Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think people move from one country or part of the world to another? List your reasons and give examples in history. Share this with us in the KidCom Who-Am-I? room.
2. What factors encourage people to leave a country for another?
3. What conditions encourage people to stay in a country?
4. Look at a map of the world and identify some places where people are leaving their homelands. What is the country where your ancestors came from? Have any of your relatives left their original homeland for another? Why did they move?
5. Do you think moving to another homeland involves sacrifices or hardships? What are some of the sacrifices that your ancestors might have made in order to move?
6. If any of your ancestors moved to another country what year did this move take place? What was happening in the world at that time?
7. What means of transportation did they take to get to their new home?
8. Have you ever been to the country where your ancestors lived? When did you go? Did you live there? Describe the place for us in the KidCom Who-Am-I? room and ask the other kids in our lesson to do the same.
9. Ask the other kids participating in this lesson where they think they would like to live, if they had a choice.
10. When families move to another country is it difficult to keep their national identity? In your school, are there students from other lands and cultures? Do they wear clothing that identifies their culture? Are they accepted by the other students?
11. Are students in your school encouraged to share their heritage and cultural richness? How do you and your friends benefit when kids from other cultures share their customs, language and festivals?
12. Do you ever feel that your culture is under attack? Do you feel that your culture is changing or losing its identity because it is assimilating elements from other cultures? Share these concerns and ask the other students in the KidCom Who-Am-I? room how they feel.
13. Is it easy for older students and families to find jobs when they arrive in a new country?
14. What songs do you sing in your country that are not in your native language but have come over to your country in their native form? Many students around the world can sing the words to "Frere Jacques" and "Alouette" though they are not French.

Classroom Activities

1. Divide your class into groups and brainstorm the reasons why people leave a country and why people want to stay in a country. Display your reasons on a chart in your classroom. Place flags on a world map to identify countries where a large number of people are leaving their homeland today. Identify countries where people want to go when they flee.
2. Zlata (10), who lived all throughout a war in Yugoslavia, told her story to kids on Kidlink. Arrange to meet other participants in this module to discuss her experiences.
3. Take a survey of the students in your classroom and find out how many have moved to your area from another city or country. Ask them how they were accepted when they arrived in their new home. Was it an easy transition? Graph the information you find. Share the results in the KidCom Who-Am-I? room.
4. Pretend that you are one of your ancestors who has moved to a far away country. Write a letter to one of your family members back "home" and tell about your journey. What means of travel did you take? How long was the trip? What hardships did you have to endure?
5. Are there holidays or festivals in your town that reflect the cultures of other people who have moved to your area? List and describe them for a bulletin board display.
6. Learn a dance, song or game from another culture and teach it to your classmates.
7. As you continue to work on your Family Tree gather as much information about each relative as you can. Try to include birthdate, place of birth, wedding date, children, their birthdates and deaths. Include remarriages of those who have been widowed or divorced. Start with your immediate family and continue back as far as you can gain information. You will need lots of help from your parents and any older living relatives.
8. Arrange to meet some of your friends on Kidlink's KidCom and talk about the most interesting things you have found out about your family. Maybe you have taken a trip to visit places where your family once lived.