Next week – from 18-24 June – is Refugee Week. It takes place every year across the world, and is a great opportunity to celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.
This is the perfect time to discuss refugees at school or college too. War and migration are hot topics both in the media and in political discourse, but how much do our young people really understand about these issues?
Do they know what it means to be a refugee? Do they know how many people across the world have been forced to leave their homes and become refugees?
If our young people are to become effective local and global citizens able to play a critical role in creating a just world without poverty, they should have the opportunity to engage appropriately with world issues such as the refugee crisis.
Oxfam has several resources available to help deliver lessons and facilitate discussions on the subject. First off, if you as a teacher would like to feel a bit more confident before you get started, why not read our Refugees: Teachers’ Overview, or our Teaching Controversial Issues Guide, which include facts, information, tips and ideas on how to deliver lessons.
Then in the classroom, you can use photographs, stories and facts to develop empathy and increase your learners’ understanding of the issues facing refugees. Click here to see some of the resources we have available including a quiz, a treasure hunt and a ready made assembly so your whole school can take part in the learning.
If you do hold an assembly or lessons on any refugee-related issues at your school or college during Refugee Week 2018 please let us know! You can tweet us @OxfamCymru or tell us know on email – oxfamcymru@oxfam.org.uk
*Photo: Tommy Trenchard / Oxfam
Rohingya refugees take shelter from the sun at a food distribution queue in Balukhali Camp.