SALAM NEIGHBOR STUDENT LESSON GUIDE DEVELOPED BY: JILL STEVENS, 1001 MEDIA &
ABOUT SALAM NEIGHBOR is a documentary released in 2016 by the film production companies Living on One and 1001 MEDIA. The title means hello neighbor, as well as peace neighbor. BACKGROUND This award-winning film documents the experiences of American filmmakers Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci in 2014 when they lived among 85,000 Syrians in Jordan s Za atari refugee camp, which lies seven miles from the Syrian border. The filmmakers, who were the first allowed by the United Nations ( UN ) to register and set-up a tent inside a refugee camp, spent a month in Za atari to (i) cover what the UN Refugee Agency ( UNHCR ) calls the world s most pressing humanitarian crisis and (ii) understand the human side of the crisis. THE LARGER PROJECT is a component of a three-part project focused on the Syrian refugee crisis: the documentary, a virtual reality ( VR ) film and a social impact campaign. The VR film has been exhibited at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Clips of have been used by President Obama at a refugee summit on the sidelines of the 2016 UN General Assembly and by Global Citizen which, with 60 charities, was able to obtain over 250,000 signatures on a petition and government commitments exceeding US$90 million for the Education Cannot Wait Fund. As of July 2017, had raised about US$200,000 for UNHCR, the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children, and over US$100,000 to resettle three of the families featured in the film. There is more work to do. More on the project can be found on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Salam_Neighbor. 2
TESTIMONIALS... delivers a powerful message. It will leave you touched and inspired to take action. - UNHCR pushes the boundaries of how we tell stories and maximize social impact in the 21st century. - Carolyn Miles, CEO of Save the Children This film is important because it shatters the idea that there isn t anything that one can do, that the problem is too big. - Ambassador Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the UN What I love about this film is the resilience it reveals and how it shows the Syrian refugees have not abandoned hope. - Queen Rania of Jordan allows all of us that glimpse into the lives of the people fleeing the violence in Syria and what s at stake if we fail to respond. - Sen. Chris Murphy (CT) On a subject too often discussed in terms of numbers, [] capture[s] the human element of one of the greatest refugee crises of this generation. - Rep. Ted Lieu (CA) One [film] that... I am now a big fan of - is which... is a poignant look at life in a refugee camp. - Amy Poehler s Smart Girls 3
ABOUT THIS GUIDE This Student Lesson Guide provides lessons to help students gain the necessary context to effectively view the documentary. The guide also provides a sequence of followup lessons that allow students to meaningfully process the film. By completing the lessons in this guide, students will develop an enduring understanding of the plight of refugees in the 21st century. This guide is appropriate for students in grades 7 through 12 in the following subjects: global studies, humanities, foreign policy, current events, world history or any social studies course dealing with human rights or geography. It is not necessary to complete every lesson in this guide. Teachers should review the entire guide and choose the lessons that are most effective for the amount of time they have to spend on each sequence, as well as relevant for the students they have in their classes. Additionally, teachers might consider assigning some of the lessons as homework assignments or differentiating the sequences by providing some of the lessons as extension lessons for more advanced students. This Student Lesson Guide is meant to be used (and best utilized) in conjunction with a screening of the documentary. The film is available worldwide on Netflix, itunes, Amazon Video and Vimeo on Demand for viewing by small classes of twenty or less. For larger classes, DVD, Blu-Ray and/or digital copies of can be obtained by clicking the following link www. salamneighbor.org/eduscreenings and filling out the relevant form. This guide is comprised of four lesson sequences. Lesson Sequence One covers what is a refugee, what distinguishes a refugee from a migrant, what are the rights of refugees and what is the role of UNHCR in the lives of refugees. Lesson Sequence Two covers the history of Syria up to the Syrian Civil War. The sequence goes on to cover the causes of and destruction resulting from that war. This information will help students understand the context of. By the end of the sequence, students should be able to marry what they have learned in Lesson Sequence One about refugees to their understanding of the nation of Syria and the Syrian Civil War. Lesson Sequence Three provides students with the opportunity to view and effectively process the film. Lesson Sequence Four provides opportunities for students to take action based on what they have learned from the film and this guide. 4
At the end of each Lesson Sequence, this guide lists the Common Core Standards that are addressed by the sequence. A special thanks goes to Jill Stevens, who developed this guide for the team. Jill has taught high school social studies for 14 years and currently teaches World History and Aspects of Global Citizenship at Sharon High School in Sharon, Massachusetts. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College (1990) and Master in Teaching from Harvard University (1993). Jill has two daughters, a husband and a dog. Her interest in refugees arose when a Vietnamese family that had fled the Vietnam War moved across the street from her family in Providence, RI in the 1970 s. As a student at Smith, she volunteered to help local Cambodian families study for their citizenship tests. Jill is a Boston Red Sox fan; her younger daughter s middle name is Fisk. Thanks, The Team August 2017 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS About 2 About This Student Lesson Guide 4 Lesson Sequence One: What Is A Refugee? 9 Activity 1A: Initial Conceptions Of Refugees (Instructions For Teachers) 12 Activity 1B: Refugee Or Migrant (Student Worksheet) 13 Activity 1C: Refugee Summarizer (Instructions For Teachers) 14 Activity 1C: Refugee Summarizer (Student Worksheet) 15 Activity 1D: UNHCR Mini-Presentations (Instructions For Teachers) 16 Activity 1D: UNHCR Mini-Presentations (Student Worksheet) 18 Activity 1E: UNHCR Cover Letter (Student Worksheet) 21 Common Core Standards 23 Lesson Sequence Two: Background On The Syrian Civil War 25 Activity 2A: K-W-L Chart On Syria (Instructions For Teachers) 27 Activity 2B: History Of Syria (Instructions For Teachers) 27 Activity 2C: Syrian Civil War (Instructions For Teachers) 28 Activity 2D: The Syria-Iran Alliance (Instructions For Teachers) 31 Activity 2E: Images (Instructions For Teachers) 32 Activity 2F: K-W-L Chart Revisited (Instructions For Teachers) 34 Activity 2G: Save The Children (Instructions For Teachers) 35 Activity 2A: K-W-L Chart On Syria (Student Worksheet) 36 Activity 2B: History Of Syria (Student Worksheet) 37 Activity 2C: Syrian Civil War - Analytical Sentences (Student Worksheet) 41 Activity 2D: The Syria-Iran Alliance (Student Worksheet) 42 Activity 2G: Save The Children (Student Worksheet) 48 Common Core Standards 52 7
Lesson Sequence Three: Viewing And Processing The Film 54 Activity 3A: Questions To Answer After You Watch The Film (Student Worksheet) 58 Activity 3B: Viewing Guide - Rights Tracker (Student Worksheet) 60 Activity 3C: Give One, Get One, Move On (Instructions For Teachers) 62 Activity 3D: Wordles (Instructions For Teachers) 63 Activity 3E: Bio Poems (Instructions For Teachers) 64 Activity 3F: Found Poems (Instructions For Teachers) 65 Activity 3F: Found Poems (Student Worksheet) 66 Activity 3G: Silent Conversation (Student Worksheet) 73 Activity 3H: Mini Socratic Seminars (Student Worksheet) 76 Activity 3I: Sustainable Development Goals (Student Worksheet) 82 Common Core Standards 89 Lesson Sequence Four: Taking Action 91 Activity 4A: Ideas For Taking Action 93 Common Core Standards 96 Additional Resources 97 8
SALAM NEIGHBOR STUDENT LESSON GUIDE LESSON SEQUENCE ONE: WHAT IS A REFUGEE?
This sequence is composed of five activities. If you need to abbreviate the sequence, consider completing Activities 1A through 1C and show the five minute video about UNHCR. ` Activity 1A : Initial Conceptions Of Refugees (30 minutes) ` Activity 1B: Refugee Or Migrant (30 minutes) ` Activity 1C: Refugee Summarizer (15 minutes) ` Activity 1D: UNHCR Mini Presentations (2-2.5 hours) ` Activity 1E: UNHCR Cover Letter (1 hour) 11
Activity 1A: Initial Conceptions Of Refugees (Instructions For Teachers) (30 Minutes) This activity gathers what students know about what is a refugee. Step 1: Distribute post-it notes to students. The 3x3 square ones cut into small strips work well. Each student should have 10-20 strips. Step 2: Have the students brainstorm as many words and ideas as possible that come to mind when they hear the word refugee. A fun incentive can be to offer a prize for the student who comes up with the most. Step 3: Group the students into teams of three to five and have them sort and group their words into categories and discuss/share-back. To discuss or share back, students could do a walking tour of the other groups organizations -- or each group could present back their findings to the class. Additionally, all or some of the following questions could be used: Do you think most people tend to have a negative or positive impression of refugees? And then ask the follow-up question Why? Really press the students to come up with as many reasons as possible. Does anyone actually know a refugee? If yes, encourage students to share details. If no, encourage students to think about why this is the case. What else do you know about refugees? What do you want to know about refugees that did not come up in the brainstorm? Where do you get most of your information about refugees? How might that skew your impressions of refugees? Step 4: Tell the students they are going to watch a documentary called and learn about the experience of Syrian refugees. In order to fully understand what they will see, the students will first need to understand what a refugee is and why there is a civil war in Syria. 12
Activity 1B: Refugee Or Migrant? (Student Worksheet) Step 1: Read the article UNHCR viewpoint: Refugee or migrant Which is right? located at http://www. unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2016/7/55df0e556/unhcr-viewpoint-refugee-migrant-right.html. Step 2: Using the information provided in the article, fill in the below VENN Diagram to compare the terms refugee and migrant. Refugee Migrant 13