Stories of Chasing Asylum - Stories Of Hope

Australian curriculum content descriptions:

Year 10 English:

• Identify and explore the purposes and effects of different text structures and language features of spoken texts, and use this knowledge to create purposeful texts that inform, persuade and engage (ACELY1750)
• 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)
• Create literary texts with a sustained ‘voice’, selecting and adapting appropriate text structures, literary devices, language, auditory and visual structures and features for a specific purpose and intended audience (ACELT1815)

Syllabus outcomes: EN5-1A, EN5-3B.

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.

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, and enough devices for students to use individually or in groups of 2-3
• Internet access
• Article – Olympic Refugee Team overcomes hardship to make Games debut (optional – one per student)
• Biographical Writing Factsheet (one per student – printed or accessed online)
• Triple Venn Diagram

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

• Empathy
• Communication
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Ethical understanding
• Cultural understanding
• Global citizenship
• Digital literacy
• 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.