Introducing the Concept
Aim
To introduce students to the concept of refugees.
Objectives
| • | Understand what the term 'refugee' means. |
| • | Introduce the concept of the United Nations. |
| • | Work cooperatively on the text to summarise key concepts. |
Resources
| • | Core Activity Sheet 1.1 enlarged onto A3 paper, one per group of 2 - 3 |
| • | Core Activity Sheet 1.2 , one per group |
| • | Dictionary per group 2 coloured pens/pencils per group |
| • | Relevant selection of resources for follow-up activity |
Tasks
1. Paired literacy work.
| Split the class into pairs (possibly threes), trying to ensure mixed literacy ability. | |
| Hand out the A3 sheet ( Core Activity Sheet 1.1 ) and the instruction sheet ( Core Activity Sheet 1.2 ). Explain the task and stress that the A3 sheet is to be written on. | |
| Students should then be given time (approximately half an hour) to work through the tasks. |
2. Sharing results.
| Write the best summary sentence for each paragraph on the board, ask students to volunteer their answer, pick the best as a group, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each. This models the process of summarising; if students cannot agree try to ensure that you explain your choice. |
3. Extending understanding.
| Ask students to brainstorm the reasons why people might become refugees. Additional resources, especially about refugees in local areas, might help here. |
Discussion Points
| • | Did anyone find out something unexpected from the lesson? |
| • | What is the UN? |
| • | Why is it involved? |
| • | Do you think this is the usual understanding people have of 'refugees'? |
| • | What rights do refugees have? |
Extension
The text could be replaced with a more difficult one for some students to help them develop their vocabulary (perhaps one of the documents from the UN regarding refugees' rights or a more difficult newspaper or magazine article). These students could feedback useful words to the class.
Differentiation
Groups with very low literacy levels could take just one or two paragraphs each and share their answers with another similar group, building up the whole summary between them.
Students could also keep a vocabulary list in their books which they could refer to later in the module.
Alternatively, students could be given the following subheadings which they should allocate to the appropriate paragraph:
A definition
Increasing numbers of refugees
Reasons for being a refugee
Rights and responsibilities
Homework
What would you pack if you had one carrier bag and 10 minutes to pack? Write a list. This can be followed up at the beginning of the next lesson as follows:
Ask students to share lists
Tell students to lose half their list because there's no room in the transport
Discuss what was left, why? What was kept, why?
How would you feel?
National Curriculum Focus
| 1(a) Human Rights, (i) the global community and the UN | |
| 2(a) Think about a topical issue | |
| Key skills: communication, working with others |