Who Provides for Asylum Seekers?AimTo explore what services are available to asylum seekers and who provides them.ObjectivesKnow what asylum seekers' entitlements are.Be aware of who provides for asylum seekers.Work cooperatively on the exercise.Develop communication skills. ResourcesActivity Sheet 1.1, Entitlements, on A4 paper, one per pair/groupActivity Sheet 1.2, Activity Sheet 1.3 and Activity Sheet 1.4 , Statements, one per pair/groupActivity Sheet 1.5, Weekly Budgeting, for homeworkTasks1. Paired workSplit the class into pairs (possibly threes), trying to ensure mixed literacy ability.Hand out Activity Sheet 1.1. Explain the task - ask the students to imagine they have arrived with their families as asylum seekers in a foreign country, and that they speak only a few words of the language. Students have to put a value on the various entitlements presented (if the pair/group disagree then the average value should be taken).Students should then be given time to work through this sheet.2. Sharing resultsAsk each pair/group to nominate their Top 5 most important entitlements; collate this information to produce a class Top 5.
3. More paired/group workAsk each pair/group to encircle one answer from Column 3 for each activity in the entitlement column.When completed ask the pairs/groups to check their answers. This could be done by swapping sheets with another pair/group. There are three ways this could be approached, with varying levels of difficulty:You tell the students the relevant answers.Hand out the cut-up short statements on Activity Sheets 1.2 -1.4.Ask students to compare these with their responses in Column 3 and then to mark their answers.Ask the pairs/groups to spend some time researching the answers.They could present their views and the evidence they found to support them and then discuss an overall final answer.Going through the answers should encourage some discussion about the relevant factors that influence whether or not these entitlements are met.Discussion PointsHow do the entitlements relate to the class Top 5 valued activities?What could the government change to improve the situation of asylum seekers? What would the disadvantages of this change be?Do you think that asylum seekers have a fair deal? Are there any activities in Column 1 of Activity Sheet 1.1 which you do not believe should be entitlements? What would be the consequences of their removal?ExtensionStudents could try to work out the rationale behind what asylum seekers are and are not entitled to. What would be the consequences of reversing each entitlement? The answers could be fed back to the class.DifferentiationStudents could be given one or two information cards to work on (adapted from Activity Sheets 1.2 -1.4) and then share their answers with the rest of the group.HomeworkAsylum seekers aged 18-24 receive £18.95 in vouchers and £10 in cash per week. Students could use Activity Sheet 1.5 to draw up a detailed plan of how they would spend this money.Did they buy enough food?Did they allow for any transport costs, or any washing of clothes/toiletries?How much entertainment did they budget for?Do they think that a person on that amount with few friends could have much fun?National Curriculum Focus1(c) Central and local government and the services they offer 2(a) Think about a topical issueKey skills: communication, working with others