I am fascinated by the amount of “International” and “Special” days there are in the world or even in one day! There seems to be a special day for everything from bees (May 20th) to porridge (10th October) – yes really!
Let me share with you an important day coming up that you might be able to discuss with your class or even work on a lesson or two! On May 29th, there is an “International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.” The U.N. was organised at the close of World War II in the hope of preventing another World War.
UN peacekeeping has been developed to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for lasting peace since the first mission was established in May 1948. There have been a total of 63 UN peacekeeping operations. Currently, more than 100,000 military and civilian personnel serve in 20 UN peace operations worldwide.
Some resources on Mash.ie to promote peace:
Here are some ideas for this day that could be used in the classroom!
- Organise a National Class or school “Peace Day”.
- Look at your class, which countries do your class represent? Draw flags of that country and write a simple greeting in that language on it!
- Locate some other flags and information of other flags from different countries.
- Look at the flag of the U.N. It shows how the earth might look from the North Pole. You can see every continent except Antartica. The leaves around the map are olive branches, ancient symbols of peace.
- Have an International Food Day, everyone is to bring something typical of their homeland or their ancestors’ homeland.
- Have a big class debate- What would happen if (in 100 years time) if there was only one nation-and it was called THE WORLD- List 3 good things and 3 bad things.
Some ideas to get you going, you could get mileage out of this theme if you wanted!
So, just in case you need a filler or an emergency lesson plan- why not give peace a chance!