Crossing the Border You must complete the form correctly in ten minutes or you will not be able to cross the border to safety First 10 mins of the lesson, room ideally set up so that table form some kind of holding pen and barrier to a space beyond: students come in to find the impossible border form which they must complete to be able to go through the barrier. Teacher in role as border guard, shouting instructions which don’t make sense – either mumbo jumbo, confusing english or a foreign language. The experience should be stressful and confusing.

Can I understand what it might feel like to be an asylum seeker? Discuss with students how that initial experience felt, try to get them to pull apart the experience – what was the scenario? Who were they? Who was the teacher? Explain that in the next stage of the lesson they’re going to go into different roles to explore the experience of refugees more deeply. Split the class into three groups – refugees, immigration officers and observers – and hand out role cards (pages 54-56 in ‘Global Communities’ refugee week resource book). Give the students about 5 minutes to read over the cards and discuss strategies. At this stage it’s probably worth revisiting the definition of a refugee – use ‘the right to asylum’ to support this.

We are at the border of Terabinthia, where a group of people from Akabithia are seeking refuge. Will they get through? Why/ Why not? Asylum Seekers Immigration Officers Observers Read from ‘can I come in setup’ then begin role play – let the role play run for 10-15 minutes.

How did you feel? Note down what it felt like to play your role in this improvisation. Be honest, and try to give as much detail as you can. Before discussion, allow 5 minutes for students to reflect in silence, noting down their responses in their books or on paper.

How fair was the treatment of the asylum seekers? Were the asylum seekers given their right to protection? Why/ why not? Should a country have the right to turn asylum seekers away? What sorts of problems do asylum seekers face in this country? What should be done to stop people being asylum seekers in the first place? Discussion points...

What might it feel like to be an asylum seeker?