Step 1 aims to:

• encourage students to explore and question their values and attitudes towards their ability to make a difference; their connections with other people; and their understanding on how they relate to the wider world
• develop and extend skills in enquiry - question, develop and clarify understandings, values and attitudes; communication - contribute to exploratory group and class discussions.

Email globallinks@actionaid.org.uk with any new lesson ideas and/or examples of student's work. We'll put these in the Global links gallery.

Ideal futures
Think about how you would like your school/local area/country/world to look in 10 years time. What would there be that is not there now? Draw a poster to show your ideas.

Discuss the posters and decide which of the things are most important and realistic and how each might be achieved. Consider who has the most power to change things. What can you do?

Mapping our world
Think of a symbol to represent school, draw it and place it in a space on the floor or wall. Each student draws a symbol to represent where they live and places it on the wall or floor in relation to the school. Draw other symbols to represent places in the local area that you visit, and other places (anywhere in the world) that you have connections with. Place these symbols in relation to the school.

When the map is complete explain all symbols and ask questions like: What did we talk about? What did we learn? Do you have connections with any of the countries where ActionAid works? What else can be added? How is the map useful? You may want to add symbols representing problems and talk about possible solutions.

Influencing people
Discuss what influence means. Write your name in the middle of a piece of paper or draw a picture of yourself. Then write or draw the people or groups who influence you around this. The closer the name is to yours, the more influence the person or group has over you. Connect the names to yours with lines and write the type of influence on the line.

Repeat the spider diagram but this time show the people that you influence. Are these the same people as the ones that influence you? Does everybody have the same names on their diagrams? Draw lines on your diagrams to show how the different people influence each other.

Imagine
Sit quietly with your eyes closed. Imagine wearing an invisibility cloak. Climb onto a flying machine and leave the classroom. Fly inside the school buildings, thinking of the kind of things that need to improve or change. Fly outside, around the yard and above the buildings, thinking of what can be done to make it a better place for everyone.

Fly higher and look down at the local area, thinking about what matters in the community and what needs attention. Fly higher still and consider issues relating to the UK and the world. Then gently fly back into school, land on the seat, and remove the cloak.

Enjoyment dartboard
Girls put a dot on the left, and boys put a dot on the right of the dartboard to show how much enjoyment you felt. You must be able to say why you put your dot where you put it.