CBC Archives

Have a class discussion about how humans react to change. Encourage students to consider how they felt about changes in their lives and what caused the change. Record their responses as a class web.

Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group two of clips 1 through 10 on the topic The Boat People on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. As they view, students will list the issues (for example, language barrier, financial issues, ill health, victimization) faced by the refugees, and describe the responses of the people profiled in their clips.

Have each group share its notes with the class. Then ask each student to write several journal entries, in role as a refugee, describing his or her experience.

Have students read their journal entries aloud to the class. As a group, discuss the range of difficult experiences encountered by the refugees. Ask students what they consider to be the most difficult challenge and why.

Students can dramatize one of the audio or video clips to further depict the struggle of the refugees.