Home: Welcoming refugees

• Give each learner a small piece of paper. Ask them to draw their favourite shape on the paper. Then they choose a colour, and colour in the shape. Give them three minutes to do this. Then ask them to all hold up their coloured shapes. Are all the coloured shapes the same, or are there lots of different ones? 

• Tell learners that they are going to watch a short film about some coloured shapes, but first we need to check some vocabulary.   
• Elicit the following words using mime. If you prefer, you could use emojis or draw pictures on the board: 

happy  

sad  

scared  

excited  

worried  

shy  

embarrassed  

brave 

lonely  

relaxed 

• As you elicit each word, model and drill pronunciation, and stick the strip of paper with that word on the side of the board.

• Tell learners they're going to watch a film about a purple triangle and an orange circle. Show the film from beginning to end, so that they can get the full effect of the message of the film.   
• Tell learners they're going to watch again, and this time they're going to think about how the shapes feel.  
• Play the film until 1:03. Ask learners which of the emotions the shapes feel. Move these emotions words to the centre of the board. Prompt the learners with questions and encourage them to explain why the shape felt those feelings. For example:  

Why does the orange circle feel nervous when he comes into the classroom? [Because everything is new / he doesn't know anyone / it's a new school.]  
When/why does he feel embarrassed? [When he doesn't understand the teacher / he doesn't know the language.] 
How does he feel when he has no one to play with? [Lonely/sad] 

• Repeat for the rest of the film, stopping after every minute.  

• Set up Worksheet task 1 (Slide 2).  
• Learners work alone to put the sentences in order to retell the story. Monitor and help with unknown vocabulary. 
• Then learners check their answers with a partner.   
• Check the answers with the whole class. Show Slide 3. 

1. The orange circle starts a new school.  
2. He doesn't understand the teacher.  
3. At first he doesn't like the purple food.  
4. He makes friends with a purple triangle at lunchtime.  
5. The purple triangle and her dad go to the orange circle's house.  
6. The orange mum shows a photo of their family and home.  
7. The orange circle plays football with lots of purple triangles.  
8. Other coloured shapes arrive, and the town is a happy place. 

• Set up Worksheet task 2 (Slide 4). Ask learners to think about which character would say each thing and to put the sentences in the correct group.  
• Learners work alone, then check their answers with a partner. Monitor and help with unknown vocabulary. 
• Check the answers with the whole class. In some cases there could be more than one possible answer, for example the orange mum could say 'I miss my home' or the purple triangle could say 'I have a new friend.' Accept all possible correct answers. Show Slide 5.   

• Show Slide 6. Ask How could you help new students when they arrive at your school? Learners talk about their ideas with a partner and then share with the whole class. Monitor closely and write any useful words and phrases on the board. 

• Tell learners that in pairs or groups of three, they are going to draw and write a simple comic strip to retell the story.    
• Check that learners understand what a comic strip is by showing them an example. Ask them the names of some popular comic strips from their country. Ask some checking questions, e.g. Is a comic strip story just words? No – pictures and words. Are the sentences very long? No – they're short.   
• Draw a speech bubble and a thought bubble on the board. Ask learners when they use each one. [We write what the characters say in a speech bubble and what people think or feel in a thought bubble.]   
• Remind learners about the emotions they looked at earlier in the lesson and at the sentences in Worksheet task 2. They can use these to help them.   
• Do the first scene together so that the learners understand. Draw a simple picture on the board. Draw a speech bubble from the teacher at the door and invite learners to suggest a short sentence for the thought bubble. For example: Hello, class, this is orange circle. Draw a thought bubble from the orange circle and invite learners to suggest a short sentence for the thought bubble. For example: I feel really scared or I hope I make friends.    
• Depending on the amount of time you have, and the level of your learners, decide whether you are going to give them the whole story to retell or just part of it. For example, you could give each group one scene, or two scenes using two of the sentences in Worksheet task 1 (1 and 2; 3 and 4; 5 and 6 or 7 and 8). Faster learners may be able to retell the whole story. 
• Monitor and help with any vocabulary learners need. 
• Create a class display of the comic strip by putting the different groups' work together, piecing the comic strip together in order.   
• Learners read the completed comic strip.   

• Learners continue their comic strips with what happens next in the story.   
• Learners work in pairs or small groups to turn their comic strip into a mini play. They choose roles, practise lines from their speech and thought bubbles, and act out their story.