III. How to talk about (climate) migrants in the classroom

There are many preconceptions about migration in general, and the language used to talk about migrants, particularly in the media, with notions like “waves” or “invasions,” can be dehumanizing. Migrants are often victims of stigma and discrimination, regardless of their reason for resettlement1.

The United Nations Refugee Agency has published a toolkit with recommendations for teachers who would like to address the issue of forced displacement in all its complexity in their classroom2. The documents provided highlight the importance of the words we use to talk about migrants. Although climate migration is not specifically addressed, the toolkit can be a useful reference.

Learn More

  1.  QPHRN. Online Minicourse – Climate Change, Health, and Migration. See François Crépeau’s videos in Module 1, as well as the contents of Modules 3 and 4. https://climigrant.org/formation/en/courses/module-access/. 
  2.  UNHCR. Teaching about Refugees. https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/build-better-futures/education/teaching-about-refugees.