Teaching materials ages 15-18
Teaching materials ages 15-18
Click on the links below to download the teaching materials. You can use the video exercises, guides and lesson plans as you see fit.
Download the Teaching About Refugees Lesson Plan template to prepare or use your own lesson planning tools.
Basic concepts
In this age group, we recommend that you start by teaching your students basic concepts of the topic of refugees, asylum and migration, since this will provide the basis for further learning on the subject.
Step 1 – Watch the animations
We recommend that you and your students first watch the explainer videos on refugees, migrants, internally displaced people and asylum-seekers (in that order).
Step 2 – Put the animations and teaching sheets together
Use the corresponding teaching sheets to put together a lesson plan. For each basic concept, focus on where people are (in their own country or not), why they are where they are (reasons for being displaced or migrating) and what their rights are. Each video activity takes around 15 minutes. You can combine the videos as you see fit with other teaching materials.
Step 3 – Hold a class debate
For older students or for classes that are more appropriate for debate, you can use the class debate sheets to organize a group discussion on the topics in the animations.
Who is a refugee? Refugees are people fleeing conflict or persecution.
Who is an internally displaced person?
Internally displaced people are seeking safety in other parts of their country.
Who is a migrant?
Migrants are people moving to another country for other reasons beyond conflict and persecution.
Who is an asylum-seeker?
Asylum-seekers are people seeking international protection from conflict and persecution.
Research and critical thinking
For this age group, you can start including research and critical thinking exercises in your lesson planning. Read through the Data and Resources page and Eye-openers fact sheet needed, and put together a lesson using the elements below. You can adapt the length of your lesson as you see fit.
Where do refugees come from?
Refugees come from different places around the world. More than half of the world’s refugees come from just three countries: Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Refugee rights
There are international rules on the protection of refugees. One of the basic principles is that people who have fled because of violence, war or persecution cannot be sent back to their country if this puts them at risk.
Where do refugees go?
Most refugees live in low- and middle-income countries. Most refugees stay in countries neighbouring their own.
Who helps refugees?
UNHCR, states and many other organisations help refugees. You can also help.
School activities
To bring the complex subject of refugees, asylum and migration closer to the daily life of 15-to-18-year-olds and to move them into action, you can choose a couple of activities from the school activity guide below. The activities vary in length and can be integrated into many teaching settings and locations in and around your school.
Video exercise
Watch this video with your students and use the video exercise lesson plan to do a couple of activities and ask a few questions. You can vary the length of the activity as you like. Activities take 15-30 minutes.
Omar's story
Omar is seventeen. His father Ziad, his mother, Maha and his three brothers and two sisters fled Syria to Jordan, where they lived as refugees for a few years. Omar recalls how he and his father had to do all kinds of work just to survive. The family was eventually resettled to Luxembourg. Omar now goes to school like any other 17-year-old. He is passionate about fitness and documenting his surroundings with his own camera.