This document provides materials for a lesson on conflict diamonds and child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Students will analyze how natural resources impacted Sierra Leone's prosperity and their own role in the conflict diamond issue. The lesson includes tasks to understand global citizenship, examines images and a map related to conflict diamonds, discusses the memoir A Long Way Gone about a boy soldier, and considers current international efforts and individual actions to address the problems. Students can choose to create a rap/poem, write a letter, or conduct research on conflict diamond sales.

1. ENTRY TASK:
1.) We are global citizens!
Explain what this statement
means.
2.) What role do we play in the
blood diamond conflict?

2. OBJECTIVE:
The students will be able to analyze the
role natural resources play in a country’s
prosperity.
Standard 1: Time, Continuity and Change
 Students will understand patterns of change and continuity, relationships between people and
events through time and various interpretations of these relationships.
Standard 3: Geography
 Students will understand the interactions and relationships between human societies and their
physical environment.

3. INTERACTIVE
NOTEBOOK:
Date =
Title = Civil War
Page # =

4. RECAP –
CONCEPT MAP:Explain the issue of conflict
diamonds.
Describe the different sides of
this conflict.

5. “Stories matter, many stories matter. When we reject
the single story, when we realize that there is never a
single story about any place, we regain a kind of
paradise.”
Investigate the missing piece to the
story of conflict diamonds.
We are missing apart of the whole
story…

6. Image Analysis:
• What do you
notice in these
images?
• Does anything
surprise you?
• What is the
missing piece to
the story of
conflict
diamonds?

8. A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS
OF A BOY SOLDIER
Written by Ishmael Beah.
Ishmael was a child soldier
and refugee.

9. UNICEF defines a child solider as ‘any child, under
the age of 18, who is part of any kind of armed forces
or armed groups.’
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) is a rebel
group who attempted to overthrow the Sierra
Leonean government. To do this the RUF attacked
villages which supported the government and killed
all those in opposition (those who did not agree with
them). The RUF also abducted children and took
them back to special camps where they were trained
up to be soldiers for the RUF.

10. MAP ANALYSIS:
What does this image
show?
How is this image
related to conflict
diamonds?
What questions do
you have about this
image?

11. A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF
A BOY SOLDIER
Please come to the reading area.
Teacher: Read aloud the introduction.
Students: Explore the text.
Paraphrase
Summarize
Quote
Be prepared to share your findings!

12. A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS
OF A BOY SOLDIER
Access to the text:
Hard Copy of the Text
http://www.alongwaygone.com/long_wa
y_gone.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/boo
ks/chapters/0225-1st-beah.html

13. REFLECTION:
What connections do you see between conflict
diamonds and Ishmael’s story?
How would you describe life in Sierra Leone
during the civil war?
In what ways was his life similar & different
than yours?
What role do diamonds play in Sierra
Leone’s prosperity?

14. ISHMAEL’S
STORY:https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=PeYu7jsak-Q
https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=wv7kHcr43vk

15. WE ARE GLOBAL
CITIZENS:
What is currently being done internationally
against the sale of conflict diamonds and the
notion of child soldiers?
As global citizens, what can we do to help?
https://www.unicef.org/rightsite/484_540.htm
https://www.unicef.org/crc/

16. Option 1 –
Create you own
rap or poem:
Using what you have found out today about blood diamonds create a rap or poem showing the issues
surrounding diamonds. You must be appropriate!
• You must use at least 5 key words.
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
Option 2 –
Write a letter:
Write a letter to an important figure in the entertainment industry.
Express your concerns about the wars in West Africa being fueled by the diamond trade.
 Make suggestions about how they could play a role in a solution to the problem.
– Ex: The artists making public service announcements for fans to only buy conflict-free diamonds,
give to charitable organizations involved in exposing the problem, etc.
Option 3 –
Conduct a
research report:
Using reliable sources, conduct research to determine if stores in Dubai sell conflict diamonds.
• Write a report to Sheikh Mohammed sharing your research. Include all of the research you found about
the selling of diamonds in Dubai.

17. WE ARE GLOBAL
CITIZENS:
Go back to your concept map from the
beginning of the lesson.
Add the information you learned In todays
lesson.
Explain how natural resources played a role in
Sierra Leone’s prosperity.
Describe how you will bring awareness to this
social issue. What role do you play in this