Current Events Lesson from New York Times Learning Network

              What should you do when a stranger shows up at your door asking for help?

 

African Migration Crisis

Globally record numbers of migrants have had to abandon their homes due to crime, war, and other threats. 60 million people this year alone were on the move looking for a new homeland. New York Times Learning Network has created a lesson for students to explore the global migration crisis, first through maps and photographs, then with a class reading and discussion, and next by way of a research assignment. In our quest to provide opportunities for students to think globally this lesson provides a slideshow using photographic journalism where a picture really can tell a thousand words, and short videos.

Mediterranean Migrant Crisis 

If you scroll a bit further down the lesson the section titled: Inquiry Activity- you can ask your students to delve deeper into the global migration crisis by doing their own research. They might want to start with one of the suggested Key Questions, or use the Think/Puzzle/Explore process(PDF) to help them figure out what they want to investigate further. There are provided resources with different perspectives and stories from around the world. Depending on your Learning Target you might want to ask students to choose one or more articles from the list provided, or to do more intense research in The Times and elsewhere, before writing up what they learned and presenting to the class.

Migrants, mostly from Syria and Iraq, set out along a highway on the Danish-German border

Further down the lesson in the section titled: Going Further- There are ideas to Hold a Congressional Hearing, Organize a Model United Nations, or any other idea you might have for interactive learning and presenting.

Also check out: Migrant Children, Arriving Alone, and Frightened.



                                                       Key Questions for the lesson:

•  How much responsibility should individual people or nations take for welcoming migrants from other countries?
• Why do some people or nations view migrants as a threat, while others view them as a boon?

As always please share on the blog if you try this lesson, or components of this lesson and how it goes in classroom.

Link to lesson:Border Challenges: Responding to the Global Migration Crisis