3.4 Your first apartment
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In this section of the game the user gets to meet their new neighbours and familiarize themselves with how they view social roles. The relationships one has with neighbours and co-workers can vary from culture to culture. When people from different cultures meet, it raises questions that we need to be able to answer in order to understand each other.
Ask students to read interviews on the web facts where refugees talk about their early experiences in their country of asylum, as well as the article that explains what kind of help a refugee can receive when looking for their first apartment.
Goal:To generate understanding about how a refugee may tackle the housing market in their new country.
In pairs, ask students to discuss what one needs to consider when setting out to live alone (i.e. move out from the parental home) for the first time, e.g. costs for decorating, buying appliances, getting a telephone, sorting out house insurance etc.
Ask the students to talk about the differences between the challenges they might face when looking for their first independent flat or house, and those faced by a refugee arriving empty-handed having to move into their new home. For example, students may be able to get furniture and appliances from family and relatives, or may have enough savings to decorate their first home before too long.
Goal: To generate understanding of the how requirements for themselves and for refugees can differ.
Split the class into groups of three. Groups should discuss amongst themselves what it is like to arrive in a new country, learn the language, be away from family and friends and form a new living environment. Then ask students to write a letter to an imaginary friend who they have left back home to tell them about their new life.
Discuss with the class what students think they can do as a neighbour, colleague or fellow classmate in order to make refugees feel more welcome.
Goal: To give pupils insight into what it is like to feel alone and to have to build your life again from scratch.
Ask the class to draw a demographic map of their local area and discuss whether they can identify different areas where different groups, e.g. manual or semi-skilled workers, immigrants, civil servants, etc live. If so, why do students think the distribution looks the way it does? Why would certain groups ‘choose’ to live in a certain areas? Do they ‘choose’ or are they allocated housing in these areas?
Discuss the reasons why we live where we live, be it economic, social or political reasons. Are students happy with the area they live in? Sometimes status and economic factors lead to segregation and alienation, sometimes we search for areas where people who we can identify with also live so that we can feel a sense of belonging and social communion.
To conclude, ask the class to make a plan of action suggesting ways to increase integration and a sense of community between different residential areas.
Goal: To encourage students to use different perspectives to think about what a society can do to increase integration between groups.