Урок "Building Family Bonds.Child Abuse"

The topic of the lesson: Building Family Bonds. Child Abuse.

Objectives: - to practice new vocabulary in pupils’ speech;

• to introduce the word “child abuse”;
• to practice pupils in listening.

Equipments:  “English”  for 11th form by L.V. Kalinina,  poem “The Day No Child Would Cry” by Tiggah, text for listening.

Type of lesson:  language practice

                                           Procedure

1. Greeting

2. T. Today the topic of our lesson is devoted to the problem of child abuse.

Warming –  up.

T. Read the poem  ”The Day No Child Would Cry” and practice the sounds /ai/ and /w/. Comment on the author’s message for parents and children.

The Day No Child Would Cry

We all grow from learning

Right  from  wrong.

Why would we hurt a child?

Children need love.

We, as parents,

Are taught  to provide it.

We need to learn to give

A child a day of smiles and joy,

And the   freedom to be a child.

Never lay our troubles on them.

When a day comes when a child doesn’t cry,

Will be the day the world

Will become a  brighter place.

A child lights up the world.

Speaking.

T. Today we are going to discuss the problem of child abuse. Do you know what  child abuse is?

 Now our experts give us some information about this problem.

Expert 1. Child abuse – the act of causing deliberate physical harm to a child, or cruelty, or lack of attention which might be harmful to a child. It appears to be a growing problem in both Britain and the USA, and it is receiving a great deal of attention from the public, the media, and the both governments. Action is being taken to deal with it through social care agencies, social workers, and the police. The public, teachers, and doctors are asked to report cases when they suspect child abuse. It is often found to be a child’s parent, esp. the father, who responsible, but also sometimes it can be other family members, a teacher, or another person who looks after the child.

T. Here there are some information from Kenya Christian Fellowship in America about child abuse.

  Expert 2. What Is Child Abuse? It is the mistreatment or neglect of a child. It is a terrible act on a child considering that the child trusts the adult to love, nurture and protect wellbeing of the child. Child abuse leaves emotional, physical and psychological scars or marks in a child. Child abuse should be a concern of the Diaspora Community.

Expert 3. Child Abuse Categories:
Child abuse falls into categories of abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, physical and emotional abuse. I want to address physical abuse because it is one area where many African values clash with American law. I will attempt to answer the following questions which might be helpful to readers: What is physical abuse? Who reports parents? Excuse me, “When does spanking, whooping and beating a child for discipline become abuse?”   When should physical punishment be used? What happens if you are accused of child abuse? Why are children removed from the home? My articles end with What next? From my Heart to yours. The later is from my philosophy on the subject of Children/Adolescents and their families.

Expert 4. What is physical abuse? Physical abuse results from physical punishment that leaves a mark on the body of a minor child. A minor child is a boy or a girl under the age of 18 years, but most States now refer to teenagers from the age of 17 as adults.

Expert 5. Who reports the abuse? The strongest case of child abuse is basically from the direct report of the child. A teacher or an adult might notice that a child is having trouble writing and that they have a bruise on their hand. Or the child is having problems sitting on a desk with their buttocks. The teacher might ask open ended questions in an attempt to know, “What happened to your hand?” or “Why are you having problems sitting still?” The child might reply, “My dad beat me with a belt.” Because most children do not edit their communication, most of the times they are downright honest. Sometimes this simple and direct report is enough information to initiate reporting and investigating a family for child abuse. In many public school systems reporting is done within 24 hours from the time it is discovered. In other words, from the time your child arrives at school, and up to the time they leave, a lot will have happened.

Expert 6. Why are children removed from the home? One of the most heart wrenching and painful experiences any parent can go through is to have children removed from home. If this happens, remember that God is still in control. The government is not interested in disrupting your parental rights, nor does it want to keep your children permanently. In fact, there are not enough foster care homes. But don’t let this deceive you. The government has potential to disrupt your parental rights and to place your child in foster care. The government would prefer for you to assume your social responsibility of providing care for your family. .

Expert 7. The Yellow Tape: Children are removed from home to protect the victim (the abused child) and other minor children (siblings) in the same home from further abuse. Remember that when one child is being abused, the siblings watch in silence and in fear. They do not know whether tomorrow they are next. Think of the act of removing children from the home as an act of putting a yellow tape around a crime scene to seal it off, so that it is not contaminated, until the evidence is compiled and the investigation is completed.

I. Listening.

T. Listen to the text “A Child’s Cry – A Personal Story of Child Abuse”, try to understand it in order to discuss the problem of child abuse.

I. Pre-listening activity.

Vocabulary Practice.

To deserve every punch-

To dread

In my belly

The relief fall from me

Dread knot of fear

To tore into me

II. While- listening activity

T. Listen to the story and say what kind of abuse was it, how long it lasts and what was the way out of it.

                          A Child’s Cry – A Personal Story of Child Abuse

If you have ever been the victim of child abuse, I can definitely relate. I was emotionally and physically abused by  my mother until the age of 16. I felt a lot of the abuse was my fault and I deserved every punch in the face and every burn from the cigarette. I know now that none of the abuse was my fault and that I didn’t deserve any of it.

I kept it a secret from everyone. I hid the marks with long sleeves and jeans. My grades were good, they had to be and no one ever suspected anything was going on.

I dreaded going home. I walked slow, fear rising in my belly, wondering if I had completely finished all my chores before I left for school that day.

My father knew nothing until years later. He drove a semi truck cross country and was gone for weeks at a time. When he came home I felt the relief fall from me. His coming was always short lived though, usually just a couple of days and the dreaded knot of fear would begin to tighten as he began packing for another long period of absence. I hated to see him go.

I was not allowed friends, the ones I had were in secret. They never called because I lied and said I didn’t have a phone. There were no sleepovers, again I lied to my friends and told them my mother had bad headaches maybe next weekend.

I ran away from home at 15 but was soon found by police. When my mother made it to the police station, she tore into me right there and I yelled to everyone, to anyone that would hear me. “Don’t you see why I don’t want to go home?” They thought  it just teenage rebellion and sent me home with her anyway.

I got it worse that night, worse than I had ever gotten it. She told me she “brought me into this world and she would take me out of it”. I have heard other parents say this to their children as a bit of a joke but she was serious.

I left at age 16 to move in with my father. (By this time my parents were divorced.) I told him everything that had happened all those many years and he cried long and hard and asked me to forgive him for being so blind.

I can never forgive her. She will continue to haunt my dreams and cast a shadow over my life. I will never forget.

III. After – reading activity

 Mark the following statement true or false.

1. The girl was a victim of child abuse.
2. The girl’s mother thought it was all her fault.
3. The girl told her friends about the abuse.
4. The girl didn’t focus much on her study.
5. The girl was afraid to come home.
6. The girl’s father worked away from home.
7. The girl’s mother invited her daughter’s friends to a sleepover party.
8. When the girl was twelve, she ran away from home.
9. The police didn’t let the woman take the girl home.
10.  Her father was shocked when he learned about the mother’s violence.

Speaking.

T. Let’s discuss the relationship in your families.

            1. How do you interact with your parents?

            2. How do you maintain trust in the family?

            3. How dependent are you on your parents?

            4. How do your parents respect your rights?

            5. How do you resolve conflicts in the family?

            6. What children’s rights are cherished in Ukrainian families?

            7. How do Ukrainian and English –speaking countries tackle the problem of child abuse?

IV. Summarizing.

      Homework. In your workbook, write an essay “Spare the rod, spoil the child?”