability and peace in an interdependent world.
45. Understands major global trends since World War II.
46. Understands long-term changes and recurring patterns in world history.
44. Understands the search for community, stability and peace in an interdependent world.
45. Understands major global trends since World War II.
46. Understands long-term changes and recurring patterns in world history.
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