Topic: Refugees

September 22, 2015

THE BASICS

Topic: Refugees

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/syrian-refugees/salopek-text

Vocabulary

·  Refugee: a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

·  Migrant: a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work

·  Asylum: the protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their native country as a political refugee

o  “Asylum and the Rights of Refugees” (International Justice Resource Center)

Articles

About the Refugees

·  “Refugee crisis: apart from Syrians, who is traveling to Europe?” (9/10/15) (The Guardian)

·  “Iraqis join an intensifying flow of refugees to Europe from Turkey” (9/6/15) (The Washington Post)

Middle Eastern Response

·  “Wealthy Gulf Nations Are Criticized for Tepid Response to Syrian Refugee Crisis” (9/5/15) (The New York Times)

European Union Response

·  “European Union Ministers Approve Plan to Distribute Refugees” (9/22/15) (The NY Times)

·  “Stress mounts as migrants shunted over borders” (9/21/15) (CBS News)

·  “Croatia opens borders, welcomes sudden stream of refugees” (9/17/15) (CNN)

U.S. Response

·  “John Kerry: US to Accept 85,000 Refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017” (9/20/15) (NBC News)

·  “Why the US Can’t Immediately Resettle Syrian Refugees” (9/15/15) (US News)

Questions to Consider

About the Refugees

·  What is the definition of a refugee?

·  What is a migrant? What is asylum? Why do these definitions make a difference in how people seeking help are treated?

·  Who are the refugees? From what countries do they arrive? Does increased migration mean that they have given up hope of remaining in their own countries: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea?

·  Why are a growing number of people willing to take the risk of leaving their countries?

·  How are refugee children affected by the crisis? What are the special problems for children?

European Union Response

·  What are “open borders”?

·  What do the European union agreements say about refugees? Are these agreements (Schengen and Dublin) helpful in the 2015 refugee crisis?

·  How does the history of Europe affect the attitudes toward refugees?

·  What are the reasons why some EU countries have accepted and welcomed refugees? What are the reasons why some countries have not been eager to accept refugees?

U.S. Response

·  What has the United States done to respond to this situation? What can you do?

·  What caused President Obama’s announcement on September 10, that the United States will raise the limit of Syrian refugees who are accepted into the United States? Is there a concern that refugees might include terrorists?

·  How complicated is the process for accepting refugees in the United States? How many government agencies are involved?

THE EXTRAS

Pre-teaching, Extensions & Further Reading

·  “The Difference Between Refugee and Migrants” (8/28/15) (Slate)

·  “The Global Refugee Crisis, Region by Region” (excellent pictures!) (The New York Times)

·  “Quick facts: What you need to know about the Syria crisis” (great graphics!) (Mercy Corps)

·  “Refugees: Flowing Across Borders” (UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency)

Lesson Plans

·  “Everyone Everywhere – Refugees and Asylum” (role play) (Amnesty International UK)

·  “Teachable Instant: Refugee Crisis” (high school) (Morningside Center for Teacher Social Responsibility)

·  “Civic Education: Refugee Children, Refugee Teenagers, Refugee Women” (UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency)

What’s the Connection?

Constitutional

·  “Immigration” (Legal Information Institute)

Oregon

·  “Oregonians with family in Syria torn by refugee crisis” (KGW)

Students

·  “Photos: What Syrian refugees carry in their bags as they leave their lives behind” (Quartz)

Oregon State Social Science Standards

8.21. Analyze important political and ethical values such as freedom, democracy, equality, and justice embodied in documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

8.26. Examine a controversial event, issue, or problem from more than one perspective.

HS.28. Evaluate how governments interact at the local, state, tribal, national, and global levels.

HS.31. Describe United States foreign policy and evaluate its impact on the United States and other countries.

HS.33. Explain the role of government in various current events.

HS.35. Examine the pluralistic realities of society (e.g., race, poverty, gender, and age), recognizing issues of equity, and evaluating need for change.

HS.59. Demonstrate the skills and dispositions needed to be a critical consumer of information.

HS.60. Analyze an event, issue, problem, or phenomenon form varied or opposing perspectives or points of view.

CCSS Anchor Standards

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

We the People Lesson Connections

Middle School, Level 2

·  Unit 6, Lesson 28: What is the relationship of the United States to other nations in the world?

High School, Level 3

·  Unit 6, Lesson 37: What key challenges does the United States face in the future?

·  Unit 6, Lesson 38: What are the challenges of the Participation of the United States in world affairs?