We Are Displaced

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. How does access to education vary around the world? What factors might contribute to limits on education or being denied the right to seek education, specifically for women and girls?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be beneficial to provide students with resources to look up facts related to women’s education around the world. You also may consider breaking students into small groups or pairs to explore how women’s access to education varies around the world and to consider why this might be the case. With sensitivity in mind for individual circumstances, you might follow up the pair work with a whole-group discussion about what life is like for girls and women in a few of these places.

• The “Education” page of the Human Rights Watch website contains resources in the form of videos and articles for educators and students about how to defend dignity and equality at home and abroad. The resource contains a list of countries and locations around the world where education rights are compromised.
• Girls’ Education Challenge is a UK-based resource that provides facts and information about the parts of the world where girls receive poor or no education and how to support efforts to challenge those norms to better support equal education.

2. What is the Taliban?

Teaching Suggestion: Students might begin to answer this question by talking to a partner and compiling a list of points and questions about the Taliban. Afterward, you can conduct a whole-class discussion in which each pair shares their ideas and questions as a way to introduce factual information. Sharing the information that the Taliban was the group who attempted to assassinate the young Malala Yousafzai for trying to attend a school in Pakistan connects the question to the text.

• This encyclopedia entry describes the origin of the Taliban, the War in Afghanistan, and the cultural and social values of the regime.
• “In Focus: Women in Afghanistan One Year After the Taliban Takeover” - This article describes the ideology of the Taliban and how that determines their perception of gender roles and in particular limits the roles of women.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

We Are Displaced tells the story of girls from around the world who are displaced due to autocratic regimes in their home countries that often limit their access to education just because they are female. How do you feel about this restriction? Brainstorm a list of results and benefits of free access to education. Share your list with peers to see how they compare.

Teaching Suggestion: For some students, the experience of being denied access to education may be difficult to imagine due to their lived experience, and they may gravitate toward a positive reaction to not having to go to school. If this is the case, encourage students to imagine how they would feel if they could never attend school again, not just for a short duration. Ask them what kind of future they might expect without an education. Students who are themselves refugees, or who know family or close friends from refugee situations, might have the option to share the parts of their experience they feel comfortable contributing.

• “Five Key Facts about Refugee Children’s Education” - This article describes the many barriers faced by refugees that prevent them from obtaining an education. This list contains facts about the number of refugees who are prevented from receiving an education, the gender disparities in refugee access to education, and the long-term impacts of their lack of education.
• “What Are Human Rights Violations?” - This informational text contains definitions and examples of human rights violations, as well as a discussion of who is responsible for defending against them.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who benefit from assistance with analytical, open-ended questions might find it helpful to use a graphic organizer to divide their ideas into columns such as “results” and “benefits.”