Ms. Kosior and Ms. Sarantidou, from the English Studies Dept., in the 24th International TESOL Macedonia-Thrace Conference

Ms Margarita Kosior, a Lecturer of the English Studies Department, and Ms. Despina Sarantidou, a third-year BA student at the Department, participated in the 24^th Annual International TESOL Macedonia-Thrace, Northern Greece Conference, where on 12 February 2017 they delivered a presentation titled “Designing Teaching Materials to Confront Modern-Day Slavery.”

Photo credit: Dimitris Tzouris

The purpose of the session was to empower other educators to produce teaching materials on issues they feel passionate about and to make them believe that through their own materials and their own work they can really change the world. To this end, in cooperation with The NO Project, Margarita Kosior and Despina Sarantidou presented a project assigned and completed within the scope of the Evaluation and Design of Teaching Materials unit. The NO Project is an award-winning, global, anti-slavery educational campaign which raises youth awareness on human trafficking and modern day slavery, addressing crimes such as commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, but also forced labour involved in the production of our daily products, such as chocolate, tea or coffee. For the purpose of the assignment, students were asked to design a 50-minute lesson for students aged 16+ on the topic of human trafficking and with the aim to raise awareness of the crime of modern-day slavery. The best sample of student work would be uploaded to The NO Project website.

During the first parts of the session, Ms. Kosior explained what modern-day slavery is, presented the scope of the assignment and described the nature of the collaboration between the English Studies Department and The NO Project.

During the second part, Ms. Sarantidou described the process of creating her lesson that focuses on commercial sexual exploitation. She commented on the challenges of designing her materials and she reflected upon the whole experience and its benefits for her as a professional and a human being.

Photo credit: Dimitris Tzouris

With Despoina’s lesson, The NO Project will launch this new initiative and from now on, all English language teachers who are willing to prepare lessons designed to raise awareness of modern-day slavery can contact info@thenoproject.org to contribute their own teaching materials to this cause.

Ms. Kosior concluded the session by recommending resources for those willing to start their research on the topic and by reminding the audience that nobody should stay indifferent when they see unusual and suspicious behaviour. “When you see something, say something” (motto of the National Human Trafficking Resource Line for Greece, Tel: 1109).

In cooperation with: