The Refugee Experience: Mini Research Project for Grades 6-10

The Refugee Experience Mini Research Project gives middle school ELA students the opportunity to learn real stories of refugees from around the world and different time periods with the help of the UN Refugee Agency website. This is a perfect project to introduce authentic research experiences to your students. It also makes a perfect culminating activity for related novels like A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park or Refugee by Alan Gratz.

Students explore the website, choosing three stories that are the most compelling to them, narrow it down to one story that is the most interesting, then begin researching that refugee's personal story and the background that led to his or her status as a refugee. My students researched refugees from the bombing of Helsinki in World War II, refugees from Syria today, and refugees from Darfur in recent years. Together, students learned that the refugee experience is not new and the stories have common themes. The impact was powerful!

Included in this resource:

- 6 page student research guide

- 21 page PowerPoint with step by step teacher notes

- 3 page template for creating the refugee profiles

Digital links are provided. This product is 100% editable!

Please note: This mini-research project is part of my giant A Long Walk to Water unit bundle, available here:

A Long Walk to Water Unit Bundle

Check out more standards-based, meaningful activities for your ELA classroom from Read it. Write it. Learn it.

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Master the Standards with Poetry Bundle

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Read my blog for innovative ways to engage and excite middle school ELA students