Tasks: Migration to the West

Åpne bilde i et nytt vindu

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Bilde: Marko Djurica

1. Why is it so important for immigrants to learn the language of their new country?
   
2. What is the difference between a mother tongue and a language that you learn as a lingua franca? How are they used differently?
   
3. What is good and what is bad about moving to a different country? List your expectations, and compare and discuss them with a partner.
   
4. Imagine that you are moving to a different country. Which personal belongings would you bring along? List the most important items. Compare your list to your partner’s and discuss your choices.
   
5. Imagine that you have lived in your new homeland for three years. Discuss if the statements in the box would be true for you or not.

Choose one of the tasks and write a longer text.

1. Imagine that you are an immigrant, and you have lived for three years in a new country. Write a letter to your family back home, telling them about your life. Use your answers in the discussion tasks above as a starting point.
   
2. Search for pictures on immigration on the Internet. Present three of them, and explain how they convey themes of hope, affluence, possibilities, fear, human rights, freedom, dreams, change etc.
   
3. After three years in your new country, you have become quite a prominent blogger on immigrant issues. Write at least three entries proving your position as the most widely read blogger on these issues. Give your blog a suitable name.
   

Pick one of the tasks and make a presentation that lasts 8 - 10 minutes.

1. Search for pictures on immigration on the internet. Present three of them and explain how they convey such themes as hope, affluence, possibilities, fear, human rights, freedom, dreams, change etc.
   
2. Research how someone from Norway can immigrate to the United States, and make a presentation on the topic.
   
3. Research how someone from an African country can immigrate to the United States, and make a presentation on the topic.
   

Use various internet sites to find statistics on the population development in Western countries in recent years. Decide on three countries to do research on. Look for trends, changes and significant shifts in the populations in your research. Make sure you state your sources, especially whenever you find contradictory figures and facts. Present your findings in a written report or as an oral presentation. Some useful search queries: European Union, population, demographics, fertility, birth rates, statistics.

You may find these sources useful:

• Wikipedia: Demographics of the European Union
• Migration Policy Institute's statistics on immigration to the USA.
• Migration and migrant population statistics
• Statistics on migration to Europe

Today, there are almost 80 million people in the world who are forcibly displaced, and the UN's refugee agency reports that the number of displaced people is at its highest ever, surpassing even post-World War 2 numbers. In 2015, Europe felt the impact of this surge, when more than a million people crossed into Europe in just one year. Use various sources to find out more about this crisis. Ask yourself questions such as: Where did the refugees come from? What was their motivation for leaving their homes? How did they arrive in Europe? How were they received by the various states? Which other regions in the world were affected by the flow of immigrants? Present your findings in a written report or an oral presentation.

You may find these sources useful:

• You tube video about Global Refugee flows 2000-2016.
• The UN Refugee Agency's website: overview of displaced people.
• The UN Refugee Agency's website: global trends from 2019.
• The UN Refugee Agency's website: migration by sea.
  

Answer the multiple choice questions below.