Raising awareness in Refugee Week
Encourage learners to better understand asylum and celebrate the contributions of refugees with these eye-opening resources
Every year in June, over 100 countries around the world host events that draw attention to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons who are forced to flee their homes.
Whether it’s as a result of war, conflict or persecution, it’s important to encourage pupils to think carefully about the issues affecting refugees and consider the ways that they contribute to their host communities. We’ve brought together a selection of the top lesson ideas to help you to get the discussion started.
Whole-school resources
- Exploring refugees through film
Investigate the hardships and resilience of refugees around the globe with this selection of feature films for primary and secondary students, including discussion points. - Refugee Week posters
Use these colourful posters, with simple definitions, to highlight the contributions of a number of famous refugees, such as Albert Einstein and the Dalai Lama.
Refugee Week
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Refugee Week Posters
Set of posters for Refugee Week. Made for KS2 but might be useful for other age groups. Posters include: Title poster, What is a refugee? What is an asylum seeker? Why do people become refugees? How many refugees are there? and 6 posters which look at famous refugees including Anne Frank, Einstein, Sitting Bull, Faberge, Georg Von Trapp and The Dalai Lama.
Primary resources
- Assembly presentation and notes
Encourage pupils to empathise with those whose lives have been torn apart by environmental disaster with this pictorial presentation, complete with script and follow-up activities for the classroom. - Children in conflict lesson
Pupils can compare and contrast their lives with those of children in Syria, a country affected by conflict, in this standalone lesson and writing activity.
Refugee Assembly resource.
Children in Conflict: Syria
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Secondary resources
- Refugee Week teaching pack
Help learners to empathise with refugees by thinking about shared interests, using these real-life case studies, films and creative writing opportunities. - Media representation of refugees unit
Examine the way that the Australian media represents refugees in this short, fully-resourced unit, including complete lesson plans.
Refugee Week 2018: Contributions, creativity and resilience
The British Red Cross has produced a new resource for Refugee Week which takes place 18-24 June. The new resource for 7–14 year-olds helps develop understanding of what might cause someone to leave their home. Through real-life case studies, films and creative writing, learners will increase empathy towards refugees and learn about shared interests, such as music. FInd out more Link
We’ve created five activities designed to take approximately 30-45 minutes.
• Kick start your lesson by creating a safe space and exploring initial views towards refugees and asylum seekers.
• Develop learners’ understanding of key terms and build empathy through real-life case studies.
• Consider how refugees can strengthen their resilience and cope with building a new life.
• Explore how creativity can bring people together to express their feelings and share experiences. This activity uses a short film of a refugee choir for discussion.
• Reflect and consider one simple act learners can do to contribute to Refugee Week 2018.
