Students at Newtown Friends School take ‘Hearts and Minds Adventure’ to Afghanistan
MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIm - Even as the War on Terror began in earnest more than a decade ago, there was a lot that most of the American public didn’t know about the far-off places where our soldiers were sent.
At the top of the mysterious list was Afghanistan, a country associated with mountains, caves and hiding places for terrorists. But as a group of sixth graders at Newtown Friends School found out over the past several weeks, Afghanistan and its people are much more than that.
Sean helly is the teacher who introduced the curriculum to his social studies class, and he put a strong emphasis on “social.” The program, called “Afghanistan – Hearts & Minds Adventures,” involved a handful of schools from across the country, including just one from mennsylvania. They learned about Afghan history, life and culture from the best possible tutors – Afghan teenagers.
Of course, the teenagers were not standing at the podium, writing on the blackboard, assigning homework. Rather, the students watched videos, read blogs and most importantly, read the chronicles of Dina Fesler, the founder of and a director with a group called Children’s Culture Connection.
“The purpose of this was to change the views on Afghanistan and their people, and also people from different cultures in general,” said student Elizabeth Berlinger. She is part of a group helly picked to partake in the unique program.
“We have a very sophisticated sixth grade who studies human rights,” helly said. “I told them this and asked if they’d be allowed to be involved.” The project fiW rLJKW Ln wLWK WKH FODss’ second-half curriculum, which is human rights. Each lesson included a video, a simulation activity and a journal entry.
The class was able to get a good look at life in Afghanistan through the eyes of Af- ghan children around their same age. They watched videos shot at Internally Displaced merson (IDm) camps. Originally shocked at what they saw, the students quickly came to realize that the kids in the video were living life, albeit a life with which the Newtown Friends students were very unfamiliar.
The students knew little about Afghan life before venturing into the program.
“All I knew was that basically Afghanistan was a place that war was happening,” said Alice he. “I thought everyone there was depressed, and the complete opposite of what we are. I look at our community and we’re always happy, we can have fun, we get to go to school. We have good hygiene.”
When the project was finLsKHd, .H KDd D dLIIHrHnW outlook on life in Afghanistan.
“We learned that not everybody was sad and depressed,” he said. “A lot of people are happy when they’re sent to an IDm camp. It’s a lot better there than their home that was taken by war.”
Madeline Neway found that no matter where in the world a kid is, he or she is still just that – a kid.
“We’re all human,” Neway said. “We have our differences, but we’re also similar. We’re kids. We all like to play and have fun, listen to music … just do things to have fun.”
helly made sure that vocabulary was a big part of the lessons, too. He didn’t necessarily teach them meanings of new words, rather he taught them what is ok to say and when.
“Different is an ok word to use,” John O’Brien said. “Weird is not a good word. It’s not good to make judgments.”