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Boat People

Boat People Cramed on a Boat DeckingTheme: Migration and refugees
Key Learning Area: English - Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) - Technology - The Arts
Age Group: Primary Upper (10-12) - Secondary Lower (13-14) - Secondary Middle (15-16) Resource Type: Posters and artwork
Stimulus Name: Boat People

Outcomes

Students empathise with refugees and are able to dispel some of the myths associated with boat people

Introduction

Teachers need to consider that this photograph may be distressing to some children especially if they or their families have been refugees. Teachers may also access material from the kit Surviving War-Surviving Peace, Centre for Refugee Research, School of Social Work, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052. The kit contains a video, an experiential game, slides and notes.

Worksheets to download
Boat People B&W Photograph (jpeg File)
Boat people and other unlawful non-citizens fact sheet (rtf File)

Suggested Activities

Download and look at the black and white photograph

  1. Discussion
    • Ask students to describe the conditions shown in the picture.
    • What must conditions have been like to force the refugees to leave their homeland?
    • What might have happened on the journey?
    • Make a word bank of the language associated with the issues and the emotions evoked by the picture.
  2. Role plays
    • Making the decision to leave
    • Interviewing a refugee for a television news program.
Additional Strategies
  1. Dispel the myth
    Download Boat people and. other unlawful non-citizens.
    Read, discuss and further research. Visit the web sites of
    Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Immigration, The Facts- Information Kit and
    Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
    • How many people are in Australia unlawfully?
    • What are their main countries of origin?
    • What happens when people arrive in Australia without valid visas or travel documents?
  2. Written activities
    • Using the word bank write an article for your local newspaper based on an interview with a young refugee.
    • Using the word bank write haiku or acrostic poems exploring the emotions and experiences of the refugees.
  3. Drama
    • In groups create depictions in response to the poems or articles.
    • Create a series of depictions/ freeze frames to re-enact the refugees' journey.
Related Resources

The Centre for Refugee Research, UNSW,The Truth Hurts: Facts and Stories about 'Boat People' and Asylum Seekers
Classroom activity Swamped by Refugees
Debunking the Myths about Asylum Seekers Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education & The School of Education, Australian Catholic University

Relevant websites to visit


Copyright Acknowledgement
Photograph, Boat People
Courtesy West Australian Newspapers Limited


Date: 10 October 2000