Our Lady of Lourdes students learn about life as a refugee

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SALT LAKE CITY — World Refugee Day was created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 to raise awareness of the plight of those who have had to flee the horrors of war. Shortly before this year’s observance, Bishop Oscar A. Solis, wrote, “We look forward to World Refugee Day to celebrate the remarkable ability of millions of people worldwide who make new lives far from the comforts and familiarity of home.”

To raise the awareness of today’s refugee experience, second-grade students at Our Lady of Lourdes School have begun a journey into the refugee experience. They are acquiring knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the extreme hardships and determination of refugees around the world.  

“The stance and commitment of the Catholic Church regarding the refugee community has made me acutely aware of our Catholic schools’ responsibility for developing an awareness of this global problem among our students,” said Sue Patillo, the reading specialist at Lourdes. “I have long been aware of young children’s ability to learn about and embrace the complexities of other cultures resulting in the challenges facing all of us in the world today. Over the years, I have witnessed the power of children’s literature to teach these complexities in developmentally appropriate and exciting ways.”

Patillo chose Emily Sugg’s second-grade classroom to begin the students’ journey into the lives and experiences of refugees.

At the same time that the Refugee Experience curriculum was being developed, Principal Tina Bergquist began implementing a year-long professional development experience for the faculty. The model centers on teacher-learning communities and incorporates an approach that gradually releases responsibility of learning from teachers to students.

The model is effective for student learning, and the faculty’s study groups are exploring the most current and research-based materials, Bergquist said. “When teachers provide excellent instruction, their students will experience curriculum in a way that results in the deep learning that can be applied to everything they do. As a community of professional educators, we can strengthen our own teaching through reflection, sharing, and supporting growth in each other. Mrs. Patillo and Ms. Sugg have demonstrated this level of professionalism by sharing their resources, time and knowledge with our students.”    

Sugg is combining the explicit instructional model with a unique curriculum based on the difficulties facing refugees forced to flee their homes, the difficult journeys they must take, and the obstacles and joys of starting life in a new country.

With a multidisciplinary approach, “I can infuse the content with language arts, social studies, writing, and religion to give my students multiple viewpoints and explanations of the topic,” Sugg said. “It is important for children, especially at this age, to begin developing compassion and an understanding of people who are different from them. They work together as I read books that have been written about refugee children and their families. I watch as these small children begin to relate to and empathize with children who are facing the hardships of war and the need to find new homes and peace in other countries. I know that my students will grow into empathetic, understanding, incredible adults.”  

Through the literature that they experience, the Our Lady of Lourdes second-graders work together to understand and relate to the refugee experience, to learn the elements of fictional and informational text, and to write in both genres.

Bishop Solis reminds us that, “As we care for these strangers in our midst, our own lives are often enriched.”  The lives of the second-graders at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School are being enriched by a curriculum depicting the refugee experience that will arm them with the knowledge and determination to change their world.

Courtesy of Our Lady of Lourdes School