Read the following essay: https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/09/10/does-immigration-strengthen-or-undermine-tolerance
The author is an 18 year old who entered The Economist's Open Future essay competition - the task was to write an essay to the question “Does immigration strengthen or undermine tolerance?” .
Write your own essay to the above question (no more than 1,500) and send to me. I would love to see your ideas on this powerful and, at times, controversial question.
Tuesday 23 October 2018
Promoting British values: respect and tolerance
Read this BBC article on guidance for schools to do more to promote British values:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30245074
Do you think Waingels promotes British values? What examples can you think of from your time at school when you have been taught, or shown, about tolerance and respect? What do you think we could do to meet these guidelines further?
Email me your ideas!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30245074
Do you think Waingels promotes British values? What examples can you think of from your time at school when you have been taught, or shown, about tolerance and respect? What do you think we could do to meet these guidelines further?
Email me your ideas!
Honduras migrant caravan
As some of you will know (and be sick of hearing!), I lived in Honduras a few years ago. Honduras is currently in the news worldwide due to the 'human caravan' attempting to make its way from Honduras, through Guatemala and Mexico, to the USA.
I have really enjoyed reading your comments from the first two posts on this blog, so lets have some more discussion and share your ideas to these questions in the comments:
1. In your opinion, why are the migrants attempting to leave their country and get to the USA?
2. In your opinion, is this the correct was for these people to seek a better standard of living?
3. President Trump has said that in response, the USA will cut aid to Honduras. Do you think this is the right way to respond? If not, how else should the USA deal with this situation?
I have really enjoyed reading your comments from the first two posts on this blog, so lets have some more discussion and share your ideas to these questions in the comments:
1. In your opinion, why are the migrants attempting to leave their country and get to the USA?
2. In your opinion, is this the correct was for these people to seek a better standard of living?
3. President Trump has said that in response, the USA will cut aid to Honduras. Do you think this is the right way to respond? If not, how else should the USA deal with this situation?
What is a refugee?
Task 1.
Research and write an explanation of what an asylum seeker and a refugee is - what is the difference between the two terms?
Task 2.
Write an expectation of which countries accept the most refugees - think about spatial patterns (which continents will have the most) and development patterns (ACs, LIDCs etc.).
Now that you have written down what you expect to find, do some research on global refugee patterns and which countries are home to the most refugees. What did you find? Was it what you expected?
Task 3.
Use https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts and your own research to investigate the Syrian refugee crisis. Is there anything we could do as a school to show our empathy for the plight of Syrian refugees?
Research and write an explanation of what an asylum seeker and a refugee is - what is the difference between the two terms?
Task 2.
Write an expectation of which countries accept the most refugees - think about spatial patterns (which continents will have the most) and development patterns (ACs, LIDCs etc.).
Now that you have written down what you expect to find, do some research on global refugee patterns and which countries are home to the most refugees. What did you find? Was it what you expected?
Task 3.
Use https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts and your own research to investigate the Syrian refugee crisis. Is there anything we could do as a school to show our empathy for the plight of Syrian refugees?
Monday 6 November 2017
Watch the following short clip:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-41584532/the-truth-about-hate-crime-and-brexit?intlink_from_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftopics%2F5784428d-a30a-4091-82f2-3f4d9b336f75%2Fuk-immigration&link_location=live-reporting-map
Choose one of the following tasks:
1. Write a letter to Theresa May outlining why the views expressed in the clip are unacceptable and persuade the government to implement a campaign to promote acceptable and tolerance of immigrants.
or
2. Create a campaign poster that promotes British values and tolerance of immigrants.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-41584532/the-truth-about-hate-crime-and-brexit?intlink_from_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftopics%2F5784428d-a30a-4091-82f2-3f4d9b336f75%2Fuk-immigration&link_location=live-reporting-map
Choose one of the following tasks:
1. Write a letter to Theresa May outlining why the views expressed in the clip are unacceptable and persuade the government to implement a campaign to promote acceptable and tolerance of immigrants.
or
2. Create a campaign poster that promotes British values and tolerance of immigrants.
Thursday 2 November 2017
On the 31st of October 2017, a man drove a truck into pedestrians and cyclists in New York City with the intention of killing innocent people and committing an act of terror. 8 people were killed and many more injured. ISIS were quick to claim responsibility for the attack. The attacker has claimed he was inspired by their ideas but police have found no direct link between the man and the terrorist group (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41829264).
Donal Trump, president of the US, was quick to make comments on this tragedy. He insisted that the US would 'get rid' of the lottery programme as soon as possible - this is a scheme that gives 500,000 permission to live in the USA out of millions that apply. Once their VISA application is accepted (the requirements are extremely strict and many criminal checks are carried out) the 500,000 'lottery winners' are chosen at random. This programme is called the 'Diversity Immigrant Visa' - it aims to bring in migrants from diverse backgrounds. It was under this VISA that the New York attacker moved to the US several years ago. The attacker was from Uzbekistan - not one of the country's that President Trump banned travel from when he first came into power.
President Trump insisted that canceling this VISA programme was vital to ensure the US's safety - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/41811782/new-york-attack-trump-says-we-must-get-tougher.
Do you agree?
Complete your own research and write a short essay (100 - 200 words) with your opinion.
Feel free to share your essay with me - marjmr@waingels.wokingham.sch.uk
Sunday 8 October 2017
Immigration in the news
On the 15th of August 2015, new figures were released on the levels of immigration (migrants coming into the UK).
Immigration rose to 330,000 migrants arriving into the UK in one year. Of course, the story made big news headlines and many newspapers, websites and politicians took an opportunity to discuss the new statistics.
Read the following three articles focusing on the news:
Immigration rose to 330,000 migrants arriving into the UK in one year. Of course, the story made big news headlines and many newspapers, websites and politicians took an opportunity to discuss the new statistics.
Read the following three articles focusing on the news:
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34071492 (BBC news online)
- https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/27/net-migration-predicted-to-hit-record-level (The Guardian newspaper online)
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3212572/Net-immigration-smashes-previous-record-hit-330-000-Cameron-s-pledge-cap-numbers-arriving-left-tatters.html (Daily Mail newspaper online)
Consider the different writers of the articles - you may want to use the internet or ask teachers/parents to gain an idea of what these news outlets general political learning is and what their stance on immigration might be.
Do you think the outlets' political stance affects their handling of the figures?
Do they portray the news in a positive, negative or neutral light?
Compare the language used in the different articles - is it trying to persuade the reader to think about the figures in a certain way?
Are any of the articles unfair? Do they encourage anti-immigrant sentiments in the UK?
Challenge: use the internet to find another news story on a similar topic - new figures are often released! Who is the author? How is their view portrayed? Is it biased?
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