I work with a Lost Boy, Bol Aweng, here in Columbus, Ohio. I schedule his school visits. In a normal year, he will speak to thousands of students sharing his story. I created this Hyper Doc titled The Refugee Crisis which gives lots of information about four refugee groups-Syrian, Rohingyans, Venezuelan, and the South Sudan Lost Boys. I made this as a resource for the schools that Bol shared his story with. I aligned the activities with the Ohio State Standards for social studies. It proved to be a great resources to use during the pandemic when distance learning was required. Take a look at the many short videos that will give you a lot of information about refugees.
The Lost Boys had many challenges during their 1,500-mile journey to escape the enemy soldiers. Lions attacked them, they were forced to swim across a roaring river, snakes bit them and many other challenges required that they judge what to do in order to survive. These Could you Survive as a Lost Boy of Sudan flip books have 12 challenges they faced. Students are asked to choose from three possible solutions. They select one and then check to see if they would survive. Each possible solution is explained why or why not it is the correct choice. The link gives you the pages so you can make your own flip books.
The Refugee Crisis Card game is a game for two people. This game will help review some of the facts about the refugee crisis in Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela. It also shows you what humanitarian organizations are working with refugees around the world. It is a good activity to give you information about these refugees.
Exploring Attitudes Toward Refugees Through Children's Literature selects six children's books to explore ways refugees have faced difficulties throughout history because of others attitudes towards them. Literature can be a powerful tool to understand the world we live in by helping us see others' stories, experiences, trials and victories. Through those experiences we can understand others and thereby begin to change any negative attitudes and gain an appreciation for our difference and similarities and understand what makes us human.
Probably one of the most famous Lost Boys is Salva Dut who founded the non-profit Water for South Sudan. Linda Sue Park wrote about his story in her popular book read by many middle schoolers across the country entitle A Long Walk to Water. I created a card game to help students review the information they read in the book. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the Lost Boys.
In my Alpha Delta Kappa chapter, for our World Understanding focus one year, I featured a multi-culture book each month. The members of my Alpha Rho chapter taught in a school district that had many students from various countries. This was a way to encourage using children's literature to help these children 'see' themselves in the books that were being read in the classroom. Feature a Multicultural Book Each Month provides a link to a video of the book being read and a summary of the book.
