In today’s Literacy Skills in Geography and History class, we continued working on the topic of refugees, a theme we have been exploring over the past few weeks. The activities we are doing are designed to help students gradually build the foundations for a larger project on refugees that we will develop later on.
During this session, we focused on putting ourselves in the shoes of people who are forced to leave their homes. Students were given only a few minutes to decide what they would take with them if they had to leave their house immediately. Many of them were surprised afterwards, especially as we used several scenes from the film The Swimmers, which is based on a true story, to help us reflect on the topic. We also watched interviews with the main character, who later went on to compete in the Olympic Games as part of the Refugee Olympic Team.
After discussing and questioning their initial choices, students realised that what they thought they could pack into a backpack in just five minutes was unrealistic, and that, in such situations, nothing truly matters more than life itself.
We then moved on to a role-play activity aimed at developing empathy. The scenario involved a married couple and the woman’s mother: the husband explains to his wife that they must leave the country because he has a plan, while the mother-in-law refuses to leave her home. Through this role-play, we worked on intonation, rhythm, and the expression of emotions through language.
Overall, it was a very productive and enriching lesson, both for everyone!
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