Introduction and Lesson 1 Outline

Method of presentation

Powerpoint presentation: A projector screen or if this is being done over teams or online then
the power point can be screen shared and presented.

Design: A colorful and amusing theme for the powerpoint background. A theme related to CWS
used on each slide.

Equipment and Resources: A projector screen, a classroom white board, notebooks for the
students.

Lesson Order

Slide 1

Course title displayed, it should be big on the first slide and then in the top left or right hand slide
in tiny writing on each of the following slides.

Potential title names:

● A Refugee’s Journey
● Beyond The Normal

Slide 2

Heading: Welcome! Or Welcome Students! (to the students, then an

introduction of the course)

Context: We are excited for you to participate in this course and expand
your knowledge on the winding path of a Refugee’s journey/ life.

Design features: Include pictures on this slide, some from Brother’s in

hope or an animation. It can be a brief hint to what the course will entail and related to the bright
futures but also challenges a refugee might face.

Slide 3

Heading: Approaching The Course Or ‘Expectations’

Subtitle: How should we approach these teachings? What is expected of us?

Context: We will be learning about a variety of sensitive topics so it is important that we remain
sensible and attempt empathy.
Outlining Key Responsibilities:

Listen Respectfully: We will listen to each other without interrupting.

Listen to Understand - We will listen carefully to understand what others are saying, not just
think about what we want to say next.

Discuss Ideas, Not People - We can talk about ideas we might not agree with, but we will never
say mean things about the person sharing them.

Share to Learn - We will share our thoughts to help everyone learn, not to argue or persuade.

Use Respectful Language - We will avoid blaming others, guessing about their thoughts, or
using hurtful words.

Give Everyone a Turn - We will make sure everyone gets a chance to speak and share their
thoughts.

Avoid Assumptions - We won’t make guesses about people or groups and won’t ask anyone to
speak for a whole group of people.

Design Feature: Bring each of these traits in one by one.

Slide 4

Heading: What you can expect.

Context:
- Five Lessons
- A variety of topics around Refugee’s
- A short story
- Fun activities

Design Animation: Each of these bullet points come in upon clicking the mouse so one by one.

Slide 5

Title: What does home look like to you?

Content: Write a couple of sentences about what home looks like to you or your idea of home
looks like. Mind map all the different features that makes home, home.

Additional: Highlight all the different features with the color that you associate it with.
Purpose: Prompting students to think and brainstorm

Design Features: The title will take the priority of this slide so should be placed in the middle.

Slide 6

Heading: Learning Objectives

Context:

● To learn the key terms ‘refugee’ and ‘resettlement’

● To look at the journey of a refugee
● To discuss what can make refugees feel more welcome

Design Features: Displayed in a way that is quick and easy to read.

Slide 7

Heading: Who are Refugees?

Context: Refugees are people forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another
country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as a
result of who they are, what they believe in or say, or because of armed conflict, violence or
serious public disorder.

There are many reasons a Refugee might flee their home but here are a few:

● Physical factors natural disasters, famine and hunger

● Social factors being differing religious or cultural belief to their country of residence
● Political factors such as war and conflict

Who Are Refugees? (youtube.com)

Design Feature: Provide the video link on the slide so that the teachers can play it to the
students if they wish to.

Slide 8

Heading: What being a refugee entails.

Context: Being a refugee means that people will have to leave their homes and many loved
things behind including their family, their friends, belongings and everything that they had ever
known. This is all done at the cost of safety.
Refugees can seek refuge in a number of ways including camps in neighboring areas or
countries.

Slide 9

Heading: Let's take a look at the Azimi family’s story

Content: CWS Client Profile | the Azimi Family (youtube.com)

Summary:

● The family were among the evacuees when Kabul of Afghanistan fell.
● After many questions and screening’s they were proven eligible to resettle in the United
States.
● They were welcomed by Church World Service who helped them resettle in a community
by providing all of the essentials that a person would need to start a new life

Consider the questions:

Task: In your notebooks, keep a journal by writing your answers to these questions.

What did you learn from this video?

What would you need to start a new life in a new place?

Slide 10

Heading: Resettlement

Context: After a while, a refugee might find a new home and life to
settle into. This includes communities in the US, in 2023 the US
welcomed just over 60,000 refugees.

Some Refugees end up living in countries with a very different

way of life to the one they had known before. In some cases they
may not be accepted by everyone as they can be judged for
appearing different or frightened.

Who are Refugees | Resettlement Process (youtube.com)

But, there are things that we can do to make refugees feel more welcome.

Think: What would make you feel more welcome if you had just moved to a completely new
place?

What we can do:

 ● Be friendly and kind to new neighbors in your community
● Consider donating to resettlement agencies, (if you have any toys or clothes you don’t
use anymore, these could be used all over again by someone else!)
● Don’t assume things about new people that you meet
● Be open minded when meeting newcomers in your community and listen to their stories
if they choose to share them with you.

Design Features: This slide can have pictures or cartoons like pictures of people moving into
new homes. Make sure the ‘but’ comes in after the initial information is displayed. Provide the
video link on the slide so that the teachers can play it to the students if they wish to.

Slide 11

Heading: Group Discussion

Subheading: Turn to the person next to you and discuss these questions.

Context:

If you had to leave your home and all of your belongings how would you feel?

If you could take one item with you, what would you take?

How would you like to be treated by others if you had moved to an entirely new place with many
different customs?

Design Features: The questions could be displayed in little thinking bubbles.

Slide 12

Heading: Matching Activity

Subheading: Pair the leaving factor with the example

(Word and example will be mixed up, students must pair the correct word with example)

Context:

Political Factor: Anh has been forced to leave his home due to a conflict that has started in his
country. This conflict started because some of the country’s citizens weren’t happy with a recent
decision made by the government.
Social Factor: A muslim family has had to leave their home in Myanmar because they weren’t
accepted by others around them for their religious beliefs.

Physical Factor: The weather where Fatima lives has become increasingly warm with very little
rain, this has caused all of her family’s crops to dry up leaving them without sufficient food
supplies.

Design Features: The leaving factors on one side, the examples on the other side in the wrong
order.

Slide 13

Heading: Meeting a Refugee

Content: Watch the video and think about what questions you would want to ask a refugee to
learn more about their experience.

Kids Meet A Refugee | Kids Meet | HiHo Kids (youtube.com)

Some of the questions that were asked in this video:

What was the biggest difference between your home and America?
Are you a refugee?
Who is a refugee?
How old were you when you had to leave your home?
How long did it take you to walk to the refugee camp?
What do you see in your future here?

Think about the answers to the questions that were asked.

Design Feature: Make sure the link to the video is visible on the slide.

Slide 14

Heading: Conclusion

Context: Thank you for participating in this introductory lesson, next time round we will be
beginning to read Brothers in Hope, a moving story by Mary Williams.

Notes for the Teacher

Learning Objectives

● To introduce the students to the course and discuss and outline behavior expectations.
 ● To talk about and discuss the big questions with the students such as ‘what does home
look like to you?’
● To talk about what the journey of a refugee might look like and watch the youtube videos
discussing the client profiles.
● To get the students to discuss the topical questions within groups or as a class.
● Get the students to complete the matching activity and think about the different reasons
why a person might be forced to flee their home.

Slide 1

Introduce the students to the power point by projecting it on a big screen in front of the class.
- If this is being done online then screen share the powerpoint to the students.

Briefly tell the students that over the course of 5 or so lessons (depending on your schedule and
how you want to organize the lessons), they will be learning about the journey of a Refugee.
- This will also be shown on the 1st and 2nd slide.

Slide 3

Outlining expectations for the students.

You know your students and their typical behavior so make sure that they are aware that
sensitive topics will be covered and that they should maintain respect. Also encourage open
discussions and thoughtful answers to questions.

Make sure that you are sensitive towards the students who might have had traumatic
experiences and do not ask former refugees in the class to share their story with the class
unless they offer this themselves and seem willing.

Optional: To make sure all students are on the same page, ask for suggestions of how students
should act, then write these traits out on a big white board or use the powerpoint which will
outline these traits for you.
- Get the students to list as many as they can before these ones are brought out on
screen.

Slide 4

Once it has been covered what we should expect from the students we will outline what the
students can expect from these lessons.

Additional context (than what is listed on the slide):

This will be listed on the powerpoint slide but mention more information for context. Eg. We will
be learning about refugees and participating in different kinds of activities to help inform our
learning. It will be fun and engaging and we would like to see some good group work and
participation.

It is completely up to you how you expand on this but make sure the students know that it will be
a mind opening and fun experience.

Slide 5

There will be a question posed in a big font size, ‘What does home look like to you?’;’ get the
students to think about this question and prompt some quick fire responses.

You can write this question on a white board at the front of the classroom. The answers and
contributions from the students can be added around this question in a mind map format.

Get the students to either draw in their notebooks or describe what their ideal home would look
like. Make sure that this is not just physical but also includes meotions eg. loving, welcoming,
safe.

Optional:

You can mind map this on the board to see what the students already know about refugees and
what words come to mind.

Or the students can use a notebook to mind map this on paper.

Individual Activity: If this is being done individually then an extra task would be to add all the
different emotions that they might feel if they were a refugee. Then color code these different
emotions with the color that they associate with it.

Slide 6

Bullet pointed are the learning objectives for the lesson, this is just to give the students a brief
idea of what they will cover and hopefully be fulfilled by the end of the lesson.
- Talk through these learning objectives, again completely up to you how this is done.

Slide 7 Onwards

Learning about who refugees are.

There are key definitions for the words Refugee and Resettlement and reasons for why a
Refugee might have been displaced. Talk through these definitions and allow students to write
this down in their notebooks or on paper.
Optional: Provided on slide 7 is a link to a video that explains who refugees are, this is a
teaching tool that is optional for you to show to the students.

Video Length: 2:20

Potential Triggers: From 12 seconds in the words “war, violence and persecution” are used in
addition to cartoon images of smoke and a combat vehicle. These potentially triggering images
and words end at 40 seconds in.

Slide 9

Optional: On this slide is the link to a video about the Azimi family, this discusses their situation
and resettlement.

Talk through the summary provided and ask the students to write down what they learned from
the video.

Video Length: 2:17

Slide 10 and 11

Start asking the questions stated on the powerpoint slide and get students to discuss them with
one another.

● This can also be done as a class or if online as individuals, preference is up to you.

Optional: Video on Resettlement. It talks through how resettlement agencies accommodate

newcomers and help them on the first part of their journey (first 90 days) and then how they help
them with jobs/ education/ benefits thereafter.

Video Length: 1:36

Slide 12

Following this discussion, there will be a quick matching activity. Get the students to match the
correct type of factor with its example, this will allow the students to learn better the types of
reasons a Refugee becomes a Refugee.

Optional: If you’d prefer not to do this activity then you can also get the students to write a
pro/con list.

The pro list consists of all the positive reasons that could accompany leaving a home along with
everything that you’ve known. A con list for leaving home and moving to a completely new
place. You can also provide a bigger version of this on either the power point or a big white
board in the classroom - ask the students for hands up for contributions to the list.

Slide 13

Optional: Share the video with the students. This shows students asking a boy about his
experience as a refugee.

Once the video has been played, get the students to think about what kind of questions they
would ask a refugee if they were in the same position as the two non refugees in the video.

Video Length: 6:57

Slide 14, conclusion

End the lesson by thanking the students for their participation and refer to the powerpoint slide
for what will come next.

● Next lesson we will be covering the story Brother in Hope which follows a young boy
called Garang and his journey from his old life in Sudan to his new life in the US.
● The students will also be partaking in activities based on this hopeful and inspiring story.