"April 23 was declared World Book and Copyright Day (JMLDA) by UNESCO in October 1995."
Source: http://www.jmlda.qc.ca
“World Book and Copyright Day will be the occasion this year for a big bazaar throughout Quebec and in French-speaking Canada. The watchword: take our books out of our homes to give them away, leave them lying around in public places or exchange them. "
Source: La Presse
This is a great idea to carry out at the school level. It is probably not possible to do it today, but why not plan it in a few days?
In the meantime, to mark the day, here are some ideas.
Goals
At the end of the activities, the student will be able to:
- Name his favorite book and explain his choice;
- Know the main lines related to copyright;
- Understand why it is important to respect copyright;
- Be aware of the type of Creative Commons license;
- Organize a school-wide book bazaar.
Suggested Activities
ACTIVITY 1: The Grand Bazaar
On the occasion of this day, several municipalities and organizations hold a large bazaar aimed at exchanging books. Suggest that your students read a little about it. Then check their interest in having a school-wide one. This is a great project with an entrepreneurial and environmental flavor!
Article 1
World Book and Copyright Day - Le grand bazaar du livre
Published in Le Devoir, April 20, 2013.
Article 2
World Book Day: Books in Traffic
Published in La Presse, April 20, 2013.
ACTIVITY 2: Share a book
Ask students what is their favorite book and why. When did they first read it? Have they reread it recently?
Once their book has been chosen, why not suggest the titles via the class's Twitter account? (If you don't have one, that's a good reason to start one.) If more than one class is participating, this will make lots of suggested books. Be careful, however, you must limit the interventions to 144 characters! A great exercise in synthesis!
Also, it would be interesting for everyone to post their suggestion on the class blog (or their personal blog). Thanks to the blog, it is possible to add a little more information, so to make a short argumentative text, for example (justify your choice of book).
ACTIVITY 3: Copyright
What is copyright?
Why is this so important?
Is it sometimes restrictive?
Invite students to think about these questions.
Also, invite them to do a scenario: each of them is an author who has just published a work on which they have worked for several years. A few months later, they realize that some people are using their document without their permission. How would they feel?
Are there, in their opinion, cases where it is more acceptable to use works without permission? For example, is it less serious to copy the music of an artist with an international career than that of a young, little-known artist? Why?
The goal is to realize that even if, in some cases, copying seems less “serious” to us, it is just as illegal.
Now, what is the “Creative Commons” movement? How is this different from regular copyright?
Some research on the Web will certainly be very useful for your students to answer these questions and better understand these issues.
Then start a whole class discussion or let them discuss in small groups. They will have to take notes and synthesize the important elements in a short text (max. 200 words).