My Perfect Country - Lesson 4 - EIO TVWO

• European and International Orientation
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

My Perfect Country (4)

What do you think this picture is about?

Is the way Germany has handled refugee integration a model other countries could follow? In September 2015 the German chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to take in one million mainly Syrian refugees, and over the past three years more refugees have arrived in Germany than anywhere else in the European Union.

But Germany did not just open its doors to those seeking refuge, it recognised that integrating them into society was crucial. The foundation of this is free but compulsory state-run German language and civic orientation courses for qualifying refugees, as well as help finding employment. There are also thousands of volunteer-led and non-governmental refugee projects across the country.

We are going to listen to an audio clip:

Is the way Germany has handled refugee integration a model other countries could follow? 

Movement is now the new normal, 66 million people are now on the move in the world, so we need to have new ways to tackle this situation. 

Teacher's note

Audio clip: play from 2:04 mins until 4:35

https:

In September 2015 Angela Merkel agreed to take 1 million Syrian refugees in to Germany. While other countries were closing their borders, Angela Merkel was saying we can do it, and many Germans seemed to agree with her with pictures of Germans welcoming refugees at train stations were beamed around the world. 

Teacher's note

play 5:46 until 7:20

https:

How many Syrian refugees did Germany accept in 2015?

1. None, they closed their borders
2. 2 million
3. 700
4. 1 million

In the audio clip, what is described as the most important aspect of integration?

1. learning the German laws
2. learning the language
3. getting a job
4. making new friends

Germany have tried very hard to help the new arrivals integrate, some of the ways they have done this are:

Free language lessons

An internship in schools for the refugees who used to be teachers, so that they can work in German schools.

A lot of local organisations have sprung up to help the new arrivals feel at home more quickly.

However: 

Not everything went well.