My homelands – autobiographical narrations

Procedure:

One week in advance, the students receive an assignment to collect and bring to class a small portrait photo (or a drawing) of themselves, as well as various photos and group pictures of family members, friends and acquaintances.
At the beginning of the sequence, the students sit in a circle on the floor and receive an A3 size copy of a map of the world or Europe with the names of the countries on them. First, they affix their own photo to the actual place of residende on the map. Then, they must circle and label in color every country, city or other localities with which they have been in contact. Then, they connect their photo with a line in color with the circled countries and cities, respectively.
Working individually, they consider through which family member, and which persons they have contacts to this country or locality and then paste the corresponding photo on that location on the map.
As a last step, they remember a common experience with this person and write a sentence about it on the connecting line (e. g., celebrated birthday, received a present, helped with homework assignments, told stories, taught how to write, etc.). There should also be a space for negative occurrences. In such cases, the sentences begin with a minus sign.
In groups of four, the students tell each other their visualized migration biography and make comments about the various persons, places and events.
Closing evaluation by the whole class; questions and prompts:
- What does “homeland” mean for you? Where is it, why?
- What do you connect first and foremost with the notion of “homeland”? (place of residence, place of birth, family, friends, etc.)
- Did you list several places as your homeland? If yes, which ones and why?
- How important is it for you to feel at home in your place or residence (on a scale of 0–5)?
- What can you do so that the country where you currently residence becomes your homeland?
- Do you lose your cultural origin if your homeland is here as well?
Possible deeper analysis: interviews with various people about the topic of homeland.

My migration biography as my source of strength

In the past – today – tomorrow

Goal: The question of home country and personal identity is often difficult to answer for children and students with a migration background. In the exercise “my homelands”, the students show their migration-related geographical distribution of their relationships. Together with their autobiographical narrations, this will help them recognize how their migration biography was and is influenced by certain persons, locations and events. This exercise allows the students to creatively deal with the “homeland” theme.

Topic Information

45 - 90 minutes

4th – 6th grade 7th – 9th grade

Materials: individual portraits of the students, family pictures, photos of parents and family members, photos with relatives and friends, etc.; A3-copies of a world map (possibly only map of Europe).

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Explanations, abbreviations
First language	Also mother tongue or family language: the first language a child has learned and speaks at home. Some children have two first languages.
School language	The language that is spoken in the schools of the host country. In addition, the local dialect may count as an environment language.
Abbreviations	S: Student T: Teacher (instructor)

Legend for indications referencing organizational form, class, time requirements concerning teaching proposals:
	IW = Individual Work
	WP = Working with a partner
	SG = Small Groups
	WC = Whole Class
2nd – 4th grade	Suitable for... to... (e.g. 2nd – 4th grade). Keeping in mind that this designation may vary according to the requirements of the individual students.
20 minutes	Approximate time requirement, e.g. 20 minutes. (Estimated time varies, must be determined by the instructor according to the level and the requirements of the class).

2.4. My homelands – autobiographical narrations

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