The refugee situation in Europe demands different ways of thinking

Public Group Active 7 years, 6 months ago

Wed, Apr 5 2017, 11:20am – 12:40pm

Authors: Sara Bruun

Room: Seminar 6

Theme: Participation & Social Equality

Type: Presentations

Description

How can teachers bring the world into their classrooms by using modern technology? Today’s teachers have tasks that are wider than teaching pupils how to read and write. One of these wider tasks is to raise learners awareness about the world around us. For instance, Sweden saw a record number of refugees in 2015, as one of Europe’s most favoured destinations for displaced people.Thousands of Syrians and Afghans came to Malmö every week during the autumn.The city and country couldn’t handle it.Classrooms all over Sweden struggled with numbers of learners with only basic or no knowledge of Swedish.

To be able to handle the situation schools nationally have to change the way they teach, and digital tools are critical. We also had to deal with a lot of racism. My aim as a teacher is to reduce the gap between recent and new migrants, and students who have been brought up in Sweden.

I teach English as a second language at a secondary school and in this talk I will describe how I find and create authentic situations where the students can speak, read, listen and write English to a real audience. This way of teaching suits all students.

When speaking to a guest speaker through Skype, who only speaks English and also is able to add a different perspective, the pupils are motivated and able to understand that the world is in front of them and that they need to embrace it.

I use my blog, Bruunsklassrum, and my Youtube channel to give my students instructions. The blog and the channel are open and inspire teachers in both Sweden and Europe. I also use my Youtube channel to help other teachers understand different digital tools.

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