Friday, September 25, 2015

Proficiency Lesson

The Refugee crisis.

In preparaton for a discussion and writing tasks to be set in class, please read through the articles here taking notes and creating a word bank of unknown vocabulary. Also watch the video on the Refugee crisis. This topic will be discussed at length in class so come with ideas! The comments section has questions for you to answer based on the video.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/the-dark-side-of-australias-refugee-policies-20150910-gjjhzi.html

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/syrian-refugees-you-are-welcome-here-20150909-gjimt9.html

http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=8994

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/greece-fights-next-crisis-and-this-time-it-s-not-about-the-euro

 https://youtu.be/RvOnXh3NN9w

A final text to read through written by someone on facebook.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ENOUGH OF THIS TRAGEDY!!!!!!
We have all witnessed the tragic events of the last weeks with the refugee crisis. We are all appalled by the dismissal by some governments of the situation. We are shocked by the abhorrent treatment of innocents, families, desperate mothers and fathers, children, infants!

What was their crime? What was their responsibility in all of this chaos that they now find themselves in? How are they accountable for the suffering that they now endure???

Well, there was no crime, no responsibility, no accountability and definitely no blame.

Who can blame a parent for wanting to protect his children? for wanting to leave the known and risk the unknown, for wanting to remove himself and his children from certain suffering and even death ????? NO ONE!!!

I live in fear of seeing the picture of the toddler washed up on the beach. I cannot bear to see it again because it causes me physical pain. I can feel the pain of the mother, I can feel the pain of the father, I can feel the pain of the siblings. I feel pain because I am HUMAN!

Governments turning a blind eye, governments talking of illegal migrants, governments not willing to reach out and help.......don’t you feel the pain? Don’t you see the pain?.......Are you human?????

It amazes me but once again that it is the have-nots that give the most and the have-it-alls that give the least and even that is given grudgingly. Greece is on the precipice, its people are floundering in depression-like conditions and yet so ready to give. But how much of what you don’t have can you give? The desire is great but the reality is harsh.

So to those of you who think you can pull the wool over the eyes of the world by dehumanizing or even vilifying these people, I for one would like you to know that NO we are not STUPID. We can see and we can feel no matter how hard you try to stop this. People are people regardless of skin colour, geography, culture or beliefs and they should be treated as such. My suffering today could become your suffering tomorrow. None of us knows what’s in store so do as you would like done to you.

Open borders, help the needy, give safety, give food, give shelter because YOU CAN!

3 comments:

Anastasia said...

1. Where have most of the refugees come from?
2. How many Syrians have left their country?
3. Why is Greece experiencing problems with the refugees?
4. Why was the European Union not prepared for this crisis?
5. What changed people's perceptions of the crisis?
6. Where has most of the help come from?
7. What does the western world fear?
8. Are these fears valid?
9. What is the overall message of the video?
10. What is your view of the video?

Unknown said...

1. Most of the refugees have come from Syria.
2. According to the video, 4 million Syrians have left their country.
3. Greece is experiencing problems with the refugees because there is not much money, due to the economical crisis, or shelter to help those people.
4. The EU was not prepared properly for the refugee crisis as they had invested most of their money on matters of security and had neglected the asylums. As a result, the EU finds difficulty in helping all those refugees in the now-crowded asylums.
5. A photo of the washed up, dead body of a toddler is what changed people's perceptions about the crisis and helped them realise the importance of this situation.
6. Most of the help in the West has not come from the politicians but from the citizens.
7. The western world fears Muslims because of the crime rate in Muslim countries, as well as the thought of them overtaking Europe and their population increasing to the point it becomes threatening to Europeans and making Europe a Muslim continent.
8. These fears are invalid because studies have proven that the birth rate of Muslims in Europe are decreasing and that Muslim refugees are less likely to commit crimes than the native European population.
9. The overall message of this video is to make people realise the importance of the refugee crisis, give them an all-around perspective, motivate them to help those in need and change the minds of those who are against the idea of refugees entering their countries.
10. I think that the video is very accurate and gives people a lot of information about the refugee crisis that is going on.

Unknown said...

1. Most of the refugees have come from camps in the neighbouring countries of Syria.
2. 4,000,000 Syrians have left their country due to war!
3. Greece has a problem with the refugees due to 2 reasons. First, because of the Dublin Regulation the refugees must stay in the state they arrived in first and most of the refugees arrive in Greece by sea easily. Moreover, Greece is in the middle of economic depression and does not have the funds to support all these refugees.
4. The European Union was not prepared for such a large number of refugees even though it spent almost 2 billion dollars on border defence and asylums from 2007-2014.
5. People had an idea of the crisis but the thing that made them aware of how big the phenomenon is, was the photo of a baby lying dead face-down on a beach!
6. Most of the help has surprisingly come not from the politicians but from citizens of the West.
7. However, there are fears on the west of the world about refugees. Many people believe that refuges will take over the religion of Europe and turn it into an Islamic state. Furthermore, people believe that because the fertility of muslims is bigger than their, the muslims will overtake the population and that this will lead to the collapse of the social system. Finally people believe that the refugees will raise the crime rate because they will turn to crimes for survival.
8. All of these fears are invalid.
9. The video is trying to make us aware of the refugee crisis and for me it tries to show that the fears about the refugees are not true. It tries to show the tragedy that is around us and it shows the weak points of every wrong move that is made by the EU and the other states. It is a video deeply emotional, but it provides correct information.
10. In my opinion, the video depicts the crisis in a perfect way. It informs people about the tragic phenomenon and it aims to draw attention.