by Rafiullah Nikzad | 12 May 2023 | Asia, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Journalism
For 20 years Afghan journalists could report without fear or favor. With the Taliban in control they are out of favor and under intense fear. Many have fled. Afghan journalists attend a press conference of a former president Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Afghanistan, 13...
Guest writer Rafiullah Nikzad shares his experience as a journalist forced to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban retook control in 2021. This article underscores the importance of a free press, in line with News Decoder’s mission to amplify voices that are under-reported and under-heard.
Exercise: Read the article together as a class, then launch a discussion on the importance of a free press. What does independent journalism bring to a country? Why might some governments seek to censor what is published? What are the social, political, economic and legal frameworks that underpin a free press? Have students investigate the level of press freedom in your country, using the Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders. You may consider having students conduct a comparative analysis of several country case studies.
by Jessica Moody | 10 May 2023 | Africa, Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights
Sudan is surrounded by unstable nations. A humanitarian crisis could result in refugees flooding into countries ill-equipped to handle the crisis. 150 evacuees from Sudan on a relief flight returning to Qatar, 5 May 2023. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo) This article was...
Conflict in Sudan is causing a humanitarian crisis. Correspondent Jessica Moody decodes what’s going on in Africa’s third largest country with a look at the past, present and future implications of the conflict. Could what’s happening in Sudan expand throughout the region?
Exercise: In an exercise to grow students’ synthesis skills, have them read the article, then come up with their own headline for the text. Their headline should synthesize the most important takeaways from the article. As a follow-up, ask students to consider how this headline has changed as a result of reading the article. How does students’ view of the Sudanese conflict differ from what they would have said yesterday? (Exercise adapted from Ron Ritchhart’s Making Thinking Visible).
by Clover Choi | 4 Apr 2023 | Contest winners, Europe, School Year Abroad, Student Posts
France has spent hundreds of millions to help refugees with housing, schooling and jobs. But for those who aren’t fluent in French, life remains difficult. The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with the colors of Ukraine to mark the one-year anniversary of...
by News Decoder | 23 Feb 2023 | Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Nationalism, Ukraine
Our correspondents and youth voices tackled many facets of this complicated conflict. We give out the breadth of our Ukraine coverage to help you sort it out. People in Brovary, Ukraine on 19 February 2023 kneel at a funeral procession for the body of a man killed...
As the world marks the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve put together a compilation of News Decoder coverage of the war this year. Help your students decode this complicated news event with a look at the conflict through the eyes of refugees, expats, international law and neighboring countries.
Exercise: Begin with a class discussion around the unifying question, “How might war affect countries beyond combat on the battlefield?” Students might come up with answers like: food rationing, being forced to relocate etc. Then, divide your class into four groups, each corresponding to one subheading of the article compilation (i.e. Ukrainians united, Russia responds, Refugee havens and Beyond Ukraine’s borders). In each group, have students choose one article to read together from their respective subcategory, taking notes as they go. As students read, have them synthesize the main idea of the article to share with the rest of the class. Have 1-2 spokespeople from each group share out after all students finish reading, framing their contributions around the initial class question.
by Helen Womack | 22 Jun 2022 | Human Rights, Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed the global total of refugees to over 100 million. Refugees are like you and me — but not always welcome. The author (center) with two Afghan refugees at Branko Pešić school in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2019. (Photo courtesy of...
