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 Joseph Katusabe | 7 Apr 2022 | African Leadership Academy, Human Rights, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I’m a staunch Catholic. But I object when the Church rejects gays. Everyone should be celebrated regardless of their sexuality. Two gay women stand in front of a statue of Mary at a convent in Luedinghausen, Germany, 24 January 2022. (Guido Kirchner/dpa via AP)...
by Kamuskay Kamara | 5 Apr 2022 | Africa, African Leadership Academy, Contest winners, Education, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I have always wondered why my Mom gave me a merciless beating over a piece of meat. But that meal changed my life for the better. The author with his mother and elder sister Isata in 2009 This story won second prize in News Decoder’s 11th Storytelling Contest....
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 Varlee S Fofana | 29 Mar 2022 | Africa, African Leadership Academy, Education, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
We studied together ahead of exams. What I learned about friendship and adversity at study camp in West Africa will serve me for life. At study camp in 2019 in Kpelleh Town Community, Jacob Town, Painesville, Liberia. From left to right, Teddy Jallah, Varlee Fofana,...
by Nelson Graves | 25 Mar 2022 | Faculty in the Spotlight, News Decoder Updates, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Students in the Spotlight
Zurich’s oldest high school wins News Decoder’s Spotlight award for its creative engagement and its students’ exemplary, multimedia work. Martin Bott (far left) with RGZH students from his Media Week class (L to R): Lucy Beckenbauer, Aruna Steineck...
by Theodor M. A. Davidoff | 24 Mar 2022 | Europe, Personal Reflections, Politics, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Youth Voices
My grandmother has spent her entire life in Georgia. The Soviet Union was not all bad, she said, but Georgia’s dawning independence was beautiful. My grandfather and grandmother, Ellen Bagdasarian Davidova, getting married in 1967 “My name is Ellen Davidova,...
by Lucy Beckenbauer | 21 Mar 2022 | Health and Wellness, Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich, Student Posts, Youth Voices
Cutting, burning, hitting oneself are all forms of self-harm. It’s important to grasp why young people do it and for schools to help them manage stress. (Image courtesy of the University of Oxford) If you’re a high school student in a class of 20 pupils,...
