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Refugee Stories Are Just the Beginning: How Fiction Opens Children's Minds

a practical article on the role of the TL to provide quality and diverse resources to support classroom programs. The topic and literature focus is on the US refugee experience but the application of this approach is relevant to all.

The Boat', an interactive graphic novel about escape after the Vietnam War. Based on the story by Nam Le, adapted by Matt Huynh. Cleverly designed, sound effects with enhanced navigation for reading, presented in black and white. Aimed at upper primary and above and supports studies on refugees, boat people, survival and immigration.

At the secondary level, wellbeing is taught to groups of 12 students in four 50-minute coaching sessions each week. They meet three times as a group, and on Fridays, that time is used for one-on-one coaching sessions. They explore topics like bullying, identity, and race through grounding texts such as Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah, and even picture books, like Sailing Boats in the Sky by Quentin Blake.

"The concern goes beyond tertiary studies. We conducted a project exploring secondary school teachers' engagement with Australian texts. We found Australian books are not consistently taught in classrooms and, when they are, they more often than not marginalise female, refugee and Indigenous authors. "