General Strategies and Activities by Teacher Academy

Tina_Macedonia Greece

tinamellos — 2017-04-03 12:55:45 UTC

I have addressed similar topics with my students in the past. Their first reactions was fear and unsafety. They kept wondering what would have happened if it had been them instead of the victims.
It's not an easy at all topic to bring about and control its extend, cause it's the overwhelming feelings of speakers that you have to deal with.

Raffaella_ Rome Italy

raffaellabedini2012 — 2017-04-03 13:29:18 UTC

I'm teaching Spanish in a secondary school and I have never had any refugee in my classes so I really do appreciate all the tips you're giving.

Gianluca - Italy

Gianluca_Marano — 2017-04-03 13:32:29 UTC

I teach musical instrument in my school and I never got to address these topics with my students. do not know the game of the chair of the refugee, I will try to implement it in my class, and I will try to raise awareness among my students about their situation. The video gave me some good tips to learn new things..
https://tackk.com/u3u53e
https://www.instagram.com/gianliukk/?hl=it

Sara Maria - Italy

2017-04-03 13:43:44 UTC

I've never had a refugee among my students. If I had a refugee in my class, I would try do develop empathy and inclusion .

Fanny, Italy

2017-04-03 14:55:51 UTC

We should all start from the facts, and rhen give our opinions about them, instead of been related and stopped by our background .....

Casian Marian, Romania

2017-04-03 15:10:35 UTC

I'm teaching Technology in a secondary school and I have never had any refugee in my classes.

Serena A., Italy

dolcefollia79 — 2017-04-03 15:24:49 UTC

I never had a refugee in my classes. I

Chiara P. - Italy

chiara_possamai — 2017-04-03 16:21:53 UTC

I haven't refugee in my classes. But I have students from Marocco and other states.

Carmela, Sicily.

mrscarmela — 2017-04-03 16:47:49 UTC

The school where I teach is in a small town in the south east of Sicily. Actually it is the area where most imigrants from Africa arrive after crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean. Therefore there is an increasing number of communities that offer shelter to newly arrived immigrants. The town where I teach has 7000 thousand inhabitants and there are two immigrant shelters, one for families with children and another one for unaccompanied minors. It is important to deal with this topic in such a situation, in order to prevent the rising of xenophobia.

Pietro-Italy

pierolauro — 2017-04-03 16:56:52 UTC

Fist of all I have to say that what Nora says about the refugees and the problems of dealing with such problems in the classroom is perfectly in harmony with my own viewpoints about the matter. The same considerations apply to the second video centered upon the tricky association of refugees and terrorism. As a French teacher in a secondary school I had to face myself heated discussions on a monday morning at 8.30 a.m. All students were asking me the reasons of such a cruel attack at the Bataclan in Paris. They were horrified by this violent wave of criminal acts against innocent people and they blamed it on muslims and refugees. They advised closing national borders and keep this criminals out of Europe. It was so difficult for me to calm them down and explain that not all muslims or refugees are criminals and that some of them are just claiming their rights in the wrong way, they are difficult to be forgiven when you see such a bloodshed but we have to delve into their inner logic to understand such terrorist attacks and not incite racial hatred. I stressed the importance of not indulging in a hasty approach to the problem, an in-depth analysis is required when facing such complicated issues.

Valbona ,Albania

valbona_mata2 — 2017-04-03 17:47:24 UTC

In my class there are not migrant pupils.
Refering to the topic i think that everyone shold be respected no matter fro their origin.
The terroristaction should not affect and involve allthe mass,if someone act as a terrorist it dosent mean that everyone should blame on it..So everyone will feel good and comfortable living their lives all over the world.
I think during our classes we discuss about the terrorism with parallelism with good and bed characters

Ida,Italy

2017-04-03 17:50:47 UTC

I haven't refugee in my classroom, but I have a student is from Cina.

Suela Braushi.Albania

suelabraushi — 2017-04-03 18:23:06 UTC

In my class there are not migrant pupils so I really do appreciate all the tips you're giving. .

Mara, Italy

mara_mosca77 — 2017-04-03 18:32:01 UTC

I often speak in my class about terroristic attacks and about racism as well. Since I teach on a small island in Southern Italy people are quite close towards foreigners but they are used to work and live with tourists. It's difficult in these last years to talk about welcoming and about migrants situations but we all try to do our best with newly arrived students

Silvia, Italy

silviachialastri1968 — 2017-04-03 19:35:11 UTC

I don't talk often about terroristic attacks.

Giusy, Sicily

giusydancer — 2017-04-03 20:16:37 UTC

I agree with Nora, it’s important to see every refugee as a single person, because there’s a personal story behind every one.

2017-04-03 21:37:53 UTC

Angela, Italy
I don't have any refugees in my classes. My migrant students are living in Italy with their families. They came from India, Pakistan and Marocco.

Ana, Portugal

acfilipe36 — 2017-04-03 22:38:38 UTC

I do not have refugees in my classroom, but in my opinion it is necessary to classify and clarify the concepts that children encounter in newspapers, on the news, everywhere. What is an emigrant, what is a refugee, what is it to be clandestine or asylum. This is the teacher's first approach.

Antonella, Italy

antonellacaprarelli — 2017-04-04 07:43:57 UTC

I am very careful in talking about this topic because mine is a multicultural class. My adult students (16-60 years old) come from different parts of the world, many of them are muslims, others bhuddists, others catholics, others siks. For this reason it's difficult to talk about terrorism withous hurting the susceptibility of some of them and creating tensions...

Clara, Italy

clarag — 2017-04-04 07:47:32 UTC

Paris attack raised a discussion also in my class. As the class we saw in the video, students started with prejudices, like saying it was muslim students’ parents fault. I tried to let them understand that people are not all the same giving some examples, i.e. underlining the similarities between their parents or the innocent differences between themselves. It is very hard to focus on important topic like that, especially with young Ss who are trying to create a personal identity, because they proceed by trial and error and often they copy behaviours and ideas from others.

Isabel, Portugal

2017-04-04 08:54:58 UTC

i don´t have refugees in my classroom, but i tried to let my students understand that we are all different, and some come from different parts of the word, some of them us a refugee

Luisa, Italy

2017-04-04 12:03:26 UTC

I am teaching in a Secondary School in Torino. In my classes there are students coming from different countries, however none of them is a refugee, so for the moment I have non experience . Anyway I do understand that forced displacement has reached historic levels and schools all over the world are welcoming into their classrooms an increasing number of refugee children. Teachers are also facing the challenging task of teaching children about refugees, asylum and migration. Any advice I can have from you will be helpful for the future.

Cinzia, Italy

2017-04-04 13:55:53 UTC

Students are

Cinzia, Italy

2017-04-04 13:56:12 UTC

I dont have any refugee in my classes so I cannot experience this kind of matter. I think that it would be interesting having a witness in the class in order to give a direct evidence to the students and putting them in the condition of thinking over it.

Bασιλική Κρικώνη,

vasikriko — 2017-04-04 15:14:16 UTC

Vanesa, Croatia

2017-04-04 15:46:51 UTC

i don't have refugges in my class so I don't have any experience in this field.

Angeliki, Greece-Thessaloniki

antzela12345 — 2017-04-04 16:16:43 UTC

First of all I would like to agree with all strategies presented by Nora and I swear to apply them in my classroom. The exchange of views through games and conversations is always the solution to any misinformation and leads only to the real truth.
As for my experience in these areas with my students is very little. To be honest because my students, this period, are 12 years old they do not have in mind to discuss extensively about those facts. On the other hand our lesson time is too restricted to analyze the matters so I usually try to focus on the lesson things. Of course this is not good because I strictly believe that classroom is not offered only to teach but also to trouble with constructive issues directly related to our lives. Classroom and school generally should be a place of free expression of our thoughts.
Nevertheless in some little superficial conversations we had, I reached the conclusion that children are confused and totally affected by their parents who are confused and misinformed, too. In this category of people I include myself. So maybe this is the reason why I unconsciously avoided to discuss about such issues.
Now I am really open to broaden my orizons and learn what is really going on worlwide in order to be in the position tomorrow to deal with my students' concerns.

Peppe, Sicily

2017-04-04 16:28:45 UTC

In recent years I taught the first classes of primary school and I could not talk to the children as I wanted. This year, I'm also teaching in a fifth primary class and it happened to talk of ISIS. Of course, children do not understand why this happens.
I never have had experience with the newly arrived migrants.

Valentina - Italy

valebell80 — 2017-04-04 18:00:06 UTC

I'm teaching in a second class of primary school and there aren't refugees so I do not have any experience in this field.
But they one day we were speaking about celebrities and someone spoke about Donald Trump.
It was very curious but many of them were against the policy of Trump to build a wall with Mexico. Surely they had heard this information from Their parents. I was very impressed but i think That this is even possible Because America and Messico are very far from us. I have not ever faced the discourse of immigrants in Italy and Europe.

Rosanna, Italy

2017-04-04 19:10:54 UTC

It's very important discuss in the classroom about the terroristic attack and refugees problems.

Claudia Renda, Italy

2017-04-04 20:01:20 UTC

I work with refugees from Nigeria, Somalia, Pakistan, Guinea Conakry adults. The video with Nora is very interesting. I use some activities to improove the empathy into the classroom but never I speake about terrorism.

Bea Nieto, Spain

2017-04-05 08:52:55 UTC

i'm teaching to several foreign students we was working about terrorism and our rights.

Monica, Italy

moni_fornelli — 2017-04-05 09:13:06 UTC

I'm teaching in a school for adults and among our students there are many foreign people and refugees, of course. I agree with Nora, it's important to create a relaxed and a collaborative atmosphere in the class by knowing each other well. So I always start with my presentation and then I invite them to do the same. Most of them tell their names and their countries and stop, some other, the most proud start and step by step begin to open their heart and tell us their personal histories. It's a story telling activity which let us know a new viewpoint, do emotional experiences and be open minded. What I never do it is talking about terrorism or about religious or political causes. I' m only interested in discovering new individuals.

Bianca B, Romania

bbyancka — 2017-04-05 11:12:46 UTC

Some of my students are small age, but they are influenced by the TV and the opinions expressed by the adults. I try to listen the kids' ideas, to present facts and not to inoculate predefine ideas.

Ilaria, Florence

2017-04-05 14:15:31 UTC

I do not have any refugees in my classes, just migrants from all over the world, but not too many. I never talk about terrorism with my students, but only about migrations phenomen sometimes. I realize that they know very little and they are very influenced by news on the t.v.

2017-04-05 14:20:39 UTC

Ilaria, Italy
I do not have refugees in my classes so I don't have any kind of experience. I have lots of migrants from all over the world and sometimes, thanks to some readings, we talk about the reasons why people can move . As a matter of fact, I realize that students know very little about terrosism or migration and they are very influenced by mass media.

Jenny (Evgenia) Karoumpali, Greece

jennykaroumpali — 2017-04-05 14:42:13 UTC

The videos are very helpful for the teachers .I have already talked with my pupils about both terrorist attacks and refugees. When it comes to a terrorist attack, I first let them tell me what they know so far, and then I inform them as objectively as possible. When it comes to the refugees, I tell them that these people are forced to leave their country on accounts of wars or dictatorships. Then I tell them about prominent Greek people who became refugees during the dictatorship that took place in Greece in the years 1967-1974. I also tell them about prominent Greek people whose ancestors came in Greece as refugees in 1922 (in 1922 about 1,500,000 refugees came in Greece from Asia Minor).

There is a theatre play “My dear Smyrna”, which talks about the refugees who came in Greece in 1922. I wish my pupils could attend this theater play (this theater piece was on Athens and now is in Thessaloniki, Greece, too far from my pupils)…

Alessandra Gallina

scrocchia67 — 2017-04-05 16:52:50 UTC

I usually introduce the topic starting from a photo or a sentence. I ask my students to describe what they see, trying to be as more objectives as they can. Then I start asking simple questions and if they follow the news, what do they know about a particular episode. I often try to use some videos, so as to make them really aware of the situation going on. The impact of videos on them is stronger than an article on the newspaper or a short , simple text.

Barbara, Germany

2017-04-05 17:39:55 UTC

This topic of terrorism has lead to heated disputes, bullying and fights in my Current Events class in grade 7. We have a look at the news paper of the day and pick out articles that interest us. Then we check other references on the topic and try to hold discussions about the article. Some have to translate the articles first. The language abilities range from not much to native speaker.

I have pupils who are Curds, Muslims and Christians coming from Germany, Poland, Romania, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Albania and Serbia in this class. All except for the Europeans have applied for asylum.There are a total of twenty pupils in this group. The ones from Kosovo, Albania and Serbia are quite aggressive against the pupils from Syria, Iran and Iraq. They accuse these pupils of being thieves and rapists. They also have disputes about their status and religion. They call each other names because the one side believes they are the "real" Muslims and the others are "dirty" Muslims. The one side ran from war, death and destruction and the others to escape poverty. It is all difficult to deal with. The most important lesson is respect for others.

Piera, Italy

2017-04-05 18:55:12 UTC

Inmy class there are refugees and other students escaping from terrorism that doesn't mean only bomb, guns etc, but also cultural terrorism. About this we discuss and try to explain the inner feelings about it

María, Spain

isasama10 — 2017-04-05 21:16:36 UTC

I am an English teacher at a secondary school, so I try to keep my students up to date with international news. Of course we have had to discuss terrible events like Charlie Hebdo or Paris attacks. Firstly, I get students to watch the news on BBC, CNN or reputed neutral TV channels and then I let them ask questions and find answers focusing on factual information. I let them express their feelings, but always after reflection and with respect.

Nalan,Turkey

eney — 2017-04-06 10:53:29 UTC

actually we are one of the closest countries to the issue;however we do not pay enough attention to the topic.We even didn't talk to our students or share out ideas about it.We just pretend as if nothins was wrong in our lives or around.

Victoria, Greece

2017-04-06 11:24:28 UTC

I have never had a refugee in my class, so there has been no discussion about terrorism among my students. Also the fact that I am currently working in a primary school makes it more difficult to adress such issues. I alos avoid referring to the newsfeed about such attacks, as it is a delicate matter for a child's ears. However, I would like to know more about HOW to adress such an issue, should there be the case

Eirini, Greece

2017-04-06 14:29:05 UTC

Children often talk about things they see on TV, like a terrorist attack or refugees that arrive in Greece. However they usually don't have their own opinion but use their parents' opinions or opinions they have heard in the news. So I think it is very important to discuss such things in the classroom and try to give them food for thought without trying to transfer certain beliefs.

Maria Intrieri, Rome-Italy

mri5 — 2017-04-06 16:12:12 UTC

I found both the videos presented in this first section of the second module, very comforting. I could see that the problems and the classroom behavior of my suburban students in Rome are identical to those of a Dutch school (architecturally beautiful compared to mine, at least for the maintenance and cleaning perfect) Dutch. The outreach work among the younger generations is hard: every time I found myself arguing in the classroom such as after events related to recent attacks ISIS in France, England, Russia, I found very difficult to break down the wall of distrust and injury. The context works against: family, politics, the economy in crisis, society. I hope to still be able to develop new teaching strategies to try to counter this.

Angeliki Kougiourouki, Greece

akougiou — 2017-04-06 17:52:40 UTC

When we first tried to discuss this topic into the classroom while developing our relevant eTwinning project, we started by defining the terms of refugee and a migrant and then I saw them some videos suggested in the "I AM SYRIA" website. Students got confused trying to understand who started this war. We had a long conversation, because they had a lot to tell. It is a topic that they watch at the news or discuss with their parents and of course the sight of little kids trying to survive after a long journey into the boats in the Mediterranean Sea affects them emotionaly.

Paola Arduini

2017-04-06 18:55:34 UTC

One of the biggest challenge in my teaching experience. First of all,for a series of coincidences, last terrorist attacks affected my family in some way: half of my family and some of my best friends live in Paris and I spent that horrible night trying to call all of them. Then another part of nephews live in Bruxelles and one of my son's friend , who live in Maastricht, was injured in Zaventem. Well, as I lived my teenage in the " lead 80's" in Italy, I feel terrorism as a personal enemy, who want to stop the vital energy in the world.
Facing these facts in a primary school is not easy but I tried to fix some points with my colleagues.
- do not pretend that nothing happened
- start to talk about the fact first
- do not show that you are scared
- show your feelings: sorrow, worrying but state the it will be better
- describe facts with easy words but do not hide anything.
- recall previous positive facts: terrorist arrested, ends of civil wars, peaceful examples.
- talk with parents. A meeting can be useful, share thoughts and ideas on how to talk with children.
- stop immediately any forms of aggression or attack or bad beahviour towards immigrates or refugees who are in the schools.

Argyrios Biris, psychologist, Greece In our little special elementary school which is part of a juvenile institution in Volos, Greece, we have two Syrian teenage students. Both of them share tragic stories, one has lost his family in Kobani and the other one lost his father and he doesn't know where his mother is. The first one has attempted suicide, but it was more like a cry for help rather than an actual attempt. Communicating with them is also difficult as one speaks only Arab and the other one only Kurdish and Turkish. So, we sit around, trying to communicate little stuff. It is through daily activities such as cinema, youtube, city walks, etc. that these students may find some joyful moments or at least distance their minds from their dreadful thoughts. We, as staff of the school feel helpless most of the time on how to deal with this situation, considering the communication barrier. I am sorry that I can transfer something very optimistic to the group

2017-04-07 10:56:31 UTC

Apostolos Michalopoulos, Greece

2017-04-07 13:42:51 UTC

Having immigrant students in a school with juvenile delinquents is a whole different story of assimilation. Language barriers and the harsh environment of what is basicaly a juvenile prison, make our task quite hard.

Rossana, Brindisi - Italy

rossaco — 2017-04-07 14:35:21 UTC

I teach in a primary school and I only have a girl born here but from Maroccan parents and a Russian boy who arrived in Italy in September 2015. Both are well accepted in the class. When we speak about terrorism, bombing and violence I just try to make them understand that they represent a small amount of people and that not all Syrian people are violent or criminals like not all Italian people are involved in Mafia or Camorra.

Rossana, Brindisi - Italy

rossaco — 2017-04-07 14:35:24 UTC

I teach in a primary school and I have a girl born here but from Maroccan Parents and

Marco Sch, Germany

2017-04-07 15:40:45 UTC

I really liked the ideas suggested such as the quizzes, the “refugee chair” or conducting class surveys on relevant aspects of migration. I also appreciate the suggestion to avoid talking “about” refugees but rather try to invite a migrant of similar age to class. In terms of countering with arguments I was really impressed by Nora’s take on xenophobic prejudices with regard to having the students call the local police station to talk to somebody who can refute the stories filled with wrong accusations circulating on social networking sites. In my own tutor group, I cooperated with the colleague who teaches German in my class. She invited the author Carlos Peter Reinelt who wrote a book entitled “Welcome and Farewell” detailing the odyssey of migrants en-route to Germany in a moving way. On the occasion of this reading, we contacted the local alien office, and not only they supported this event financially but they also brought a delegation of teenaged refugees with them. Thus, my students had the opportunity of discussion their impressions with people of the same age, who have endured this dreadful experience. Moreover, we are thinking about following-up on this reading event by compiling an anthology of life stories told by the refugee youths and documented by my students.

Daniele - Italy

danvir — 2017-04-07 19:33:52 UTC

Have you previously addressed the topic of refugees with your students? What was their reaction?
I work in upper secondary school, so I had sometimes spoken to my students about migration and terrorism, but honestly not about refugees. Teenagers are usually really curious about this topic and they want to discuss about, but they're not really well informed. They are often slaves of prejudices and xenophobia, because sometimes are influenced by media and parent. So I think that the first two thing we have to do are to inform and sensibilize. In fact sometimes it is not easy to let them understand that these people is simply running away from death or trying to find better situations. I have used reading newspapers and talking about.
The videos has given me some interesting suggestions like informing about where people live and how many refugees are in Europe. So trying to let them aware about the real situation through data analyses. Also speaking sbout the single migrant and meeting some of them (especially if of their own age) is really important, because they realize that they're similar to us.

Luciana Daniela,Italy

2017-04-07 21:43:46 UTC

I know there are many prejudices about refugees but in my area the prejudices are of different nature.Many of my fellow citizens think that they steal us jobs but they don't consider refugees as terrorists.In the rest of the country the situation is different .In some more industrialized areas they need foreigners as workers so they accept them but for istance they think they bring new deseases.In my opinion very few people think of them as terrorists.
Regarding the question:
How do you discuss a major terrorist action...?
I don't teach a subject as History or Geography where I need to talk about this topic but as a teacher
I think that it also my duty
giving my contribution.
So it depends on the classroom I'm teaching .
If I am with my youngest students I let them talking freely about the event they have heard by media
but if I am working with my eldest students I divide Ss into groups and create a debate after giving them some prompts.
A good device is showing them videos about the event.But we are at school so we need to give Ss positive examples . I try to give them positive messages showing them video about people of different countries who work together for a common and important goal.

Yuri, Italy

yurisab — 2017-04-08 11:01:40 UTC

A warming up activity at the beginning where everybody expresses an opinion about the following questions: Who are the immigrants? Who are the terrorists? This activity helps ti focus in the ideas the students have about these two figures and the possibile links between them.

Livia, Italy

liviacentonze_lc — 2017-04-08 11:57:09 UTC

I think it's important to inform students about these topics and keep talking to them more than once because they are at risk of getting a lot of misinformation from their peers. I encourage them to express how they feel. I try to reassure them.

Sanja, Croatia

2017-04-08 20:31:51 UTC

We have islamic students, so we know what is real peaceful islam and ISIS with islamic extremist.

Rosanna B, Italy

ros_basso — 2017-04-08 20:49:00 UTC

I have already talked about the terrorist attack in Paris. Before starting the discussion, a video began brainstorming to motivate students to freely express their thoughts on the subject. In my class there are two Moroccan students. Immediately, the discussion focused on their origins. So I had to help them educate their emotions. I thought I would highlight and create an inclusive situation talking about the reception of our city and the personal situation of Moroccan students. After discussion and comparison between the two countries, one of the two Moroccan students thanked and others better understand his reasons for anger. The result was sharing emotions. I was happy but it is not always easy.

Chiara Semplicini, Italy

chiara_semplicini — 2017-04-09 08:42:24 UTC

I did not have the opportunity to talk with my students about terrorist actions. Basically because I felt unable to do it in a proper way, especially dealing with young teenagers. In this respect the video is really inspiring.

I found both videos very informative and useful. I work with preschool children so it is not as big an issue for me to have to discuss such topics. However, I am glad that schools are tackling these discussions in an open way - in N.Ireland we have never really dealt with issues like this & how the violent past is still affecting society today.

kcorr365 — 2017-04-09 10:18:22 UTC

Cristina, Italy

2017-04-09 14:09:24 UTC

I have never had the opportunity to talk with my students about this topic, but I think it should be very important for them. They risk being not well informed about terrorist action. I think it’s also important to encourage them to express how they feel.

Paola, Italy

paolcro — 2017-04-09 16:17:33 UTC

In this lesson I learned how to talk about terrorist attacks in school. I think it is a difficult topic to discuss with students and professors should be very well prepared on the subject when they decide to talk about it. The first thing to do is gut the topic and then discuss it.

Yakup, Turkey

yakupbuyukkaragoz — 2017-04-09 16:36:15 UTC

In some lessons especially in the last classes we are debating about refugees. Some of them don't know facts. Some of them have right informations. Hovewer, some of them have real major wrong informations and prejudices. Some of them are compleining refugee's criminal events. Some students are humiliating the refugees. Some students have racist and far right ideas. They don't want to help. Raisining awareness is very important work.

Maura, Italy

mauraccia — 2017-04-09 18:06:38 UTC

Since in the classroom we are used to talking about almost everything, of course we have even shared our knowledge and feelings about terrorist attacks, both after some horrible event or during normal classes (for instance, we touched a terrible bomb attack that killed a lot of people, in Brescia, during the 70s, or, to highlight the symbolic role of the olimpyc game, we remembered the killings at Munich '72...). I think that it's important to talk over it, because being silent could seem a way to avoid the matter with my islamic pupils, whereas I strongly underlined that Islam is chiefly made of people like the ones we know, who are exactly like us and share our dreams and lives. After Charlie Hebdo, we even thought about how islamic people in Paris (and the relatives of one of my students) would feel the following day...I find the refugee chair's idea wonderful, but the gummy bear game is even better... (Still amazed at how many italian teachers say that they don't have immigrants in their classes...)

Rosa Medeiros, Portugal

rosa_medeiros1 — 2017-04-09 19:30:48 UTC

I have no refugees in the classroom, but almost all have family emigrants. From this reality we try to talk and wonder about the importance of being helped and respected in a foreign country. And how well they are received. We also participated in an activity that was "what they would choose to carry in a backpack if they had to flee their country." It was difficult to choose.

CHRISTOS, GREECE

christos_chachoudis — 2017-04-09 20:32:02 UTC

IN THE CLASSROOM I TRY TO SHARE FEELINGS AND KNOWLEDGE WITH MY STUDENTS. WE TALK ABOUT ALMOST EVERYTHING AND I THINK THAT STUDENTS ARE VERY OPEN MINDED AND THEY DONT COME TO CONCLUSIONS RELEATING REFUGEES WITH TERRORIST. THIS ISSUE IS VERY CLEAR IN MY SCHOOL WHERE WE MAKE ACTION TO INFORM STUDENTS AND PARENTS ABOUT THE SITUATION OF THE MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES.

MARINA,ITALY

marinademma — 2017-04-09 22:00:20 UTC

Chiara, Rome

carusochiara — 2017-04-10 07:35:36 UTC

This point is quite interesting. I usually try to talk with my students in order to create an inclusive environment in class and try to highlight the importance of RESPECT for everyone.
According to the situation about the last terroristic attacks, I think it is important to discuss considering different points of view. Information is not "neutral " and it can create some negative thought in young people. That's why students need us.

Fausto, Catania

2017-04-10 15:30:22 UTC

Graziella.Italy

2017-04-10 16:05:31 UTC

I think that terroristic attack is a very difficult topic to discuss with students. One time I try to discuss in a class of lower scondary school but the students were scared, so they don't say anything about this topic!

Rosa L. - Italy

2017-04-10 16:37:17 UTC

When something important and dreadful like a terrorist attack happens, students listen to media’s information and their parents reactions and want to understand more about facts asking a lot of questions at school. In these situations I find myself following two important points highlighted by Nederland’s teachers in the video: I tried to speak objectively about facts and I let my students express their opinion freely: we can contrast xenophobia forcing someone that it is wrong, we have to educate him to understand it step by step, giving a good example and proposing activities to raise awareness.When something important and dreadful like a terrorist attack happens, students listen to media’s information and their parents reactions and want to understand more about facts asking a lot of questions at school. In these situations I find myself following two important points highlighted by Nederland’s teachers in the video: I tried to speak objectively about facts and I let my students express their opinion freely: we can contrast xenophobia forcing someone that it is wrong, we have to educate him to understand it step by step, giving a good example and proposing activities to raise awareness.

Andreea, Sweden

2017-04-11 06:44:33 UTC

We talk about refugees because they are here living among us. Some of my students have friends from Syria or Afghanistan some of them don’t want to have much contact with the newly arrived students. This attitude depends also on my students’ discussions on this topic with their parents. I usually show to my pupils the facts, we talk about reasons why these people had to leave their countries and I try to teach my students how to avoid generalization and how to evaluate and appreciate every person.

Muriel, Belgium

murielgoffin — 2017-04-11 15:05:08 UTC

I was in class with my senior students in Brussels when the terror attacks in Brussels Airport and in the metro were confirmed. We knew that something had happened at the airport before school but the terrorrist attack hadn't been confirmed and the bombing in the metro hadn't happened yet. Students wanted to be informed so they asked me to check news websites regularly while they were working and let them know if anything else had happened. During class, I read about the bombing in the metro and didn't know what to do. Obviously, they started receiving texts from friends and family to know if they were OK so I decided to deal with the topic right away, even though I was completely unprepared. First I allowed them to reassure their friends and families and make sure everyone they knew and loved was allright (and so did I) before putting all the phones away (I didn't want them to get emotional and non-factual information about the events). We were in a classroom with interactive whiteboard and Internet connection so we followed the news from different sources to be able to difference the facts from the rumours and the opinions, we tried to collect information. It was difficult to avoid debates of opinions and xenophobic remarks as I used to work in a highly multicultural school. During the morning break, we discussed with the other teachers and the headmaster of the school about what to do with the students and how to deal with this dreadful event as a team. It was very helpful to get the help from colleagues. But now, after watching these videos, I would feel better prepared to face such events and discussions in class.

Anna Naddeo - Napoli -Italy

2017-04-11 18:21:51 UTC

talking about terrorism with my students is not easy. Many think that the refugees may be potential terrorists, this happens because they are informed through social networks without really explore the question of migrants. I decided to follow this course because I have more skills and be able to transfer to my students more information about refugees and migrants

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burcu_yoruk_00 — 2017-04-12 05:21:00 UTC

BURCU YÖRÜK

burcu_yoruk_00 — 2017-04-12 05:21:18 UTC

TURKEY
There has been terrorist acts in my country for about a year. Naturally these sad events are being spoken. We emphasize the importance of peace and national co-existence.
This video was very usefull for me

BURCU YÖRÜK

burcu_yoruk_00 — 2017-04-12 05:35:26 UTC

TURKEY
This video was very usefull for me.

Foteini-Vassiliki (Vani), Greece

2017-04-12 06:54:05 UTC

I work as an EFL teacher at Greek primary state schools. My teaching approach includes current worldwide issues that influence my pupils' life in some aspect(s). So terrorism appears to be such an issue. With young learners, the situation is similar to that with adolescent students, because they bring their parents' or other adults' views in class. So I tend to first present the topic, elicit the core ideas they associate the issue with and create mind maps. The mind map is a reflection of the background mental knowledge of the class (right or wrong). If I want to get the pupils work in groups and research the issue, I may ask groups to collect information about the different issues the class raised; information gathering should strictly follow questions I have given out on a handout. Following this, groups will present the collected information (e.g. orally, with a PPT, with a combination of photos and information cut out from printed sources). However, before this step, I have realized it is necessary for the teacher to provide some basic information s/he knows the pupils will need to understand the collected information of their peers (like where Syria and Iraq are, what a muslim is, what ISIS claims, etc.). Then , the class focuses on the problems that a terrorist attack may cause locally. This is also a useful time for the teacher to realize the feelings that the children bring in them and to intervene by rationalizing some of them and reducing their fears. Then, we focus on how the situation was faced by the local police, whether this was adequate or not and what could have also been done. Finally, I encourage the creation of logos by the children against terrorism and for a healthy way to express objections and disagreements.

Claudia, Italy

2017-04-12 07:38:36 UTC

I usually show my students pictures, videos or statistics, an newspaper article (according to their age) and then start a debate. I really like the idea of having them write down questions on what they saw/read before actually starting a discussion. This way we make sure everybody has got basic information on the topic before asking them to share their opinion or viewpoint (which most of the times, alas is the result of prejudice and xenophobia).

Oscar, Italy

2017-04-12 09:37:21 UTC

I find myself in upper secondary school classroom just the day after a terrorist attack, and i didn't feel like to to speak about it because it was to close to the event.
But students feel the need to exchange ideas on what had happen, so i let them speak freely just to collect some element off discussion.
It seemed to me that what emerged was just the result of anxiety after the events.
So that time i gave up, now i will try to use some of the hints i find in this course.

Aurora-Italy

aurorpagano — 2017-04-12 15:29:17 UTC

When something important and dreadful like a terrorist attack happens, students listen to media’s information and their parents reactions and want to understand more about facts asking a lot of questions at school. In these situations I tried to speak objectively about facts and I let my students express their opinion freely.

Vasilis, Greece

vstauropoulos — 2017-04-12 18:10:32 UTC

We talk about refugees very often in my classroom. Sometimes studying history we compare the Greek refugees from the past with the contemporary refugees, finding similarities and differences. Some other times reading articles about terrorist attacks, somewhere in Europe. We express our fears and our sympathy to the victims but we also try to stay calm and discuss the roots of the problem and solutions.

Maria, Greece

mampla78 — 2017-04-12 18:47:29 UTC

My students are 8 yrs old and they 've been informed about terrorist attacks from tv. They usually bring other's views in class, mostly of their parents. So, they love discussing current topics, but i have to be very careful as some of them are too sensitive and are being afraid of a possible attack or start crying about young refugees. The key is to see all these people as individuals and make them understand they had also an ordinary life back in their countries.

Moschoula, Hellas

mcdouris — 2017-04-12 19:52:10 UTC

We talk about refugees and terrorist attacks in my class, Social studies in secondary education.
Always, before we begin discussion we set the rules for a safe environment. Students can express opinions based on facts and respecting other people. No calling is accepted. They all accept and we move on to the discussion. Bringing in extra information when needed and keeping the conversation objective and factual is the role of the teacher. This proccess is not just about discussing controversial issues it is also about building stable, cooperative personalities.

Irma, Albania

hoxhairma12 — 2017-04-12 21:01:51 UTC

Sometimes is so difficult for them to find differences between refugies and migrants. Lots of them have family member migrating in EU
About terrorism students mostly get news from media of internet and discuss about 'what if....' which means if something like those would happen in their living country. Believe me, they seem to be scared

Solange Delicado, Portugal

sdelicado — 2017-04-13 17:15:50 UTC

I really agree with thel strategies presented by Nora and I will try to apply them with my classes. My experience in these areas with my students is not very big, since I don’t have any refugees in my classes I think that as teachers we have the obligation of presenting the truth and clarify about refugees to our students. They must understand the difference between a refugee and na emigrant. Students also have to understand that being a refugee doesn't mean to be a terrorista. Portuguese people have always emigrated so most of them have emigrants in their families. And they have to understand that we must help because we were helped and that this situation can also happen to us.

Rosa, Italy

2017-04-14 06:48:34 UTC

I teach English and on the web I find lots of materials rich in references to my students background. I use videos and I make comparisons between the different cultures, society and political situations. In the past I used this kind of resources in a class with students, refugees, coming from Western Africa. I showed them some beautiful images about their countries of origin. At the beginning they were shy and reluctant to talk about their countries but then they went deeper and told their stories and experiences which were not as beautiful as the images I used.

Roberta - Italy

condomittir — 2017-04-14 08:28:59 UTC

This video is very interesting.
I work in a primary school so addressing this topic is difficult but not impossible.
I belive in the importance to talk to the children about really life but, even more, i believe in the importance to teach recpect for all.

Guen, Turin

guendalinah — 2017-04-14 13:55:34 UTC

When I tought in junior high it happened several times to talk about what was happening. Once we were studying geography and Russia invaded Ukraina: the next morning students were very anxious to know more. Obviously they minds were already made up, so I decided to stop talking for a bit of the present and to take an overlook on the past. It took me about 3 classes before students could get really to understand what was happening and to have a more open mind. I think that History could really help in talking about refugees.

Loredana, Italy.

2017-04-14 15:50:48 UTC

I have been working in an upper secondary school and often addressed the topic of refugees with my students, also because we have been sharing a Cultural Exchange for 3 years with a Dutch college about the theme of migration.
I found Nora's movie very interesting, about the problem of misinformation and according to her I will try to teach following her suggestions.
The other two movies are interesting, too. Because as teachers we have to stay close to the actual facts, try not to convince and let them speak about what is on their minds and try to answer them as objective and factual as possible.

Ekaterini, Poland

katerinaki62 — 2017-04-16 13:38:41 UTC

I have been working in bot international and Polish schools and unfortunately I must admit a bigger number of xenophobic behaviours I observe in Polish classes. In the homogenous groups i=their members are not so willing to welcome any changes like the presence of a "different" person very often now attached to the figure of a terrorist. We have to struggle in the name of students coming from Iraq, Iran, Turkey or other muslim countries to abolish the stereotypes.
I found the films very interesting as they give some clues what else we can introduce into the process of bringing people of different cultures together.

Anisoara, Romania

any_tarcan — 2017-04-16 15:54:22 UTC

This video in my interesting. I don't have any refugees in my classes. In my opinion it is necessary to classify and clarify the concepts that children.

Scafati Miriam, Italy

ospedale — 2017-04-16 22:07:34 UTC

I don't have any refugees in my class.

Pedro, Portugal

2017-04-17 10:32:00 UTC

My experience in these areas with my students is not very big, since I don’t have any refugees in my classes.However I consider it very important to approach this subject with my students, because it is a close reality and it concerns everyone. It is also important to understand the phenomenon of terrorism and not to establish a direct relationship between refugees and terrorism. It is also important to develop strategies that lead to a concept of a world in which we can all live in peace.

Eleni, Switzerland

eleni_mousena — 2017-04-17 10:58:42 UTC

When I taught Greek history in the 3rd grade of the Greek senior high school, I tried to discuss with my students about the Catatrophe of Smyrna and the Greek Genocide. It was not an easy topic to deal with. I rememeber that we first watched a documentary related to these historical events, then we started brainstorming, we discussed about the reasons and the consequences and tried to find similarities and differences with the refugees today. I have never discussed about terrorism with my students but if I ever had the oppportunity, I would try to be objective and comforting.

Konstantina, Greece

2017-04-17 11:31:23 UTC

I haven’t previously addressed these topics with my students as we haven’t newly arrived migrants students.

Niki, Greece

nikialexakou — 2017-04-17 12:25:11 UTC

I have never addressed such a topic in classroom mostly because nothing has happened so close as to affect a class of mathematics in high school. Of course, a lot of times, I felt it would be more important to talk about such a thing instead of the daily curriculum but the truth is I am quite uncertain of how I should do it and even though I know I have to be calm and try to keep the discussion to the facts, I am not sure if I will manage to do it efficiently.

Ζoi, Greece

zetakoli — 2017-04-17 17:22:18 UTC

As a kindergarten teacher I have never adressed such issues as real facts in the classroom. The only thing I did was to develop with the children a project for the acceptance of the diversity. So, this issue becomes a real educational challege for me and the whole class.

maria Grazia G., (taly)

mariagrazia_caltanissetta — 2017-04-18 15:59:10 UTC

I haven't refugee in my classes.
My experience in these areas with my students is not very small.

Sanja, Croatia

2017-04-18 16:05:30 UTC

I don't have any refugees in my classes, only economic migrants. In our school we have an islamic pupils (from Croatia and BiH) and we had good and calm conversations about terrorism. But - our teachers are experienced about refugee issues due to War in Croatia...

Graziella, Lamezia Terme (Italy

2017-04-18 20:51:32 UTC

I have never addressed such a topic in classroom. I think that It's very important to approach this subject with the students because it is a close reality.

Marika Emese Cîmpean (Romania)

cimpean_emese — 2017-04-18 23:08:10 UTC

I have never addressed such a topic in the classroom.

Linda Carlos Ruiz

2017-04-19 07:56:55 UTC

I have also never addressed this kind of topic in my classroom. Things like this hasn't happened as my time as a teacher (yet). I found the way that the topic was addressed in the school in The Netherlands very professional and if something like this would happen, then I would surely try to address the topic in a similar way. I would like to point out, to the participants that are commenting that they don't have any refugees in their class, that this activity is not only for refugees, but for all students.

Lara, Rome

2017-04-19 16:11:54 UTC

I have never had refugees in my classes and never addressed such a topic with primary school pupils.I will try when they'll be 10 years old. It's a very important topic.

Ourania , Greece

ranialampou — 2017-04-19 19:57:51 UTC

It's dfficult to discuss about these topics with my students in the primary.

Rita(Italy)

2017-04-19 20:27:44 UTC

I don't have refugee in my classes but I know some women that run away from war rying to saver their children life... we could put in this way the question? or is it too tough to understand fo young students?

Angela, Italy

2017-04-19 21:04:21 UTC

2.1 General Strategies & Activities

I don't have previously addressed these topics with my students, but I would like to learn strategies and activities to address this topic with my students.

Rosa,Ital

2017-04-19 21:27:59 UTC

The presence of immigrants has allowed me to develop various useful activities for the whole class. In these initiatives we develop cooperation, solidarity, peer co-operation, and enrichment for all.

Marialuisa Brindisi

2017-04-22 17:15:22 UTC

I don't have previously addressed these topics with my students, but I would like to learn strategies and activities to address this topic with my students.

Stefania Cobzaru

cecylya_stefany — 2017-08-16 11:23:10 UTC

Abordez frecvent strategii active de invatare. In STEM aplic elemente de astronomie prin PBL numit SAL (Students Astronomy Learning).

sofia Tsigara

softsigara — 2018-04-11 12:39:33 UTC

My students are very small(5-6 years old). They heard from tv that a lot of people were killed ,but their parents told them that this is not going to happen in Greece, because we are far away ahd everybody loves us!