Right Now: Refugee Awareness
Supplemental Enrichment
Lesson 4Intro to the Worldwide Refugee Crisis: Seeing is Believing
It is essential that students become familiar with some of the crises that have caused the refugees’ displacement. This lesson contains a series of short videos and articles as well as some discussion questions to go along with these resources.
Videos are a great way to open up the conversation and familiarize the students with some of the causes behind the crisis. Here are some short, informative videos that will dip the students toes in the proverbial pool of knowledge of the refugee crisis.
- Understanding the Refugee Crisis in Europe, Syria, and around the World (Vlogbrothers, 9:20)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVV6_1Sef9M
- This video is from 2015 and is, unfortunately, still extremely relevant. Crash Course/Vlogbrothers are always great at giving quick and informative videos. The video covers a lot of information and certainly decodes a lot of the buzzwords you hear on the news. Teachers should be prepared for a Q & A after the video.
Discussion Questions
- What is the main point of this video?
- Is John Green trying to convey any emotional appeal in this video, or is he coming from a purely factual point of view?
- Our Refugee System is Failing. Here's How We Can Fix It | Alexander Betts (TED, 18:09)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIfeGflNp8
- Betts does a great job of articulating the compelling, human side of the crisis. He proposes a lot of good, feasible solutions. This talk might be the seed to a classroom or school wide project.
Discussion Questions
- What is the main impact Betts is trying to make with this talk/idea?
- How feasible, in your opinion, is Betts’ solution to the crisis?
- Syria’s War: Who is Fighting and Why (Vox, 6:45)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFpanWNgfQY
- This video essentially unwraps the entire Syrian refugee crisis in just under 7 minutes. You are encouraged to pause the video throughout in order to take thorough notes and/or engage in brief comprehension checks..
Discussion Questions
- How did this video make you feel?
- Is one side (or group of powers) inherently good or evil?
- How much of the information mentioned in the video did you already know?
- How much of the information were you somewhat familiar with (maybe you’ve heard a word in the video on the news before)?
- How much of the information was totally foreign to you? Do you feel compelled to learn more or to act? Why or why not?
Rock Your World is a program of Creative Visions
Rock Your World is a Program of Creative Visions, a 501(c) (3) organization that supports creative activists - individuals who use the power of media and arts to create positive change in the world.
