Teach-Primary-Issue-20.1

60 | www.teachwire.net It would be almost impossible to read No Refuge without some careful exploration of what refugees are (and are not). If you are looking to delve a little deeper, here are a few starting points to consider: THINK-PAIR-SHARE What is a refugee? Ask the children to think quietly about this, share with a partner, then share with the class. An adult should record the key ideas from their answers and help refine them into an accurate description as a group. Be sensitive to the fact that pupils will have different opinions on this topic depending on views shared within the family home, news reports they may have encountered, or posts shared on social media. The classroom should be a safe space to gently challenge and deepen understandings in a sensitive way. CREATE A CONNECTION Use feelings-based questions to help children develop empathy and connect emotionally with the subject matter. For example: How would you feel if you had to leave your home suddenly? What would you take with you and why? What would you miss most? Whom would you worry about? WALK IN SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES Give the children a scenario card saying: A family wakes up to danger nearby. They have only a few minutes to decide what to do . If the children were members of this family, what would their response be? Ask children to think about what decisions the family would face, whom they could trust, where they might try to go, and what challenges they might meet along the way. To consider this more deeply, organise the children into small ‘family’ groups and ask them to create three freeze-frames depicting the family as they wake and realise the danger, as Take it further and interpretation, with strong curriculum links to English, PSHE, and global citizenship. Activities Cover exploration I always like to introduce a new text by inviting children to explore the cover and engage in rich conversations based on their inferences and predictions. For example: • Title deconstruction – What does the word ‘refuge’ mean? How does pairing it with ‘no’ affect its meaning? What questions does this raise about the predicament the main characters may find themselves in? Discuss the children’s ideas, then encourage them to write a short paragraph predicting some of the key events and themes within the book. Book topic • Setting clues – For this, the children need to focus in very closely on some of the background details of the cover. What kind of place is the story set in? Calm or chaotic? Urban or rural? Are there any clues about the danger or displacement ahead? • Symbol hunt – Again, focusing closely on the cover, pick out any items or details from the front cover and predict what they may symbolise. For example, barbed wire might represent danger or a barrier, and roads and pathways might suggest difficult choices or travelling to new places. A great activity to help build inference skills is to ask the children to quietly look at the front cover and consider: What can they see ? – What details stand out? (colours, characters, mood, objects). What do they think ? – What do these details suggest about the story? What do they wonder ? What questions about the story does the cover leave you with? Deconstructing form Graphic novels used to be dismissed as an option for ‘readers lacking in confidence’ or as a stepping stone onto reading something more challenging. Thankfully, more educators are now embracing them in their classrooms. One of the standout features of a graphic novel (in addition to the usually stunning artwork) is that every word has to be very carefully chosen to convey emotion and meaning succinctly. The artwork must work in synchronicity with the text to reveal hidden layers of meaning and keep the story moving. With this in mind, there are lots of ways graphic novels can be incorporated into lessons. Illustrations © Patrice Aggs • Panel-to-prose . Choose a key sequence from the book to rewrite as a prose chapter. For example, the border crossing, family separation, or other moments of danger. Children will need to think about describing the setting and other sensory details, about how they are going to show the characters’ emotions, and how they will let readers know the characters’ internal thoughts. This task will help pupils understand how graphic novels are carefully structured to shape the pacing of events within the story. • Create dual-voice diary entries . This activity challenges children