What rights do children actually have? And what do children’s rights look like in everyday life, at school and around the world?

This English-language worksheet set gives students an accessible and engaging introduction to World Children’s Day and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Instead of simply memorising individual rights, learners are encouraged to read, think, discuss, evaluate and express their own opinions in English.

The material combines English language learning with an important global topic and is therefore ideal for communicative English lessons, cross-curricular learning and project work.

The material includes 3 worksheets:

1. Understanding Children’s Rights
Students begin with everyday situations and decide whether they think they are okay, questionable or not okay. They then learn about World Children’s Day, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and eight important children’s rights, including education, equality, privacy, health and protection from violence.

2. Applying Children’s Rights
Learners match real-life situations to the appropriate rights and consider cases in which different rights or interests may conflict. A further section looks at children’s rights around the world, including education, child labour, war and displacement, clean water and health.

3. Children’s Rights at Our School
Students reflect on how children’s rights are respected in their own school. They consider topics such as fairness, participation, bullying, privacy and breaks before developing and explaining their own idea for a new children’s right.

The activities provide plenty of opportunities for reading comprehension, speaking, discussion, vocabulary development and short writing tasks. They can be completed individually, with a partner or as the basis for a whole-class discussion.

Suitable for: English lessons • World Children’s Day • children’s rights • project work • global education • social learning • citizenship education • speaking activities • reading comprehension • discussion tasks • secondary school