Specials thanks to Anna Pereszlényi, my dear colleague, with whom I created the worksheet!
Topic: migration, homelessness, human rights
Level: B2+
Objectives:
- to raise awareness to a current issue
- to develop students’ critical thinking and creativity
- to develop students’ communicative skills
- to develop students’ empathy and tolerance
- to expand students’ knowledge about human rights
- to expand students’ vocabulary
Equipment/materials needed: worksheet for every student
Sequence of activities:
1. Warmer – Individual work and then pair work
Ask your students to make a list of the things they do not have at the moment, but they would like to have one day.
Ask them to work in pairs and answer the following questions:
a. Why did you pick these items?
b. Which of these items are needed so that you feel comfortable or happy?
c. Which of these items are needed so that you feel safe?
d. Look at your list: which items are absolutely necessary for life? Which ones are not important?
2. Prediction activity
Announce the following:
The title of the poem we are going to read is “Glasgow Snow”, written by Jackie Kay. Based on the title and the pictures below, what do you think the poem is about?
3. Prediction 2: Look at the excerpt below. Who do you think would say that?
No public fund, no benefit, no home, no sanctum, No haven, no safe port, no support, No safety net, no sanctuary, no nothing.
(They are likely to come up with ideas like a homeless person, a pirate, a university student… actually you should be looking for the word asylum seeker or refugee here)
4. Reading - Ask them to read the first stanza of the poem “Glasgow Snow” and underline the keywords that refer to the main character.
You were found in the snow in Glasgow
Outside the entrance to Central Station.
Your journey took you from an Ethiopian prison
To the forests in France where luck and chance
Showed you not all white men are like the men
In Roots - a film you watched once.
The people smugglers didn’t treat you like Kizzy
Or Kunta Kinte, brought you food and water by day,
Offered you shelter in a tent, and it was sanctuary.
And you breathed deep the forest air, freely.
5. Reading - Ask them to read the rest of the poem and fill in the gaps. Then, check it together.
But when you were sent here, Glasgow,
In the dead winter: below z_________, no place to go,
You rode the b__________ to keep warm: X4M, Toryglen,
Castlemilk, Croftfoot, Carbrain, Easter
House, Moodiesburn, Red road flats, Springburn,
No public fund, no benefit, no home, no sanctum,
No haven, no safe port, no support,
No safety net, no sanctuary, no nothing.
Until a girl found you in the s__________, frozen,
And took you under her w__________, singing.
Oh… would that the Home Office show
The kindness of that stranger in the w_________ snow!
Would they g__________ you asylum, sanctum,
For your twenty- seventh birthday?
On March 8th, two thousand and thirteen,
You could become, not another figure, sum, unseen,
Another woman sent h____________ to danger, dumb, afraid,
At the mercy of strangers, no crib, no bed,
All worry: next meal, getting fed, fetching up dead.
And at last, this winter, you might lay down your sweet h__________.
6. Vocabulary - Crossword - Ask them to complete the crossword puzzle below using the words from the poem.
7. Reading comprehension - Ask students to read the poem again and fill in the table below.
Ask them: What do you know about the character? What are your suspicions? What would you like to know about him/her?
8. Discussion - Ask students to discuss these questions in pairs and then have a full-class discussion on them. (The main aim is to develop their empathy with this activity)
a. What questions would you ask from a person who has left their country?
b. What do you think these people’s feelings are when they have to leave their homes and move to a different country?
c. What are their daily struggles?
9. Reading - In order to have a deeper understanding of the issue, students have to read another poem, Constant by Jackie Kay.
It is following you and you can't escape.
You cannot hold your head up or be happy.
You lose your confidence. You turn a corner: it is there.
You cannot step on it; make it disappear.
You are feeling many complicated things.
Dawn raids strike and you are terrified.
You are imprisoned in your own life.
Every time you go to the Home Office, there it is.
They make you feel inhuman. Every word you speak,
A complete lie. An untruth. You cannot begin
To imagine. It is always there. Constant.
It is your only companion. There is no freedom.
There is just this _______________. You can’t really describe it.
It gets everywhere. It gets in your hair.
Under your arms; between your legs.
It gives you a bad taste in your mouth.
You can see it in your eyes; hear it in your voice.
It is hard to describe. It never takes a break.
When you walk away, it follows you.
When you Stay inside; it stays by your side, so quiet.
It is under your skin. It is your heartbeat.
Never leaves you be. It is you. It is me.
It will stroke your hand when you die.
Ask them to answer the following questions.
a. What is the missing word which refers to an emotion?
b. Which words and phrases describe the emotion?
c. How do these poems make you feel?
10. Learning about human rights -
Clarify the key terms in question 10a, and then ask them to work in pairs on 10b.
a. What is the difference between immigrants, emigrants and refugees?
b. Look at the infographic below. Which human rights are usually violated in case of immigrants, emigrants and refugees?
11. PROJECT – you can give it to them as HW or ask them to work on it in class.
“You have to collect interesting stories about immigrants, emigrants or refugees. Pick your favourite story and summarise it in 3 minutes for your group. The following questions might help you.
a. Why did you choose this particular story?
b. What makes it interesting?
c. How does it make you feel?”
12. GAME PROJECT - Online tip
Ask students to try out this game and then record themselves talking about what kind of decisions they made and why.