World Refugee Day is an international day created by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe and marks the end of World Refugee Week. Every year, on the 20th of June, World Refugee Day celebrates the bravery and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. Some of the main aims of World Refugee Day are to build empathy and understanding for their plight and to recognise their resilience in rebuilding their lives and this year focuses on the Power of Inclusion.
Why is World Refugee Day important?
“World Refugee Day shines a light on the rights, needs and dreams of refugees,” whilst also trying to find ways to provide useful resources so refugees can thrive in everyday life. While it is important to protect and improve the lives of refugees every single day, international days like World Refugee Day help to focus global attention on the plight of those fleeing conflict or persecution.
Content to Support World Refugee Week
When it comes to teaching about World Refugee Day, or Refugees as a topic, there is an emotional and moral responsibility to make sure that individuals learn about truthful experiences to help them understand the complexities and sensitivities around this topic. In addition to this, students should be able to build on life skills such as empathy and have an awareness that the world is diverse and understand that every individual will not share the same life experiences, or the same opportunities.
At ClassVR, within our community library of content, students can experience what the daily life of a refugee can be like in Ali’s Video. Additionally, students can learn about the importance and a need for safe places, where refugee children can have an opportunity to break away from their adult responsibilities, and for a few hours, enjoy being a child who can sing, dance, laugh and have fun. Furthermore, they can view a range of images that show what a refugee camp is like in Lesbos and discover the impact of the displaced in “The Displaced video by the New York Times”.
Here’s St Joseph’s Cathedral School in Swansea using VR to teach about refugees:
Understanding the Lives of Refugees – Guiding VR Exploration
As you are delivering your World Refugee Day lesson and your students are exploring the variety of resources that are available in our community library, it is important that your students are developing skills such as empathy during the exploration too. You can guide the lesson by asking the following questions:
Where do refugees live?
Do refugees have any legal rights?
What type of military aid can refugees receive?
What can the rest of the world do to help protect, educate, and ensure refugee children are given a thriving future?
TOP TIP: Don’t forget, you can always explore the community tab in you ClassVR portal to discover other playlists that have been created by a range of individuals from all around the world!
We are keen to hear feedback from schools all over the world on what content you would like to see us build for you next, so if you have any suggestions of resources you’d like to use or lessons you want to teach, just drop our Educational Services team an email at community@classvr.com.
