Themes & Core Questions:

1. How do people define citizenship or nationality in the times of government crisis? To what degree does political instability affect the common person?
2. What are the economic impacts (both positive and negative) of domestic conflict or civil war on the average citizen? What are some of the survival strategies used to deal with these impacts?
3. How do the five themes of geography (location, place, human & environmental interaction, movement, and region formation) shape the decisions made by citizens during conflict or civil war?
4. How do conflicts or civil wars affect religious institutions and the religious beliefs of the average man or woman?
5. What is the history of power sharing between ethnic groups or social classes in the country affected by conflict or civil war? How do values and attitudes toward ethnicity, social class, and nationality change during civil war? What factors have an effect on these changes?

Overview: The lessons for the Lebanon case include select journal entries of a leather tannery owner, Daud Khouri, from southern Lebanon, whose sons become deeply involved in the 1975 Lebanese civil war and the establishment of the Lebanese Front.

Time Required: 2 class periods or 90 minutes.

Suggested Grade Levels: Grades 8 - 12

Interdisciplinary Applications: Social Studies and Literature

NJ Core Content Standards: 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.7, 6.8

Instructional Objectives:

1. Explain how civil war impacts the common person.
2. Analyze the effects of conflict on identity using PEERS.
3. Synthesize the understanding of the impact of civil war or conflict on the common person by developing empathy for the various decisions they have to make.

Strategies:

Lesson 1:

1. Assign reading for preparatory homework.
2. Begin lesson by explaining activities.
3. Students will view Power Point presentation on Lebanese Conflict.
   Discussion based on Power Point presentation.
4. Assign Vocabulary for homework.

Lesson 2:

1. Review Vocabulary
2. Students should complete critical thinking questions as class.
3. (Optional) Map activity:
   Students view map of Lebanon from Power Point presentation.
   Discuss conflict over land based on religious divisions.
   Students complete the Map Activity worksheet

Materials:

• Select Journal Entries from Daud Khouri
  
• Activities: Vocabulary and Critical Thinking Questions
  
• Power Point presentation on Lebanon (Download in PowerPoint with Arabic Music)
  
• Map of Lebanon showing religious divisions
  

Resources:

• Arabnet at http://www.arab.net/lebanon/lebanon_contents.html had nice links to other Arab countries. Information is very condensed and easy to read.
  
• Gemayel Organization at www.bashirgemayel.org was great for the Maronite perspective on Lebanon. This site has good biographical links on his work and life.
  
• Great Events in History at http://www.umi.com/hp/Support/K12/GreatEvents/Beirut.html was a good school resource for 38 different historical topics (Leave off Beirut.html for the whole list), includes reading lists, comprehension questions, and research topics developed by New York Times Resources.
  
• Hovesepian, Nubar, "The Lebanon Quagmire", The Nation, June 6, 1981 helped me to understand the complexity of Lebanon and its civil war of 1975-76.
  
• Religion Map was at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/middle_east_and_asia/Lebanon_Religions_83.jpg

Assessment: