Refugee week, 17-23 June

1. Run for your life

In this engaging lesson, ask your students if their families have ever moved house, why they moved and how it felt. Next, ask them to imagine a scenario in which they have to leave their home in a hurry. How would they feel? Where would they go? Explain to them that if they fled to another country they would become a “refugee”.

2. Against the odds

What would it be like to travel alone across war-torn Afghanistan searching for your family? Follow the story of Parvana as she fights for her freedom and her family. Encourage reflective thinking and ask students what they think of when they hear the term “against the odds”.

3. A safe place

In this moving video, refugee students and celebrities talk about their reasons for leaving their homelands, the challenges they have faced since arriving in another country and what it feels like to be a refugee.

4. Welcome a refugee

Why not welcome a refugee visitor into your school with help from TESConnect user Employability Forum? Using these preparation activities, tackle myths and misconceptions about refugees, encourage empathy and spark a debate about whether countries should take in refugees.

5. Celebrating refugees

What do Anne Frank, Albert Einstein and the Dalai Lama have in common? What contributions have they made to the world? Find out about famous refugees and celebrate their achievements with these photographs and biographies.

Find these lesson plans at bit.lyRefugeeWeek2013

Drug and alcohol awareness

1. What am I?

In this engaging activity, ask students to identify what you are describing - for example, the brain, addiction, heroin, caffeine or performance-enhancing drugs.

2. Power of influence

Students are often influenced by the actions of others, whether it is a famous person or someone they know. Use this PowerPoint presentation to explore the relationship between influence, peer pressure and drug use.

3. Cannabis

What are the different names for cannabis? What are some of its effects? Should the use of cannabis be legal? Explore these questions in a lesson about the substance and a debating activity on the legalisation of drugs.

4. Drinking decisions

How would students tell a friend that they have drunk too much alcohol and shouldn’t drive home? Teach them that the decisions they make can save people’s lives in these case-study activities on the consequences of drink-driving.

5. Drugs law

Hanif is 14. He is sniffing from an aerosol can. Is he breaking the law? Where does the law stand on drugs? Pose these questions and generate classroom debate in a series of quiz-style activities.

Find these lesson plans at bit.lydrinkdrugs

Special needs resources

1. Understanding autism

Help your students to understand what life can be like for someone who has autism, what the positives are and how they can be a good friend. This PowerPoint presentation from unbrandedcow promotes inclusion in a meaningful way. bit.lyAutism AwarenessPack

2. Being silly

Teachers know better than most what can happen when children become silly. This TESConnect resource pack helps students to identify the consequences of misbehaviour and offers strategies that they can use to calm down.

bit.lyBeingSilly

3. Reluctant readers

Reluctant readers exist in every class. Use crigdon’s activity pack to introduce your students to the joys of reading, encourage them to engage with longer texts and start discussions about passages that they have read.

bit.lyReluctant Readers

Top five assemblies

Learning from mistakes

- This presentation on learning from your mistakes includes a clip of David Beckham. bit.lyMotivating Students

We can be heroes

- What makes a hero? Use this resource to show that anyone can become one. bit.lyinspirational assembly

Lives of refugees

- Students learn about refugees in an assembly that includes a video from TESConnect partner TrueTube. bit.lyRefugee Assembly

Show some respect l Using this PowerPoint, encourage children to think about respect, what it means and who should show it. bit.lyRespect Assembly

Be yourself

- In this assembly, students consider methods of self-expression and how they can be happy with who they are. bit.lyBeYourself Assembly.