Stories of Chasing Asylum - Stories Of Compassion

Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

Year 10 English:

• Compare and evaluate how ‘voice’ as a literary device can be used in a range of different types of texts such as poetry to evoke particular emotional responses (ACELT1643)
• Create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues (ACELY1756)
• Refine vocabulary choices to discriminate between shades of meaning, with deliberate attention to the effect on audiences (ACELA1571)
• Evaluate the social, moral and ethical positions represented in texts (ACELT1812)

Syllabus outcomes: EN5-3B, EN5-1A, EN5-7D.

General Capabilities: Literacy, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, Intercultural Understanding.

Cross-curriculum priority:

• Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia OI.8.
• Sustainability OI.5.

Relevant parts of Year 10 English achievement standards: Students evaluate how text structures can be used in innovative ways by different authors. They explain how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary contributes to the development of individual style, and create a wide range of texts to articulate complex ideas, varying vocabulary choices for impact.

Unit of work: Stories of Chasing Asylum – access the unit overview here.

Time required: 120 minutes.

Level of teacher scaffolding: High – facilitate class discussion and assess student work.

• Student Worksheet – one copy per student OR computers/tablets to access the online worksheet
• Device capable of audio/visual presentation to present a website to the class, projector and speakers
• Internet access
•  Quotes slide, David Marr article – Student copy (one per student – printed or accessed online), David Marr article – Teacher copy, Found Poem, Found Poetry Instructions, printed copies of the Frayer Model (each student will need three Frayer Models), one copy of the Compassion – Word Cluster for each student, one copy of the Venn Diagram for each student.

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• Empathy
• Communication
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Ethical understanding
• Cultural understanding
• Global citizenship
• Social skills

Chasing Asylum exposes the real impact of Australia’s offshore detention policies through the personal accounts of people seeking asylum and whistleblowers who tried to work within the system. To watch the documentary, stream it on Kanopy and Clickview or purchase the DVD at the ATOM Education Shop.