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Heywire: Razia's refuge

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Two teenage girls smile
Heywire: Razia's refuge

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


Australia welcomes thousands of refugees from around the world every year, and Razia Gharibi is one of them.

Her Heywire audio story about a journey from Afghanistan to Shepparton provides a personal perspective on Australia's refugee program. You could consider it in any discussion about whether or not Australia should increase its official refugee intake.

Could you write or record a similar story about yourself and/or your community?

The ABC's Heywire competition calls for stories from 16-22 year olds in regional Australia. Enter to get your story featured on the ABC and score an all-expenses-paid trip to the Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra. More: https://www.abc.net.au/heywire/


Things to think about

  1. 1.Revise or investigate persuasive writing techniques, such as rhetorical questions, rule of three, inclusive language, repetition, evidence and emotive language. Can you add any others to this list? What about knowing and dealing with opposing arguments? Brainstorm this topic: 'Australia should increase its official intake of refugees'.
  2. 2.Identify the difficulties Razia experienced in Pakistan. How did she feel about coming to Australia? What challenges did Razia encounter at school in Australia? How did she overcome these? How does Razia feel about being in Australia today? What does she hope to do in the future? Who would this benefit?
  3. 3.Use the following outline to write your persuasive text. Introduction: indicate whether you think Australia should increase its official intake of refugees. Main body: in separate paragraphs identify at least two or three arguments for your opinion and one against it. Use Razia's story as support for one of these points. Conclusion: Sum up your argument clearly and leave your reader with a strong indication of your opinion.
  4. 4.Proofread and edit your text. Make sure you have written in complete sentences, that you have used a new paragraph for each new idea, effectively answered an opposing point of view, supported your opinions with reasons/evidence, and used some persuasive language techniques. Check your spelling and punctuation too. These are the kinds of things that contribute to a successful persuasive text.



Date of broadcast: 31 May 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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