Embedded Files
As well as exploring the books from our project, here are some other suggested activities
Poetry
Poetry
On my own
On my own
Erika loved to write poetry. She included poems in her book. You can read them here:
Aging.pdfAging
Chameleon.pdfChameleon
Searching.pdfSearching
Who should have known better.pdfWho should have known better?
On the move: poems about migration by Michael Rosen
On the move: poems about migration by Michael Rosen
Explore the poems in Michael Rosen's wonderful book, On the move: poems about migration.
Follow this link to the CLPE website to watch Michael Rosen reading some of his poems and to sign up to download free teaching resources.
Home by Warsan Shire
Home by Warsan Shire
For older pupils, why not study Home – by Warsan Shire. It is a powerful poem on the plight of refugees in the world today.
Animated video to accompany Warsan Shire reading her poem.
Video to accompany young child reading Home – with video accompaniment.
Video from UNHCR with excerpts from the poem Home.
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Looking at the moon
Write a poem inspired by this picture, which Erika drew during an art therapy class in the US.
Looking at the Moon.pdf"This recalls my father's comforting words before I left Austria. He said we would both be looking at the same moon from different parts of the world. So then, as drawn, I look at the moon in Aberdeen, Scotland, when Nazi planes are flying overhead and there are machine gun bullet holes on the ground, but I look at the moon and think of my father."
Looking at the moon, 2007.290.2 catalog/irn519131, Erika Rybeck Collection,
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Achives, Washington DC.
Create a picture book
Take inspiration from the graphic books in our selection and make a picture book or comic based on Erika's life. Find out how to create a mini-book here.
Erika's father was very creative. "He also loved to draw - even making me a little book of things I loved to look at, eat or play with, like the examples of my monkey and a porcelain duck. " Why not make a children's picture book based on your toys and favourite things?
Erika's toy monkey
Erika's favourite porcelain duck.
Drama
Drama
The award-winning play, Kindertransport by Diane Samuels, tells the story of a woman trying to come to terms with her past.
"The play tells the story of how nine-year-old Eva, a German Jewish girl, is sent by her parents on the Kindertransport to start a new life with a foster family in Britain just before the outbreak of World War Two. Over forty years later, she has changed her name to Evelyn and denied her roots. When her own daughter discovers some old letters and photos in the attic, she is forced to confront the truth about who she really is and to reveal a dark secret that she has done everything to keep hidden."
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