Date of publication: January 22, 2009
» "Poisoned Flowers" YouTube Video [1]
Attached Files
During the week of February 10-17, educators can sign up to participate in the Valentine’s Day in the Classroom campaign. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness about how our Valentine’s Day celebrations here in the US affect cut flower workers around the world.
ILRF has developed a couple of unique lesson plans for educators to use as a way to initiate discussion and learning about cut flower workers' labor rights.
This lesson plan [3] includes learning objectives, vocabulary overview, a short exercise and a word search.
This lesson plan [4] is designed for Middle School students. In it, students watch this Youtube mini-documentary, "Poisoned Flowers" [1] on flower workers and answer corresponding questions.
If you are interested in using these resources in your classroom, sign up to become part of the Valentine's Day in the Classroom [5] campaign. You will also find a YouTube clip [6] appropriate for High School or College age students, of a Colombian flower worker’s experiences on a Dole plantation. A cut flower fact [7] sheet can compliment the lesson plan.
Students can also send a letter to local grocery stores or flower shops after this lesson. You can find a link of a sample letter at here [8]. There is a complete campaign toolkit [9], which includes a history of the cut flower industry and the role that Dole Food Company, Inc. has played in continuing labor violations. The toolkit includes a sample letter to Dole, and other ways for students to continue learning about and taking action on the issue of flower workers’ rights.
When you sign up to be a part of the Valentine’s Day in the Classroom campaign, you can also receive updates about future ILRF resources for educators. [10]
You can find out classroom resources in the Labor Rights in the Classroom [10] section of ILRF's website.