Lesson Two - Resettlement Process

Activity:  Refugee Profile Jigsaw

Purpose:  Discussion & Critical Thinking

Time:  40 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted:  2, 3

Steps & Teacher Directions:  

To prepare for this activity, you will print out the profiles in Appendix A. The number of profiles you print depends on the number of students in your class, for example, if you have 20 students, you will print 4 of each profile and then divide the class into 5 groups with 4 students each. This way, each group will have the same profile to start, and you will be using 5 different profiles total.

As this is a jigsaw activity, before handing out the profiles, you will number the identical profiles. Using the same example of a class of 20 students, you would take the 4 copies of the Syria profile and number them 1-4 in the upper-right-hand corner, then you would repeat for the other 5 profiles. 

Pass out refugee profiles to students. Have them read through the profile on their own first, highlighting important points. Then have them gather in groups that have the same profile. Instruct them to discuss their refugee profile and some of the challenges that this person might face in being forcibly displaced to a new country. They should take notes on their group discussion in the note box on the back side. (20 minutes total, approximately 5 minutes for reading on own)

Now have the students form new groups that have the same number at the top right of their handout. Have them go around in a circle and introduce their refugee profiles to the other students in their group (about 2 minutes per profile), and any important points from their note boxes. At the end, they should have a discussion of the challenges refugees face in general, based on the various profiles they presented. (approximately 15 minutes total)

Have students return to their seats. As a class, ask students to share some of the most interesting or important points from their groups with the class. (around 5 minutes)

Activity:  Debate on Nations & Refugees

Purpose:  Debate Practice

Time:  30 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted:  4

Steps & Teacher Directions: 

This activity uses a powerpoint called ‘Debate: Nations and Refugees’ which is in Appendix A

First, open the powerpoint slides and put on the present mode.

Tell the students that they will be doing an informal debate which will be on whether or not nations should be required to accept refugees, then tell them that they will go over some background info to consider the different points of view. Tell them to pay attention during the slides and to think about the reasons for each point of view. 

Move on to the first info slide titled ‘The Current Situation’ and ask for volunteers to read each point. You can also pick students to read, and try to get as many students to practice reading aloud as possible. 

On slide  5 with the maps, point out to the students  that these are some of the countries that create the most refugees.

Going through the slides should take about 10 minutes, though if your students want to spend more time discussing the info that is perfectly fine. When you get to the slide with the question mark, separate your class into multiple groups so that each group can have a debate among themselves. For example, if there are 16 students in the class, you could separate them into 4 groups of 4 students each. 

For this informal debate split each group into 2 teams, one team arguing that nations should be required to accept refugees and the other team arguing that they shouldn't be. Tell the students that they should take turns with the first team making their points and the other team following up with counter-points. This does not have to be too structured as the main idea is to get the students to practice speaking and thinking critically.

Tell the students that everyone should speak and share their ideas, and that you will walk around to join groups and hear what they have to say. Remind the students that this debate is informal and also that it should be friendly. Remind them that the purpose is to share ideas and try to understand other points of view. 

Once they are ready in their groups, you can let them start, and as you’re going around the room try to make sure that they are being respectful and that everyone is getting a chance to talk. If you feel like it’s necessary, ask students who aren’t saying a lot if they are comfortable sharing their thoughts (if they aren’t comfortable then that’s okay).

Activity: Final Project Introduction (Gallery Walk)

Steps & Teacher Directions:

Introduce the final poster project so it is on their radar for lesson 3. Make sure that the students know they will be completing this at home!

Tell the students they will complete a poster of a roadmap depicting the journey of a specific refugee that they found from before (if included in the story) from arriving at a refugee camp to starting life in a new country after resettling.  

(Suggest StoryCorp as a resource to find personal stories –  

Pull up the story corp website, and take them through the process of searching stories (see appendix A). Show that there is a search symbol in the top right corner. Click on that and search ‘refugee’. From there, refugee stories should pop up. )

Show the students the rubric so they understand the criteria they are being assessed for.( See appendix A)

Inform them that they will be presenting their poster to a few of their peers as they walk around the room in gallery walk style.

Option - Depending on your class, you can decide whether this should be group, partner, or individual work.