A role-playing scenario has middle-schoolers imagining that they are refugees forced to flee their community and integrate into a new one. Then, some play the roles of members of the new community and the class brainstorms ideas about how to help them become part of the community.

Concepts

refugees, immigration, asylum

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• This is a contentious issue and not everyone may agree that accepting refugees into the community is a good idea; be sensitive to this possibility and use it to structure constructive debate
• Expand by having the class investigate and discuss the recent political debate about allowing refugees from the Middle East into the United States

Classroom Considerations

• On page two, the link to more lessons about immigrants is broken, but the correct link is: http://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/energyofanation
• If your class is large, come up with a few more identities to pass out

Pros

• Role-playing can be an effective way of cultivating empathy for the plight of refugees

Cons

• Doesn't try to explain the viewpoint of those who think it isn't a community's responsibility to accept refugees