‘GUAJEROS & FREEGANS’ is a visual introduction to scavengers in extreme ends. Both the urban poor of Guatemala City and the metropolitan of New York, share too many similarities yet, separated by huge differences. We use their visual stories to teach writing Comparison and Contrast Essay with citations.

LESSON PLAN

Guajeros & Freegans: Living off junks from Guatemala City to New York

Teaching Comparison & Contrast essay with citations

Materials

1. Rubbish bin
2. Documentary & video clips:

a. Recycled Life (2006) review in Youtube
b. Trash Tour - Oprah Winfrey Show (Feb 2008)
c. Free for All - Today Tonight (n.d.)
d. How To Be a Freegan - Howcast.com (Oct 2008)

3. Flip charts, markers, cellophane tape.
4. Guajeros & Freegans (slides)   PDF | JPG (preview)
5. Six Formats of Essay Writing   MS Word 2007 | PDF

Text articles

1. Dumpster Diving (TNT Magazine, 2006)   | PDF
2. Household waste: in statistics (BBC, 9 July 2007)   | Link
3. Nationwide Waste & Nationwide Campus Waste Statistics (Environmental Sustainability Committee, n.d.)   | PDF

Related links

Camino Seguro/Safe Passage
FreeganInfo
FreeCycle Media
FareShare

We dedicate this lesson plan to the respected Hanley Denning (1970-2007), founder of Safe Passage, Guatemala

Created by Azzad Mahdzir, Brian Chang & Madeline Liew (5 Dec 2009)

Download the PDF version of this lesson plan here