Migration

Introduction

Because of the choice of our subject, we have chosen our students to be 16-17-year-olds which corresponds to 9th graders. The reason why we have chosen this specific age group is caused by the choice of the topic being Migration. This topic deals with other courses than English, such as Geography, History and Social Studies. The course Social Studies will first be introduced to the students when they attend 8th grade, and because of that, they presumably don’t possess that much of knowledge regarding to society. With this in mind, we believe it makes better sense if the topic will be introduced for 9th graders.

We have chosen our topic to be migration, because of the fact that it’s a very relevant subject nowadays and it plays a significant role for millions of people all over the world.

The project will continue over 3 lessons.

Curriculum

1st lesson:
During this lesson we will primarily focus on oral conversations. The main goal in this lesson is first of all to let the pupils gain and share their knowledge about migration and secondly to improve their vocabulary comprising technical terms and knowledge about the concerning geography and society. Furthermore, the pupils will read 2 articles, with the focus point being to learn the technical terms and following be capable of analyzing the second article.

• Start up: Brief introduction to the topic by the teacher, what does migration mean?
• We are interested in knowing what the pupils know in advance. In groups of 2, the pupils will talk about what they know about migration.
• The students will afterwards share their knowledge in class.
• The teacher will meanwhile take notes on the smartboard.
• Afterwards the students have to read the following text by UNESCO concerning migrants:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/migrant/?fbclid=IwAR1IZiRYAlCZ12h1gVI01Cgs1IKftKvPyD_RjVQbnYT5uFLAgcsJUp9ol0s   

• One the basis of the text https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911   
We will in class talk about the following questions:

1. Which countries are migrants typically from?
2. Where are migrants typically going?
3. How do migrants get to Europe?
4. How dangerous is the journey?
5. Which European countries are most affected?
6. How has Europe responded?
7. How many asylum claims are approved?

• Afterwards we will talk about the reasons why migration is happening, comprising hunger, war and different types of migration.

2nd lesson:
During this lesson we will first of all focus on improving the student’s vocabulary and grammar by using the website Freerice.com, subsequently we will focus on oral conversations and reading texts about refugees from Latin-American migrating to the United States.

1. Start-up: The pupils are going to work with grammar and vocabulary on www.freerice.com  
on their Personal Devices – For each answer they get right, the website donates 10 grains of rice through The World Food Program to help and end hunger.

If the answer is incorrect the question will be repeated again later – hereby the pupils have the possibility to answer correctly and thereby become better.

2. Work with the topic “Refugees going to USA”

• Migrant caravan: What is it and why does it matter?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45951782?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cpz748kpzp8t/migrant-caravan&link_location=live-reporting-story   
• The pupils will use this article to determine what kind of migrants the article speaks of.
• They need to read the article, and then go together in groups of 3-4, where they must discuss what they have read.
• Thereafter they must determine the type of migrants represented in the article. The students need to write their answers in a paper, which they will use on a class discussing.


3rd lesson:
During this lesson we will first of all focus on the student’s ability on listening by watching a video on YouTube regarding the circumstances in Syria. Afterwards the students will be handed a task called ‘walk and talk’, which will focus on oral conversations and discussions. At the end of the lesson, the pupils will be introduced to a task wherein they will make arguments regarding their positioned stand-point (migrant, jury, pro-migrants and skeptics).

1. Start-up: We will watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOnXh3NN9w  regarding the European refugee crisis and an explanation on the circumstances in Syria.
2. Walk and talk. The Pupils will be divided in groups of 2 and be handed a paper with questions regarding the video. The Pupils will hereby walk around outside while discussing the questions.
3. Recapitulation in the Classroom

The classroom will afterwards be transformed to a conference room, where the class will be divided in 4 groups.
• Group 1 - Migrants from Syria. Their task is to explain their circumstances to the other 3 groups and argue for why they should get residence permit in Denmark.
• Group 2 - Will be skeptical towards migrants – their task is to argue against the sense of giving the migrants residence permit in Denmark.
• Group 3 – They have a socialistic point of view on migrants. Their task is to find arguments for the sense of giving the migrants residence permit in Denmark.
• Group 4 – The Jury. Their task is to maintain peace and order in the conference room. One pupil from this group will be the moderator at the conference.

The groups will be given 15 minutes to prepare their arguments and speeches.

At the end of the debate, the jury will, on behalf of the arguments, decide whether the migrants will get residence permit in Denmark or not.

Conclusion and reflections

In the light of our lesson plan, we have focused on advancing the competences of the pupils in the best way possible. With use of the theories concerning language acquirement and Biggs taxonomy we have built a creative lesson plan wherein we have elements of both grammars, reading, oral conversations, listening, discussions and use of ICT. Hereby we accomplish our goal being having a diverse lesson plan.

Furthermore, the use of ICT is giving us advantage with the pupils, because they are comfortable in using ICT which will keep their attention. Besides of using traditional teaching methods we also have a physical activity which is performed through a walk and talk. This is based on the background of the requirements from the Ministry of Education, which states the Danish pupils should at least be physical active 45 minutes a day.

The difficulties we could face with our lesson plan, is whether we can stay within the time limit or not. The tasks can be more challenging than first assumed, but can also be too simple, which can make a difference on the performance of our teaching. If we cannot show true class room management, we can lose the pupils attention and thereby not get as much out of the lesson plan than first assumed. Additionally, the Conference Room-task, can be difficult for the challenged pupils because they may not have obtained the necessary vocabulary to make a coherent conversation. Although, the challenged pupil can benefit from being in group with a less challenged pupil, so they can learn new strategies and hypotheses towards sentence building.

Standards

Studying English at 1st term

Credits

Special thanks to the publishers!

Bibliography

• Brodersen, Peter. Fibæk Laursen, Per. Agergaard, Karsten. Grønbæk Nielsen, Niels, og Toke Gissel, Stig (2015): Effektiv undervisning, 3. udgave. Kap 4: Mål. Side 143-146. Hans Reitzels Forlag.

• Daryai-Hansen, Petra. Søndergaard Gregersen, Annette. Karen Jacobsen, Susanne. Von Holst-Petersen, Jette. Krogsgaard Svarstad, Lone. Watson, Catherine. Fremmedsprogsdidaktik, 1. udgave, 1. opslag. Kap 4: Hvordan lærer vi sprog? Side 69-76. Hans Reitzels Forlag.

Articles / Websites

•  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45951782?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cpz748kpzp8t/migrant-caravan&link_location=live-reporting-story

   
•  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44466388

•  http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/migrant/

•  https://www.emu.dk/modul/bevægelse-2

Video

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOnXh3NN9w

Other