Journeys to and from Europe
What are some of the situations that refugees currently face? How can we challenge policies that put people at risk? Dr Gemma Bird discusses these questions by challenging some of the refugee myths that are heard in the media in this online video workshop.
To continue discussing this topic with your class try using the below tasks as class discussion exercises. You can also download the Journeys to and from Europe worksheet.
Task 1:
In groups discuss what stories you have had access to about people claiming asylum and what you found the most surprising about the points raised in the talk? If there is a chance to read and discuss one of the books below what did you learn from this? What do you know now that you didn’t before (either from the books or the talk)?
Task 2:
Find a story in the media about the current ‘refugee crisis’. Does it include any of the myths discussed in the presentation? If so, why do you think these might be included, what do you think is the political purpose of including these myths.
Relevant books:
The Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis, 2014).
Dear World: A Syrian Girl’s Story of War and Plea for Peace (Bana Alabed, 2017).
The Red Pencil (Andrea Davis Pinkey, 2015).
The Lightless Sky: A Twelve Year Old Refugee’s Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World (Gulwali Passerlay, 2017).