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This incredibly inspiring story of Auschwitz' survivor Dr. Edith Eger just brought us to tears. Her story is filled with lessons in hope, love, forgiveness and letting go. She also talks about current events in the US.

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This inspiring story of Auschwitz’ survivor Dr. Edith Eger just brought us to tears.

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Book summary, character descriptions, historical events/references 

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Book summary, character descriptions, historical events/references 

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Author Alan Gratz answers student questions about his novel Refugee, and his writing process.

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Author Alan Gratz answers student questions about his novel Refugee, and his writing process.

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44 minutes

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August 5, 1994 Havana uprising at the Malecon

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August 5, 1994 Havana uprising at the Malecon

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archival footage

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August 5, 1994 Havana uprising at the Malecon

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passages- an awareness game confronting the plight of refugees 

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Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route

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Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route

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Note: Committee used this.
Online interactive from BBC; includes additional resources

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Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route

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Put yourself in the shoes of a Syrian migrant and see whether you could make the right choices on the journey to Europe.

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speakers who spoke at Youth to Youth Symposium at UMASS Boston in 2017

the event coordinators, Alan Stoskopf and Erin Leach-Ogden. can be reached at alan.stoskopf@umb.edu or erin.leach-ogden@umb.edu.

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Refugee Stories - University of Massachusetts Boston

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The oceanfront campus is minutes from downtown Boston and nationally recognized as a student-centered urban public research university.

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THE COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS
MASSACHUSETTS

Sign Up to Stay Informed

CAIR-MA is proud to have received a Cummings Foundation $100k for 100 Grant!

Report an Incident

If you feel that you or someone you know has been the victim of harassment or discrimination based on your faith, please notify us by filling out the form below. Someone from our office will contact you within 24-48 hours to respond. All information will be secured and private unless authorized.

Featured Video

CAIR-MA Director Calls Ted Cruz's Anti-Muslim Rhetoric 'Corrosive and Destructive'

``Thanks for the opportunity to let our voices be heard today in Copley Square. I represent the many Christians who welcome Muslims wholeheartedly.
We sponsored a Muslim from Senegal 17 years ago. He is now an American citizen, the father of one of my grandsons.``

Address:

123 South Street
3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02111

© CAIR Massachusetts All Rights Reserved 2017

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CAIR Massachusetts - Council on American-Islamic Relations

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THE COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS MASSACHUSETTS Sign Up to Stay Informed CAIR-MA is proud to have received a Cummings Foundation $100k for 100 Grant! Report an Incident If you feel that you or someone you know has been the victim of harassment or discrimination based on your faith, please notify us by filling out the form below.

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MIRA: Facts and information about immigrants and refugees, including  on MA

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MIRA: Facts and information about immigrants and refugees, including  on MA

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MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition)

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Community Resources

One of MIRA's most important functions is to serve as a hub for reliable, up-to-date information on immigrants and refugees in Massachusetts and all the services and resources you may need.

This section has three key types of material: facts and figures; key aspects of immigration law and immigrants' rights; and links to information and contacts for citizenship, English language and adult education; health and human services; and refugee assistance.

We have additional resources on entrepreneurship, workforce development, access to education, and foreign-trained professionals in the Integration Institute section.

We do our best to keep these up to date. If you find any outdated materials or broken links, or you any questions, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. !

Facts about immigrants & refugees

Scores of reports and factsheets about immigrants are published every year, mainly at the national level, but also some at the state and local levels. This page highlights key resources that we find particularly useful and cite in our own work; in the future, we expect to present a collection of MIRA-produced factsheets as well.

If you have any comments or would like to suggest an additional resource to include here, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Download MIRA's factsheet, Immigrants are our Commonwealth (April 2018)

See Reason magazine's visual primer, What part of legal immigration don't you understand? (2008)

Read more: Facts about immigrants & refugees

REAL ID and Mass. driver's licenses: March 2018 update

In 2016 Massachusetts passed legislation to implement REAL ID, a federal standard adopted by Congress in 2005. Under the new law, state residents will have two options for their driver's license or ID card: a REAL ID-compliant one, or a standard Massachusetts state license. The new system is effective on March 26, 2018.
If you already have a valid, unexpired Mass. driver's license or ID on March 26, it will still be valid until its expiration date.
The changes affect everyone, but are particularly important for non-citizens to understand.
Key differences between a REAL ID and a standard license:

The REAL ID licenses will be marked "valid for federal identification purposes" with a gold star in the upper right-hand corner.

If you want a REAL ID license or ID, you must apply in person, whereas five-year standard licenses can be renewed completely online in most cases.

Starting in October 2020, only licenses/IDs that are REAL ID-compliant will be accepted as identification at airport security checkpoints. You will NOT be able to board an airplane using a standard Mass. license or ID.

You will still be able to use a valid passport (from any country), an EAD card, a permanent resident card (green card), or any of the other documents listed to board flights or as ID to enter a federal building.

Until October 2020, your standard license or ID can still be used to board an airplane; in federal buildings where ID is required, you already need REAL ID or one of the other federally accepted documents listed above.

Read more: REAL ID and Mass. driver's licenses: March 2018 update

Emergency plans for families

Parents whose immigration status is uncertain are encouraged to make emergency plans for the care and custody of their children in the event of a sudden detention by immigration officials and possible deportation. There are several different legal options, and the right choice for each family will depend on the specific circumstances. For example, it matters whether you have relatives with legal status who can help you, and where they live. You'll also want to consider your child's needs (e.g. medical concerns).

To explore your options, MIRA recommends that you review guides prepared by the Mass. Attorney General's office (available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese) and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (in English, with helpful forms to fill out).

If your children might need to move abroad in the event of a deportation in the family, make sure they have a passport! They may be eligible for a U.S. passport, but also consider getting them a passport from your country of birth; the Mexican and Salvadoran consulates, for example, have actively encouraged their citizens to do this. Here is a list of consulates in Boston.

Fin de DACA: Información crítica para los 'Soñadores'

La administración Trump ha anunciado la eliminación gradual del programa Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA). Para los casi 8.000 residentes de Massachusetts que han transformado su vida a través de DACA, esa noticia ha causado gran consternación. En MIRA, estamos comprometidos a hacer todo lo posible para ayudar a los beneficiarios de DACA durante esta crisis.

Esto es lo más importante que tiene que saber. También lo puede descargar como PDF:

Read more: Fin de DACA: Información crítica para los 'Soñadores'

Legal services

The following organizations can provide immigration legal services through attorneys or BIA-accredited representatives:

Greater Boston Area

Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigrant Services
275 West Broadway
South Boston, MA 02127
Ph: (617) 464-8100
Call Monday at 9:00am to leave voicemail to schedule appointment

Community Legal Services and Counseling Center
47 Thorndike Street, Suite SB-LL-1
Cambridge, MA 02141
Ph: (617) 661-1010

60 Gore Street, Suite 203
Cambridge, MA 02141
Ph: (617) 603-2700 / TTD 617-494-1757

Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement
1 City Hall Square, Room 806
Boston, MA 02201-2030
12-2pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month
Ph: (617) 635-4500

Central Massachusetts

Western Massachusetts

20 Hampton Avenue, Suite 100
Northampton, MA 01060
Ph: (413) 584-4034

Southeastern Massachusetts

Northeast Massachusetts

New Hampshire

Rhode Island

Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island
220 & 645 Elmwood Avenue
Providence, RI 02907
Ph: (401) 461-5940

National directories:

For an in-depth look at immigration legal providers, services and detention facilities across the United States, visit the Immigrant Advocates Network's National Immigration Legal Services Directory at http://immigrationadvocates.org/nonprofit/LegalDirectory.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) offers a list of pro bono legal service providers in different states. Visit https://www.justice.gov/eoir/list-pro-bono-legal-service-providers-map for the map.

The Citizenship Works directory will help you find a non-profit organization near you that is qualified to help you with your case. Visit https://www.citizenshipworks.org/findlegalhelp for more.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) can refer you to immigration attorneys across the United States. Find a lawyer at http://ailalawyer.com.

For more information on how to avoid immigration scams, please visit: http://uscis.gov/avoid-scams or http://StopNotarioFraud.org.

This article was last updated on March 28, 2017.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

KEY THINGS TO KNOW (updated January 25, 2018):

The Trump administration has announced that it is terminating DACA. For those who already have DACA, your work permit and deferred action will continue until their expiration date; the only immediate change is that advance parole to travel abroad is no longer available. However:

* DACA beneficiaries with work authorizations expiring between September 5, 2017, and March 5, 2018, had until October 5, 2017, to renew. Many of those renewal applications are still pending.
* Along with renewals filed by the October 5 deadline, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has continued to process initial applications and renewal requests that had been filed prior to September 5, 2017.
* USCIS will no longer accept any other first-time DACA applications or renewals.

NEW & IMPORTANT:
* Due to a U.S. District Court ruling on January 9, 2018, USCIS is at least temporarily accepting DACA renewal applications, including from people whose DACA expired prior to September 5, 2017, as well as those whose status is set to expire after March 5, 2018. A higher court could overturn that decision anytime. However, in the meantime, anyone in this situation should talk to a lawyer about reapplying. United We Dream and the National Immigration Law Center have good FAQs to get you started.

We encourage all DACA recipients to seek expert legal advice, especially if your DACA expires within just a few months. There may be other options for you, but the process takes time. Find a lawyer through the American Immigration Lawyers Association or call one of these community-based organizations. DO NOT hire a notario!

For a good overview for all DACA beneficiaries, including those facing the October 5 deadline, we recommend this community advisory from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (en español / 用中文（表达). See also this FAQ on DACA and employment.

Need this as a handout? Here's a PDF.

Read more: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Temporary Protected Status

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a humanitarian designation made by the President of the United States for the benefit of people who could not safely return to their countries due to armed conflict, a natural disaster, an epidemic, or other extraordinary conditions.

Once a country has been designated for TPS, eligible nationals of that country have a limited time to apply for the status. The TPS designation allows beneficiaries to receive work authorization and have a Social security number, making them eligible for a driver's license and other benefits. TPS designation can be valid for six, 12, or 18 months - depending on what the administration wishes to do in a particular case - and can be renewed an unlimited number of times. Every time a designation is renewed, those with TPS status must re-register and might also need to renew their work authorization.
UPDATED FEB. 1: Download a 2-page primer on TPS! See Governor Baker's letter supporting TPS extension NEW: See letter by Mass. Attorney General Healey + 18 colleagues urging Congress to act

Read more: Temporary Protected Status

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MIRA Coalition - Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

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One of MIRA's most important functions is to serve as a hub for reliable, up-to-date information on immigrants and refugees in Massachusetts and all the services and resources you may need.

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RIAC (The Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center - Massachusetts)

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RIAC (The Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center - Massachusetts)

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Refugee & Immigrant Assistance Center - The Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center is based in Boston, Lynn, and Worcester.

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The Refugee & Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC), formerly known as the Somali Women And Children's Association, was founded in 1993. We are a community-based, non-profit, grassroots human service agency that provides comprehensive services to refugees, asylees, and immigrants... Read More

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archival footage

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Integrating the Refugee Crisis into your curriculum: a PBS  short film and lesson plan 

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Integrating the Refugee Crisis into your curriculum: a PBS  short film and lesson plan 

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Welcome to Canada, and its companion lesson plan, “A Refugee’s Story,” encourages students to explore the impact of immigration as well as the themes of cultural displacement, human rights, and resilience.

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This UNHCR portal offers resources to help teachers create a welcoming environment for refugee pupils and to help explain the meaning of refugee, asylum, migration and statelessness to school children aged 6 – 18.

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With forced displacement reaching historic levels, schools all over the world are welcoming increasing numbers of refugee children. Teachers are facing new challenges in making sense of forced displacement and its complexities. With refugees and migrants regularly making headlines in the media and the internet bustling with information on the topic, explaining the situation of refugees and migrants to primary and secondary school children has become part of many educators' daily work.

In addition, training and guidance for teachers with refugees in their classrooms is not always based on best practice, and is not always easily available.
This UNHCR portal offers resources to help teachers create a welcoming environment for refugee pupils and to help explain the meaning of refugee, asylum, migration and statelessness to school children aged 6 - 18.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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With forced displacement reaching historic levels, schools all over the world are welcoming increasing numbers of refugee children. Teachers are facing new challenges in making sense of forced displacement and its complexities.

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Middle school refugee education resources

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Middle school refugee education resources

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Middle school refugee education resources

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Tes provides a range of primary and secondary school teaching resources including lesson plans, worksheets and student activities for all curriculum subjects.

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Amnesty International:              8 educational resources to better understand the refugee crisis

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Amnesty International:              8 educational resources to better understand the refugee crisis

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8 educational resources to better understand the refugee crisis

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The world refugee crisis has led civil society to mobilise, and initiatives calling for greater support to refugees have multiplied across countries. But at the same time, there have been increasing demands, especially from schools on how to work on this issue, asking how to discuss it with young people, or with students.

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Middle School Simulation
on the Refugee Crisis

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Middle School Simulation on the Refugee Crisis (Education)

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Through pictures, provocative questions, group discussion, and video, students explore what a refugee is, what his or her life is like, and how people can help them feel welcome and get the tools they need to survive in a new home.

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Through pictures, provocative questions, group discussion, and video, students explore what a refugee is, what his or her life is like, and how people can help them feel welcome and get the tools they need to survive in a new home.

The learner will:

define refugee and describe the lifestyle attributes of different refugee children.

discuss the importance of hearing all voices in a community and respecting their right to be heard.

identify civil society organizations that protect and speak for minority viewpoints (UNHCR).

identify community responsibilities toward protecting the voices of refugees.

identify the feelings of people who must leave their home and come to an unfamiliar place without the tools they need.

Read the following background on refugees and the work of UNHCR

Millions of people worldwide are considered refugees, living in virtually every country in the world. Unfortunately, the experience faced by refugees is often misunderstood. A refugee is a person who leaves his/her country for fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Normally, a government guarantees the basic rights of their citizens; however, people become refugees when their human rights have been violated or threatened and the government is unable or unwilling to protect those rights. The leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries are war and ethnic, tribal or religious violence.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was established in 1950 and works to protect and assist millions of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons, who are mainly women and children. UNHCR assists not only refugees, but also asylum seekers (when a person flees his/her country and seeks sanctuary in another country), refugees returning home (when a refugee returns to his/her home country), and internally displaced persons (when a person has been forced to flee his/her home for the same reason as a refugee, but remains in his/her own country and has not crossed an international border).

UNHCR works in places such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Kenya, Iraq, Syria and many other countries across the globe. UNHCR provides support in the way of shelter, food, clean water, education and medical care. UNHCR not only works to ensure basic human rights for refugees, but it also works to find solutions to the major issues faced by refugees.

refugee: someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group; a refugee either cannot return home or is afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.

Students may ask at home about their own family heritage. They may hear stories of the experience of leaving or coming to another culture.

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analyze/interpret civil society constructing meaning cultures economics group discussions human rights june needs assessment refugees relief response to text/others rights/responsibilities viewpoint wants/needs

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Through pictures, provocative questions, group discussion, and video, students explore what a refugee is, what his or her life is like, and how people can help them feel welcome and get the tools they need to survive in a new home.

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Brown University Choices Program

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Objectives

Students will:

Explore the human geography of the current refugee crisis.

Employ data to create a map of the crisis.

Examine one refugee's story and use it to map his or her experiences.

Consider challenges facing the international community and weigh responses to the crisis.

Resources

Handout - Key Terms

Handout - Refugee and IDP Data-2016

Handout - Mapping the Global Crisis

Handout - Mapping One Refugee's Journey

Handout - Refugee Stories

Optional Videos - Life on Hold

Slideshow - Maps
Note: Teaching about the global refugee crisis may require special sensitivity. The activity might be especially intense for students with a personal connection to the issue. Teachers should help promote careful consideration of the topic and work to make their classrooms a safe place for all students. Note: Colored pencils or markers are helpful for this activity.
1. Introduction

Write the question "What might force you (and your family) to abandon your home and leave your country?" on the board. After students have considered the question individually, ask students if they've heard about the recent refugee crisis in the news. What is a refugee? What are some reasons that refugees leave their homes?

Distribute Key Terms, and review each term with the class. Make sure that students understand the difference between a refugee, an internally displaced person, and a migrant. Review what it means for a person to apply for asylum. You may wish to show the following Choices Video to help introduce the terms:
What are refugees and internally displaced persons?
2. Mapping the Global Crisis

Explain to students that in order to better understand the scope of the crisis, they are going to analyze data on refugees and IDPs and then map the information. Give each student a copy of Refugee and IDP Data-2016 and Mapping the Global Crisis. Instruct students to read through the data handout on their own. Next, guide the class through the instructions for shading in the map on the Mapping the Global Crisis handout. Go over the term "map key" with students if needed. You may wish to have students complete this activity in pairs or small groups.

It might be helpful to project the map onto a screen or whiteboard, either for reference or for a spin on the activity. To modify the activity and complete as a class, students could collaboratively shade in the countries on the map projection.

If colored pencils or markers are not available for your classroom, consider instructing students to use patterns, in place of colors, when shading in areas on the map.

After the class has completed the exercise, ask students to reflect on what they have mapped and read. Were they surprised by any of the data? Which numbers were the most striking? How does the data compare to what they expected to see?

Ask students about the countries they shaded. What do students know about the current situation in countries that are the greatest sources of refugees and IDPs, such as Syria, Afghanistan, Colombia, and Iraq? Why might such large numbers of people be leaving their homes in these places?

Ask students about the top host countries and countries with the most asylum applications. Why might refugees go to these countries? Encourage students to look at the location of these countries on the map. How does location affect where refugees go? What might be other reasons that so many refugees end up in these countries? What responsibility do these countries have for protecting refugees?

3. Mapping One Refugee's Journey

Explain to students that in order to learn more about the current refugee crisis, they will read the account of one refugee and then map his or her journey. Break the class into small groups or pairs. Assign one refugee story per group, and give each student their own copy of Mapping One Refugee's Journey and Refugee Stories. (You may wish to only give each group a copy of the story that they will map instead of the entire packet of stories.)

Ask students to follow the instructions on the handouts-they should begin by reading the story. Review any vocabulary that students have identified as challenging. Have students fill out the organizer and then complete the map exercise. Tell students that they will be sharing their stories and maps with the class.

The map exercise designates specific tasks, but also asks students to use creativity to illustrate aspects of their refugee's journey that they think are important. This could include drawing a picture, using an image, or adding text to the map. Students may face space constraints on the maps for Shahad and Ahmet and should be encouraged to use their space creatively, drawing "out of bounds" over different parts of the map if they wish. To help students understand the mapping exercise, you may wish to read Shahad's story as a class and share our sample map of her journey, available in this slideshow of maps.

Update: Video Alternative

Another collection of refugee stories that you may find useful for this activity is Life on Hold by Al Jazeera. The site features video interviews with Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, as well as a place for viewers to leave comments for each refugee. The videos provide more in-depth stories than the shorter UN text sources and focus on a single region.

You may wish to orient students to the website to be sure they know where to find important features. Each refugee's page provides a main video that is about eight minutes long as well as a small map that shows his or her route. Instruct students to watch the main video and also click the map for a description of the refugee's journey. Remind students that, because each story is different, they only need to fill in the sections of the handouts for which they have information. You may encourage students to click "Add your thoughts to the wall" to leave a comment for a refugee or to see others' posts.
Note: The videos are intense and powerful and may be upsetting for students to watch. (For example, Mohammad describes seeing dead bodies, Abu Abdo describes what it was like to kill someone in the conflict, and Omar shows the camera his wounded leg.) As with the text sources, be sure to preview the videos to make sure they are appropriate for your classroom. You may wish to assign only a selection of the following:
Syria to Lebanon:

4. Class Discussion

Ask groups to briefly summarize each refugee story for their classmates. You may also wish to have each group present its map to the class.

What did students learn about each refugee? What were some of the reasons people gave for leaving their countries of origin? After hearing a few answers to these questions, ask students if any of the refugees' stories had similarities. How did experiences differ? Were students surprised by anything that they read? What challenges did the refugees face during their journeys, and how did they respond? Who or what organizations or governments have they turned to for aid? Is there anything else that the students would like to know about the refugees they read about? About other refugees?

Who do students think should be responsible for helping refugees? What do students think that people, organizations, and governments should do? What role do students think that the United States should play? Did hearing refugees' stories shape students' opinions about the refugee crisis? If so, how?

Ideas for Extra Challenges

1. Ask students what they know about the role of the United States in responding to the refugee crisis. To learn more, ask students to read the article "Trump Plans 45,000 Limit on Refugees Admitted to U.S." You may also direct them to the supplementary resources at the bottom of this page. Based on what they have read, what role do students think the United States should play? Encourage students to write letters to elected officials detailing these opinions. They can find contact information for the White House at whitehouse.gov/contact and for their U.S. senators and representatives at congress.gov.

2. Encourage students to explore international and local responses to the refugee crisis. How are other countries' governments and citizens responding? What are some specific examples of people finding ways to assist and welcome refugees? ("German Volunteers Launch 'Airbnb for Refugees'" is one example of one group's efforts to encourage a sense of community among host countries and refugees.)Ask students how people in their own communities have responded to the refugee crisis. Students can research and contact local organizations that are responding, and interview someone who is part of an active organization. Students can also research their state's specific Resettlement Program. Alternatively, students might wish to organize a meeting at school to raise awareness and discuss possible next steps at both at an individual and community level. For example, students may want to plan a fundraiser or film screening related to refugee relief.

3. Have students research the country of origin or the host country from one of the refugee's stories, directing them to the resources below. Ask students to find information about the country's government, economy, and social policies and programs. Ask students to write a short essay about their findings, outlining possible reasons why refugees made, or had to make, certain choices. BBC Country Profiles CIA World Factbook

Supplementary Resources

Al Jazeera: Topics: Coverage of the Refugee Crisis

CFR Backgrounder: How Does the U.S. Refugee System Work?

NYT: Topics: Refugees and Displaced People

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Refugee Stories: Mapping a Crisis - The Choices Program

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Students will: Explore the human geography of the current refugee crisis. Employ data to create a map of the crisis. Examine one refugee's story and use it to map his or her experiences. Consider challenges facing the international community and weigh responses to the crisis.

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Cuban Refugees "In Their Own Words" - 1980 Reel America Preview

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Cuban Refugees "In Their Own Words" - 1980 Reel America Preview

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Cuban Refugees "In Their Own Words" - 1980 Reel America Preview

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Cuban rafters: 20 years after the crisis

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Cuban rafters: 20 years after the crisis

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Background info with archival footage

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Cuban rafters: 20 years after the crisis

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Refugee by Alan Gratz: Teaching Empathy in the Classroom

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Refugee by Alan Gratz: Teaching Empathy in the Classroom

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Article by the author

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It's sometimes a challenge to get young people-and adults, for that matter-to care for people different from themselves.

One way we can teach empathy in the classroom is through the teaching of history. We can quote statistics-like the fact that six million European Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, and that half a million of those Jews were children. We can tell students that in the early 1990s, after the Soviet Union had collapsed and its massive food and economic subsidies to Cuba had gone with it, of the close to sixty-thousand hungry Cubans who fled on rafts, an estimated three in five of them died at sea. We can tell them that since the start of the Syrian Civil War, one in four schools has been destroyed or damaged or is now being used as a shelter, and that of the nearly half a million people who have died in Syria since 2011, twenty-four thousand of them are children. These are all facts. Lines in a history text book. And while those facts may engender empathy in some students, for many others they are antiseptic. Numbers to be learned for a test, not calls for action or concern.

For that, we have to give statistics a name. A face. And that is exactly what I sought to do when I wrote Refugee .

Refugee is the story of three young people from different eras and different parts of the world who are connected through the decades by their desperate, perilous attempts to flee dangerous situations back home, and their dreams of a better, safer tomorrow. Josef, a young Jewish boy, escapes Nazi Germany in 1939 with his family aboard a ship bound for Cuba. Isabel, a young Cuban girl, runs away from Fidel Castro and hunger riots with her family aboard a homemade boat bound for Florida in 1994. Mahmoud, a young Muslim boy, flees the Civil War in Syria for Germany by car, boat, train, and foot with his family in 2015. None of these three children are real; they are each, instead, amalgams of the many other real children who took-and continue to take-the same harrowing journeys. But by giving those collective children a name and a face, I have turned those statistics into real people, turned numbers into characters we cry for, and care for, and root for.

This theme of empathy, of seeing the unseen and caring for others, is of particular concern to each of the three main characters in Refugee. While on a ferry from the island of Lesbos to mainland Greece, Mahmoud watches as tourists frown at him and the other refugees for ruining their vacations, and give the refugees a wide berth.

They only see us when we do something they don't want us to do, Mahmoud realized. The thought hit him like a lightning bolt. When they stayed where they were supposed to be-in the ruins of Aleppo or behind the fences of a refugee camp-people could forget about them. But when refugees did something they didn't want them to do-when they tried to cross the border into their country, or slept on the front stoops of their shops, or jumped in front of their cars, or prayed on the decks of their ferries-that's when people couldn't ignore them any longer.

Mahmoud's first instinct was to disappear below decks. To be invisible. Being invisible in Syria had kept him alive. But now Mahmoud began to wonder if being invisible in Europe might be the death of him and his family. If no one saw them, no one could help them. And maybe the world needed to see what was really happening here.

Putting Students In the Shoes of Refugees

When I visit schools to talk about Refugee, I challenge the kids to think about what they would do in a similar situation. Let's say that tomorrow, war comes to your neighborhood, I tell them. You see houses and schools and shops and hospitals all around you destroyed by bombs and missiles. You and your family want to leave, but this place is your home. It's where you grew up. It's where your friends and family are. And this house, this apartment-your parents paid a lot of money for your home. They can't just leave it, can they? You don't want to leave. None of you do. So you stay as long as you possibly can while the world falls apart around you.

But finally it becomes too dangerous to stay. If you stay, you will die. So you decide to leave. But what do you take with you? You can only take what you can carry. You're going to need clothes. Blankets. Food. Water. What else can you fit in a backpack? All those things you treasure, the books and toys and pictures and things you've collected that mean something to you, there's no room for all that. You maybe have room for one thing that's not useful. Just one thing you keep for sentimental reasons. What is that one extra thing you take? Anything else that doesn't fit in your backpack has to be left behind.

Now that you're going, where do you go? To your grandparents' house? What if they're in just as much danger as you and your family are? Where else can you go? Will you leave the country? If so, what country will let you in? What if they already have all the refugees and immigrants they can handle? What if they practice a different religion than you and your family, or have a different skin color, and they're afraid of you? What if you have to stay in a refugee camp for months-years-while other countries argue over which one is going to take you in?

And if one of them does let you in, how will you live? Your parents don't have a job here to pay for rent, and if they were doctors or lawyers or teachers or some other job that requires a professional degree, what if that training isn't good here? What if they have to start all over? How will your parents earn money for a home and for food and a car when they're going back to school? And what if you don't speak this new country's language? When you go back to school, will they put you in a class with other kids your age where you don't understand a word that's being said, or will they put you in a class with little kids half your age where you're all learning the words for "cat" and "dog" and "apple?"

When we can turn numbers into names, and put students in the shoes of people who are not themselves, only then can we begin to build the empathy our country-and our world-needs to survive.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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Refugee by Alan Gratz: Teaching Empathy in the Classroom

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By Alan Gratz It's sometimes a challenge to get young people-and adults, for that matter-to care for people different from themselves. One way we can teach empathy in the classroom is through the teaching of history.

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pd resource but has some ideas to work from. Note: the committee used the 2nd activity here (the BBC choose your escape route simulation) so please don't use that.

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Refugee by Alan Gratz is a book your students will beg to keep reading. Three stories are twined together. Told in alternating chapters, one story builds to a cliffhanger. The chapter ends leaving the reader on edge. The book continues with the next story, and [You guessed it.] builds to a cliffhanger. This repeated pattern continues throughout the novel making it a real page turner.

The three stories contain accurate details about three important events in history - Hitler's Germany, Castro's Cuba, and Assad's Syria.

Waiting for months after a book is published for the paperback is often the norm. The paperback version of Refugee is available through the Scholastic Book Clubs September TAB flyer.

Scholastic makes great book trailers. This short video is no exception. First show the short video. Next, students complete a chart based on the details provided in the video. Students will most likely need to watch the video a second time to catch all the details.

This is a great hook activity to build interest before starting the novel. Completing the chart will also help students remember the main characters, settings, and their biggest conflicts. With three stories, this can be confusing.

Three files are provided in this Google Doc folder. You will find the full color version for students to complete online. A black and white version for printing makes this activity extremely flexible. An answer key is also included.

Refugee by Alan Gratz Activity #2

Try Syrian Escape Route. This SmartBoard activity was published by BBC. It allows students to make choices. -- What route should you take? How do you spend your money? What items do you take? -- The site also includes real stories of survivors.

If you would like to try out the Refugee Book Unit before you buy it, this download contains free samples including:

Comprehension Questions for Chapters 1-3

Constructive Response Question for Chapters 1-3

Photos to Show What the Rest of the Unit Looks Like

Refugee Book Unit contains graphic organizers for an interactive notebook. Vocabulary, comprehension, constructive response writing, and skill practice are all included. Printable and Google Digital versions are available.

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Refugee by Alan Gratz Teaching Ideas - Book Units Teacher

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TweetEmail TweetEmail The Story Refugee by Alan Gratz is a book your students will beg to keep reading. Three stories are twined together. Told in alternating chapters, one story builds to a cliffhanger. The chapter ends leaving the reader on edge. The book continues with the next story, and [You guessed it.]

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Three different kids. One mission in common: ESCAPE. Josef is a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world… Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and […]

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for ELL class

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ESL Conversation Lesson Questions: Free classroom handouts. English lesson on REFUGEES. Use for debates, discussions, speaking, conversations, independent learning and more.

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Flashpoint: Refugees In America (Part 2) | ABC News

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David Muir travels to Amman, Jordan, to report on the vetting process facing more than 600,000 refugees. -- SUBSCRIBE to ABC NEWS: https://www.youtube.com/ABCNews/ Watch More on http://abcnews.go.com/ LIKE ABC News on FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/abcnews FOLLOW ABC News on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/abc GOOD MORNING AMERICA'S HOMEPAGE: https://gma.yahoo.com/

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Flashpoint: Refugees In America (Part 1) | ABC News

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- Discussion of the book
- Refugee simulation activity
- History of the various stories
- Evaluating and uncovering bias and prejudice in news coverage of refugees
- Refugee issues -- status, definitions, vetting process, resettlement, etc.

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Make a list of the things you would take in a suitcase if you had to leave

Like dot day and light bulbs- but gratitude list

Something around the theme of adulthood

Something around the theme of survival

Motif of music: Isabel is always comparing her life to a song, a son cubano with drama and distinct parts

Some sort of picture writing response, create a backstory for pictured refugees (Omran Daqneesh)

Something around the theme of being seen

Refugee Article

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~20 min documentary onSyrian refugees arriving at Lesbos

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An interactive 360˚ film, filmed in a refugee camp, from the perspective of a 12-year old girl (the app "within" is needed to view this in 360˚ on the iPad)

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Created by Gabo Arora & Chris Milk

Meet Sidra. This charming 12-year-old girl will guide you through her temporary home: The Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan. Zaatari is home to 130,000 Syrians fleeing violence and war, and children make up half the camp's population. In this lyrical VR film, Sidra leads you through her daily life: Eating, sleeping, learning and playing in the vast desert city of tents.

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Created by Gabo Arora & Chris Milk Meet Sidra. This charming 12-year-old girl will guide you through her temporary home: The Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan. Zaatari is home to 130,000 Syrians fleeing violence and war, and children make up half the camp's population.

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PBS sponored site, has a simulation around a 14 year old Jewish immigrant from Russia to NYC in 1907, a choose your own adventure style activity.

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Documentary on Refugees

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This is a full-length documentary that focuses on a handful of families (3?) in Zaatari Refugee Camp, an enormous camp in Jordan

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CNN Clip: Hungarian News Camerawoman kicks Syrian refugee as a large group of refugees surge forward into Hungary

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CNN Clip: Hungarian News Camerawoman kicks Syrian refugee as a large group of refugees surge forward into Hungary

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Hungarian camerawoman trips, kicks migrant

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Todos los acontecimientos que verán ustedes en estas imágenes que tan amablemente me ha enviado Alita, yo los viví en Cuba de la manera en que un escritor vive sucesos como éstos: escribiéndolos. En la mañana del 5 de agosto de 1994 yo ponía punto final a mi novela La nada cotidiana.

Me dirigí al apartamento de mi vecina -lo que era costumbre-, a llevarle café, para que lo colara, y beberlo juntas, mientras conversábamos acerca de lo mismo, de "lo mala que se estaba poniendo la cosa", lo que yo acababa de describir en las cuartillas de mi novela previendo, incluso, con el final, lo que ocurriría en tan sólo horas y días: El Maleconazo, y la salida masiva hacia Estados Unidos de alrededor de 35 mil cubanos.

Al rato, su marido, un anestesista de Hospital Amejeiras llegó a una hora en la que jamás llegaba a la casa, demasiado temprano. Estaba sudoroso, había pedaleado desde el hospital hasta M y Calzada, trayecto que recorría a diario en bicicleta, sin mucho esfuerzo, pero en aquella ocasión se le notaba bastante acalorado. Nunca olvidaré sus palabras:

-"¡Esto se acabó, se acabó! ¡Tremenda manifestación en contra de Fidel... Al hospital han llegado personas con huecos de balas en las nalgas, en las piernas... En la manifestación iban mujeres con niños al frente... Un tipo llegó sin un ojo... A algunos de nosotros nos mandaron para la casa, nos reemplazaron con médicos militares!"

Ricardo había salido con la niña, que sólo tenía un año, amarrada en el sillín doble, detrás en la bicicleta. Salí para la calle, a buscarlos, a medio camino me encontré con mi mamá, que llegaba a pie desde La Habana Vieja, ella siempre bordeaba el Malecón.

-¡La cosa está que arde, en candela! ¡Por nada voy presa! ¡Regresa, hay que volver para la casa! -Mami apenas podía correr, agitada, pálida.

-¡No, es que Ricardo salió con la niña, tengo que ir a buscarlos!

Por suerte, Ricardo asomó con Luna, por la esquina de la calle 11.

El resto de lo acontecido durante El Maleconazo lo he contado en varios libros: Ira de ángeles, El pie de mi padre.

Hoy tengo demasiado dolor para revolver aquellos días en mi memoria, un día como hoy falleció mi madre, hace 9 años. Aquel pudo haber sido el día de la libertad, abortado por el poco apoyo que desde fuera recibieron las personas que se lanzaron a las calles; pero sobre todo, debido al enorme control de la policía que tiroteó a un pueblo indefenso que clamaba Libertad.

El final todos los conocemos: Fidel Castro llegó cuando ya la policía había controlado todo, y entró por la parte de atrás de la manifestación; como siempre, de pendejo.

Otro intento fracasado de tumbar al régimen, es verdad; pero un día entero de rebeldía y libertad.

Yo ya sabía que había que irse al exilio, pero nunca lo dudé más.

Zoé Valdés.

Otro video gracias a balsera94:

Y éste otro, gracias a monaguillo:

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Ver todas las entradas de Zoé Valdés ¡Libertad, Verdad y Vida!

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EL MALECONAZO: DE LA NADA AL TODO COTIDIANO. Todos los acontecimientos que verán ustedes en estas imágenes que tan amablemente me ha enviado Alita, yo los viví en Cuba de la manera en que un escritor vive sucesos como éstos: escribiéndolos. En la mañana del 5 de agosto de 1994 yo ponía punto final a...

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Kids Meet A Refugee | Kids Meet | HiHo Kids

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Millions of Fake Refugees flood Europe in biblical proportions, demand money and best housing,

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Sympathetic coverage of Syrian refugees 

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Sympathetic coverage of Syrian refugees 

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Refugee crisis: hundreds begin march to Austria

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Sweden Under Assault: Waves of Middle Eastern Migrants Cause Surge in Crime

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Most Americans oppose allowing Syrian refugees into US

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Time for a refresher on facts about refugees resettling in America

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What does it mean to be a refugee? - Benedetta Berti and Evelien Borgman

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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4:31 (words and music)

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights