Stories of Chasing Asylum - Stories of Expression

Australian curriculum content descriptions

Year 10 English:

• Understand how language use can have inclusive and exclusive social effects, and can empower or disempower people (ACELA1564)
• Refine vocabulary choices to discriminate between shades of meaning, with deliberate attention to the effect on audiences (ACELA1571)

Syllabus outcomes: EN5-5C, 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 listen for ways features within texts can be manipulated to achieve particular effects and show how the selection of language features can achieve precision and stylistic effect.

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
• Flashcard definitions of key concepts and terminology
• Five double-sided printed copies of the Frayer Model for each student
• One copy of the Flashcards to display in the classroom

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

• Empathy
• Communication
• 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.