Thanks for a very interesting class last week!
We discussed the question: "How do you define yourself?"
Some of the answers we came up with were that we define ourselves by our: dreams, experiences, skills, careers, relationships, achievements, failures, possessions, ideals, attitudes, personalities, nationalities... (and more!!).
We also discussed what it would be like to lose many of the things that "define" you: your job, family, home, country; and we started a heated discussion of the current "refugee and migrant crisis."
We have a lot more to talk about on that subject! And we'll be discussing it next week! Please try to get some sense of the numbers of people involved; there seems to be a wide variation in the numbers of refugees and migrants reported to be in need of and seeking refuge outside of their home countries.
For your reference, the population of the European Union is at 508 million, if you consider the EU to be 28 countries, including Croatia.
And according to google, in 2013, the population of Europe the continent was 742.5 people. The population of the US in 2014 was 318.9 million. And the population of Taiwan is 23.37 million.
There is a flood of information right now on the internet about refugees and migrants. It's hard to know where to start, and it's hard to choose just one article for our class.
So I'm again going to give you some sources; please read what you can to form an opinion; ask your own questions and try to find some answers. Come to class armed with some ideas, some facts, and some clear sources for your facts, and we'll have a good discussion and hopefully find some good answers to this terrible crisis.
Here are four interesting links for you this week!:
The first is an article which "debunks" a few myths including the myth that "the majority of people are economic migrants":
5 Major Myths of Europe's Refugee and Migrant Crisis Debunked
Irin is a very good source for thought-provoking articles; feel free to choose an article that interests you, and share what you've learned with our class!:
Global Migrant and Refugee Crisis
On the above page, I checked out a short photo series:
Humans of Syria
and an article about the Train of Hope, a group of volunteers in Vienna:
The right way to reinvent the wheel?
Here is a surprising video interview with Noujain Mustaffa, a 16-year-old refugee from Syria, who uses a wheelchair and speaks excellent English (learned from watching a soap opera!).
Disabled Syrian teenager's journey across borders
I also found this photo series from back in June, showing what people went through just to get out of Syria.
Syrians Crash Though a Fence Between War and Refuge
Please feel free to research this crisis in Chinese or in English, however you like, and come to class ready to discuss possible solutions.
See you all on Thursday, 10/8! Take care!!
Sincerely, Abbie
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