Task 5: Conflicts
EU Project 'Television News on Europe"
January - May 2002

Introduction
Proposed Sequence

Introduction

Many children were very concerned about the terror acts in September 2001. Most of our participating children didn't miss the continuous news pictures. The media presentations of the World Trade Centre bombing and the following months of the 'War on Terror' provide many ideas for further discussion and dialogue and fit well into the framework of our project (read Barry Duncan's comprehensive Bulletin with lots of concrete ideas how the subject can be handled: http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/multilib/oct2001.htm ).

The events of September 11th will not be in the centre of the new task but rather in the background. We would like to start the task with the search for conflicts in our immediate surrounding and evaluate them. As a second step we can explore avenues of national and international problems. When we talk about conflicts we also want to explore possible solutions for them.

Some of you may remember task 1 'School News' with an article by Max (from the Berlin class) about 'conflicts and resolution of conflicts'. The article concentrated on fights in the playground. The publication of the article provoked a lot of interest in the school and raised in particular one question: Were the fights we saw in the article real? We will go back to that article and discuss it again with the current participating children. You will receive a new copy of the edited article, the original footage and a transcription.

It would be helpful if you can document parts of the task process with the video camera (we discussed this is in Berlin and you may remember Javier's excellent documentation of task 4) and encourage the children to reflect on what we do. This might be especially useful in larger classes where only part of the class takes part in class discussions.

Since even a local reference to 'conflicts' can raise highly contradictive and personal issues it is very important that you as the teacher moderate the whole sequence of the task carefully and make sure that we don't create even further conflicts with what we do. It might for example be helpful as if you inform the parents about what you plan to do to avoid misunderstandings.

You will find enclosed several ideas of what could be done in the next months. Take these as possibilities and adapt the sequence according to your situation in the classroom, size of the class and timetable.

Find enclosed a suggested sequence of how task 5 could be implemented.

Proposed Sequence

1. Discussion (record with video camera)

  • Conflicts in my environment
    • What is a conflict?
    • Do you have any conflicts?
      • in your environment, at home, in the classroom
    • Can these conflicts be solved? How?
  • Conflicts in the 'world'
    • Which conflicts have you seen on television?
      • Are these real conflicts?
      • Are there any resolutions for those conflicts?
    • What did you think about September 11th, how did you feel?
  • Send selected material to Berlin
  • Options
    • Create images (paintings) depicting conflicts
    • Look into songs about war and peace
    • Discuss terrorism, nationalism (e.g. waving flags)

2. Case study 'Conflicts - Resolving Conflicts'

  • Look at the contents of the article from task 1 (you will get a transcription). You could discuss following statements:
    • "conflicts are something we experience everyday"
    • "every conflict has a solution"
    • "our group found a solution"
    • "you shouldn't feel threatened"
  • Look at the form (images, sound, editing) of the article from task 1
    • Compare the article with the original footage
    • Are those 'real' images?
    • Are images in television real?
    • Have you seen any fake images?
    • How could that be done?
  • Edit Exercise
    • Reedit the article
      • Use the same material and observe how the result of the article might change with different material
      • Experiment with different soundtracks to see how the result is changed, ask other children how they perceive the different versions you created
  • Options
    • Record your own images in your playground
      • Record your own 'real' images (hide the camera, ...)
      • Record your own 'fake' images (stage something, ..)
    • Create your own article about conflicts in the playground

3. Taking positive steps

  • What can we do as a team in different countries to create a better understanding/divert conflicts?
    • What short (2 minute) video article could we produce?
    • Plan, design and produce your article
  • This final piece will be used in the final conference/celebration in Berlin as well
    • Something specific for that?

4. Exchange and Evaluation

  • Exchange of videos
  • Evaluation of the material (your own and the partners material)
    • What have the partners done?
    • Where have they set their focus?
    • How did they bring their concerns across?
  • Broadcasting in the Open Channel Berlin

During the task

  • Communicate with each other through email
  • Document the task using the video camera
  • Encourage the children to write about how they did the task (this can be put on the website)