by Nina Bugajska | 2 Jun 2022 | Economy, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Youth Voices
Immigrants around the world often face discrimination. But they can help drive economic growth and in my country are among the best educated. Protesters in Zurich demonstrate against an initiative that would limit the number of migrant workers in Switzerland, 9...
Many students have strong convictions about issues, so strong that their perspective can be clouded. So we encourage students to base their reporting on solid data and authoritative sources. In her story about immigrants in Switzerland, Nina Bugajska of Realgymnasium Rämibühl in Zurich cites a global polling company, a German data specialist, the Swiss federal statistics office and a Swiss consulting company, and she interviews a university professor, giving her a solid foundation for her look into the important role that immigrants play in Switzerland’s economy. Immigration is a topic that is easily manipulated by political demagogues, making Bugajska’s story a valuable contribution to clear thinking.
Exercise: Ask your students to choose a controversial topic and then find authoritative data, relevant to the issue, that is collected by official authorities, academics or private companies. They should then summarize what the data says about the issue.
by Chloe Patricof and Anabella Paige | 5 May 2022 | Contest winners, Educators' Catalog, Hewitt, Journalism, Media Literacy, Podcasts, Student Posts, Youth Voices
The world is awash in misinformation. But can we rein it in without eroding free speech? Our podcast explores this thorny issue facing our societies. News Decoder · Let's Talk About It This story won second prize in News Decoder’s 12th Storytelling...
Many young people find it difficult to write. They can struggle to convey their thoughts and can get bogged down in convoluted sentences. Our recommendation is to write as though you are explaining an issue to your family over dinner – to keep it simple. That’s one reason a podcast can offer a more natural way to examine an issue, even one as thorny as free speech. In their engaging podcast, Chloe Patricof and Anabella Paige of The Hewitt School speak naturally about a tough topic – misinformation – and turn to the managing editor of a U.S. media company to explore whether government regulation is an answer. Such a conversation can be an alluring way to delve into a knotty issue.
Exercise: Have your students pair up and record a conversation about a polarizing issue in their community, making sure to try to convey the views of all legitimate sides.
by Katharine Lake Berz and Daneese Rao | 28 Apr 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Ukraine, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
For more than 150 years, the Red Cross has remained neutral in wars. Today, it still defends that stance against critics as Russia ravages Ukraine. A man presses paper with a red cross on it against the windshield of a bus as civilians are evacuated from Irpin, on the...
For many people, the war in Ukraine seems one of the latest litmus tests of ideological purity: One side is good, the other side bad. So it is with politics in many countries: One side is right, the other wrong. Nowadays it can be difficult, especially for youth, to understand why diplomats speak to all sides in an armed conflict, or why the Red Cross would remain neutral in Ukraine. In their story, Katharine Lake Berz and Daneese Rao, fellows at the University of Toronto, examine why the 159-year-old Red Cross, true to tradition, has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion so it can offer aid to victims on all sides of the conflict. It’s a valuable lesson for a world hungry for harmony.
Exercise: Have your students debate this resolution: “The Red Cross should condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.”
by Monica Kidd | 22 Apr 2022 | Decoders, Economy, Educators' Catalog, Environment, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
I am interested in carbon credits — permits that offset greenhouse emissions. So I bought a tonne of carbon. Here’s what I learned. (Photo courtesy of Cory Willis of Willis Farms, Inc. in Tennessee, United States) Anyone with a credit card and the inclination...
Climate change is an existential challenge that resonates particularly strongly with young people, but much of the debate around how to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius remains abstract. Carbon credits are considered part of the solution, but just what is a carbon credit? Monica Kidd, a Global Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, asked herself that same question, but instead of simply consulting a text book, she went out and bought a tonne of carbon for $15 and then listened to the farmer who made the sale explain how it works and why carbon credits are not a silver bullet in the climate fight. Understanding the complexities of problems is the sine qua non to pinpointing solutions.
Exercise: Break students into groups and ask each group to buy a tonne of carbon and then explain how they have contributed to the fight against global warming and why it is not enough.
by Jalal Nazari | 20 Apr 2022 | Asia, Educators' Catalog, Religion, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows, Women
The Taliban have barred girls from schools in Afghanistan. So some of them gather secretly in homes in Kabul, drawn together by a former teacher. Hassan Adib leads a discussion of “Memories of a translator” by Mohhamad Qazi in Kabul, April 2022. (Photo by...
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan means millions of girls cannot attend school. Many young people outside of the country know this, but it is difficult for them to conceive just what this means for a young Afghan girl their age. In his story, Jalal Nazari, an Afghan now living in Canada where he is a Global Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, takes us inside Kabul homes, where about 30 teenage girls meet secretly twice a month to improve their reading and writing skills. To hear the girls and their teacher speak adds a highly personal dimension to a conflict that for many young people remains distant and abstract. The courage they show in the face of Taliban strictures is a reminder to young people everywhere that education is a privilege not to be taken lightly.
Exercise: Ask your students to interview their parents, asking them why education is important, and then to write an essay quoting their parents and adding their own thoughts.
by Octavian-Anton Ghisa | 14 Apr 2022 | Contest winners, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Student Posts, Transylvania College, Ukraine, Youth Voices
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent millions of refugees into neighboring nations. I live in Romania, where the war has stirred compassion and fear. A Ukrainian refugee on a bus at the Romanian-Ukrainian border in Siret, Romania, 8 March 2022 (AP Photo/Andreea...
War in Europe has awakened an entire generation in the West to the horrible realities of armed conflict. Octavian-Anton Ghisa lives in Romania, which borders Ukraine, and so he naturally takes a keen interest in the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have poured over the border since Russia invaded Ukraine. Ghisa, a student at Transylvania College, combines that interest with a knack for listening to others and produces a piece that captures a powerful mix of emotions: “fear, stress, compassion, panic and even ambivalence.” Listening carefully is a skill that does not come naturally to many young people but which underpins any solid reporting.
Exercise: Ask each student to interview a parent about a difficult moment in their youth and to write a short article based on quotes from the interview.
by Aralynn Abare McMane | 14 Apr 2022 | Art, Educators' Catalog, Ukraine
News groups around the world are encouraging children shocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to turn to art as an outlet for their worries. Youth around the world are drawing pictures in an outpouring of support for the children of Ukraine. My nonprofit, Global...
The war in Ukraine has been traumatic for young people around the globe who have never seen armed conflict in Europe and who may not have followed atrocities in Syria, Yemen or elsewhere in the world. Social media platforms have broadcast terrifying images from Ukraine, and teachers have struggled to help students absorb the atrocities. Aralynn McMane, a News Decoder trustee who specializes in how news media can better serve the young, has pulled together artwork by young people inside and outside of Ukraine that channels their emotions while packing a punch. Art, and not just words, can convey complicated thoughts.
Exercise: Ask your students to draw a picture that captures their feelings about the war in Ukraine.
by Nela Piwonska | 31 Mar 2022 | Educators' Catalog, Europe, Human Rights, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Ukraine, Youth Voices
More Ukrainians have fled to Poland than any other country. Like so many Poles, my relatives are doing what they can to help. Displaced Ukrainians on a Poland-bound train bid farewell in Lviv, western Ukraine, 22 March 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Here’s how...
The best journalists are good listeners. They hear the words of those worth listening to, and they offer the best quotes to their audience to give voice to the protagonists of the story. Many young writers have difficulty hearing and passing along those quotes. But Nela Piwonska of Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zurich is an exception to the rule and proves it with captivating quotes from relatives in Poland who are on the front lines of Europe’s latest refugee crisis. Against a heartbreaking backdrop of families fleeing war, Piwonska manages to offer an uplifting final quote: “The only positive change in my life is the realisation of how much good is left in people.”
Exercise: Divide your students into teams of two and have them interview each other and then write stories that are based primarily on quotes.
by Harvey Morris | 22 Mar 2022 | Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Ukraine, World
Three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revived dormant fears of a catastrophic nuclear war. Russian missile launchers, capable of firing nuclear warheads, in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 9 May 2016 (AP...
The world’s optimists thought the era of Mutually Assured Destruction was over with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stirred fears of nuclear war – anxieties that many young people around the world have never experienced. Harvey Morris takes a horrific topic – what he calls “a suicide pact between the superpowers” – and examines the irony of the nuclear age: that to ensure there would be no nuclear war, the United States and the Soviet Union both had to have weapons of mass destruction. He offers a highly readable introduction to the harsh realities of the nuclear age – realities that all generations are compelled to live with.
Exercise: Ask your students to debate the resolution: “The best way to ensure there will never be nuclear war is to ensure adversaries have recourse to nuclear weapons.”
by Kai Lengwiler | 14 Mar 2022 | Contest winners, Educators' Catalog, Europe, Health and Wellness, Politics, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Youth Voices
What’s the best way for a country to curb heroin addiction? My nation, Switzerland, offers an example for the world to follow. This video won first prize in News Decoder’s 11th Storytelling Contest. The year is 1985, and Switzerland is faced with one of...
Video is the flavor of the day for both mainstream and social media, but few know how much work goes into a quality product. Kai Lengwiler of Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zurich weaves extensive research, including exclusive interviews, and compelling music and images into his 14-minute video that examines Switzerland’s controversial approach to combating the use of hard drugs. Lengwiler promises that viewers will have a better understanding of drug epidemics and how to fight them after watching the video, and he lives up to his promise.
Exercise: Ask your students to produce a three-minute video exploring an issue of global concern, including excerpts of at least one exclusive interview and rights-free music.
