Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes – Part A: Setting Ground Rules
35 minutes – Part B: Refugee Scenarios
15 minutes – Part C: Reflection

Part A: Setting Ground Rules

This lesson requires enough space for students to move across the room. Students will begin the lesson by lining up in a straight line across the back of the room and progressively move across the room. Be sure to plan how you will facilitate this in your given space prior to the lesson.

Step 1.

Work with your class to set up a safe classroom by ensuring there are no physical obstacles or tripping hazards as the students move across the room.

Step 2.

Now, gather the students in the centre of the space and explain that in this lesson they will be engaging in exercises based on real-life refugee experiences.

Explain to students that due to the sensitive nature of some of the content in this lesson, setting classroom ground rules is an important step in creating a safe space for all students to share their thoughts and ideas.

You should work with your students to create your own ground rules. However, they might include:

Own your ideas by using “I think” rather than “You should”
Respect each other and value diversity by remembering that each person has their own beliefs and values and their own worldviews, experiences, and opinions
Each person has a right to contribute their ideas, so listen politely
Be brave in sharing your ideas, experiences, and opinions
Appreciate that everyone has the right to uphold their privacy; this might mean they don’t want to share their ideas or experiences on an issue
Share feedback in a way that is considerate and positive by remembering to be positive, kind, helpful and specific when providing feedback
Approaching the exercise with a serious mindset. Avoid jokes or playing into racial, ethnic or cultural stereotypes.

Make a record of your ground rules and keep them in a place where all students can access them. Alternatively, provide each student with a copy of the ground rules.

Part B: Refugee Scenarios

Step 1.

Invite students to form groups of between 1–6, based on who they are standing near. Allocate the following ‘roles’ within each group and invite students to adopt one of the roles for the duration of the exercise:

A single person
A group of 3 – parents and teenage child
A group of 2 – a couple
A group of 6 – grandparents, a couple, and 2 young children

Consider writing these grouping options on the board to assist students to remember their roles.

Once students have formed their groups, explain that their role in the team is that of a general refugee from a non-specific racial, ethnic or cultural background. This is intentionally left undisclosed.

Step 2.

Explain that in this activity, students will hear a number of scenarios that contain decisions that the groups will have to make together. To indicate the decision the group has made, they will be given the option to step forward, step back or stay where they are. Tell students that they will have a minute to discuss in their teams and make a quick decision together. Explain that the aim of this activity is to make it as far as possible across the room, which represents acceptance and tolerance from Australian society.

The script for this entire activity can be downloaded here or you can read the prompts directly from this Teacher Worksheet.

Step 3.

Now, narrate the following script:

“Welcome to Australia. You’re all from different countries, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds. You all have a different story but you all also have something in common. You’re all refugees who have just arrived in Australia."

To begin with, invite everyone to take one step forward. Continue narrating the following:

“You are in Australia, away from the danger that you faced in your home country. You are no longer in imminent fear for your safety. You have managed to escape the war or persecution that caused you to leave behind your home.

You arrive and you’re lucky because there’s a community here of people from your country. For the first few days, someone from your community agrees to let you stay in their house. But you need somewhere more permanent to live. You don’t have a rental history and you’re worried that you won’t quickly find somewhere to live.

Take two steps forward if you decide to apply to rent a house in an inner-city suburb because you think this will be close to potential work.

Take one step forward if you decide to apply to rent an apartment or small house close to others who come from a similar community and background to you because you think this will make you feel safe and give you a sense of belonging.”

Allocate 1 minute for students to consult within their groups about what decision to make, and to take steps according to their choice. Invite 2 groups to explain what they chose to do, and why.

Note: You may wish to project an online countdown to make this timing clear to the class.

Step 4.

Wrap up discussion of Scenario 1, and narrate the following:

“Those who took 2 steps forward, take 2 steps back. You have only just arrived, so it will be very difficult to afford the rent. Even if you could afford it, it is very hard to prove to anyone that you would be a trustworthy tenant. You don’t know anyone in Australia, so you don’t have anyone who can give you a positive reference.

For those who took one step forward, stay where you are. It took a month, but you’ve found a modest rental home in a quiet suburb. You don’t know many people who live there, but you feel more safe here having people around who understand you, your life experiences and the challenges you presently face.”

Step 5.

Continue the scenario by narrating the following script:

“Now, it’s your first week in Australia and there are many basic things you need to do to start building your new life here. You need to go to the bank, get linked up with an employment agency and enrol in an English course. While some refugees arrive in Australia speaking English, for you this is all very daunting as you struggle with English. You could ask your neighbor in your street for help. Back home, your neighbours were often a source of support, but back home you knew your neighbours well. Here, it makes you nervous because you don’t know how they’ll feel about you, how they’ll react or whether there is a culture here of helping strangers. Your next meeting with your social worker is a week away and it will be hard for you to wait a full week to take these basic steps.

Take 2 steps forward if you decide to ask your neighbour to take you around and help you with these tasks. Take one step forward if you will wait a week for your next meeting with a social worker, who may be able to help you then. Stay where you are if you decide to try and do it yourself, hoping you’ll be understood despite the language barrier."

Allocate 1 minute for students to consult within their groups about what decision to make, and to take steps according to their choice. Now, ask 2 groups to explain what they chose to do, and why.

Step 6.

Wrap up the discussion, and narrate the following:

“Everyone who took 2 steps forward, now take 2 steps back. Your neighbour wasn’t willing to help. They were polite but were quick to shut the door. This has made you feel isolated and alone. This has had a negative effect on your confidence.

For those who took one step forward, take a step back. You waited for your social worker, who was able to help you, but it was inconvenient and very frustrating to have had to put your life on hold for a week. These are tasks that you could have done yourself without any trouble back home. This experience made you feel helpless and disempowered.

For those who stayed where you are to try and do it yourself, take a step backward. You tried your best, but you weren’t able to get anything done, because you weren’t able to be properly understood. This left you feeling frustrated and disempowered.”

Step 7.

Continue the scenario by narrating per the following script:

“You have a passion for helping people and a dream to work as a pharmacist. In fact, you already have qualifications from back home. You need a job, to start earning money as soon as possible. The only job immediately available is an entry-level role that does not use your training, is hard work and is not very well paid.

Take 2 steps forward if you accept the job. Stay where you are if you wait for something better and try to find a job you are more passionate about."

Allocate 1 minute for students to consult within their groups about what decision to make, and to take steps according to their choice. Again, ask 2 groups to explain what they chose to do, and why.

Step 8.

Wrap up the discussion, and narrate the following:

“All those who took 2 steps forward, take one step back. At first, you were happy with your decision because you had a steady source of money. However, 12 months pass, and you’re still in that same job. It is making you feel like you aren’t achieving your full potential. This is making you feel unhappy and dissatisfied.

All those who stayed where they are, take one step back. No better jobs become available this next month, and you regret not taking the job when it was available.”

Step 9.

Now, narrate the following script:

“For this scenario you are all school-age refugees and are placed in your local high school. You get allocated to a class where there are other students who speak English as a second language. You’re struggling to make friends amongst the rest of your year level, and you don’t know whether the other students will accept you.

Take 1 step forward if you make the decision to put yourself out there and introduce yourself to a group of students at lunchtime who are sitting together. Stay where you are if you decided to wait and see if someone will come and introduce themselves to you."

Allocate 1 minute for students to consult within their groups about what decision to make, and to take steps according to their choice. Invite 2 groups to explain what they chose to do, and why.

Step 10.

Wrap up discussion of Scenario 4, and narrate the following:

“All those who took the risk to try to make new friends, take one step back. It’s really scary and tough to make new friends with these students because you’re unsure how they’ll react to you. You have a different accent, and a different culture and background. This makes you nervous.

All those who stayed where you are, only a couple of students have introduced themselves. It’s been a month and you still don’t feel like you’re making deep friendships.”

Part C: Reflection

Step 1.

Ask the groups to note how far they progressed and to sit down in their seats or on the floor in a circle. Then facilitate a short reflective discussion using the following prompts:

Were your decisions influenced by the fact that you came to Australia as a family, with a partner or by yourself?
How did it feel to have to make such major decisions in such a short time?
Was there any group that had any disagreement? How was that disagreement resolved?
How did it feel to make all these decisions and not progress very far across the room? If you had to choose two words to describe your feeling about this, what would it be?
Do you have any other comments, thoughts, feelings or questions to share?

Note: These questions are also available on the Student Worksheet if you would like to invite students to reflect individually or in their groups.

Step 2.

Conclude this lesson by reiterating that this activity showed just a few difficult decisions refugees and asylum seekers have to make when they arrive in Australia. Starting a new life is hard. Everyone in Australia finds it tough to access government services, find a rental home, make friends at school or find a job in their field of passion. What this activity tries to show is that these are particularly difficult decisions for refugees and that they will often face all the challenges at once. The challenges don’t end for a refugee on day 1 of arriving in Australia. Knowing this gives us the power to make a change. To put out our hand in friendship and empathy.

Finally, explain to students that these scenarios are not fictional. They’re real stories from real refugees. They are the stories of David, a holocaust survived who arrived in Australia in 1951, Alpha, who arrived from Darfur in 2002, and Shabnam, who arrived from Pakistan in 2009.

To extend this activity, consider asking students to form pairs discuss how they feel knowing these are real scenarios, based on real stories.

Conclude the lesson by showing the Our Stories video (https://vimeo.com/293047379/5002988795)

(((video:https://vimeo.com/293047379)))

Differentiated Learning

Extension – Students can extend this activity by interviewing refugees in their local community and creating their own situation script. If these are of a high enough quality these student scripts can be used to teach students about this topic in following years.

Provisions for Learning Support – Consider providing students with a copy of the Situation Script to follow the story as the lesson progresses. This whole lesson can also be done entirely by students in their groups using the script, and shifting a marker across a checkerboard, or similar.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Our Stories - Challenges for Refugees Settling in Australia

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