Communicative strategy: 

In my research, I found that a vast percentage of refugees are children between the ages of 5–17 and predominantly boys (approximately 4 boys to every 1 girl). Due to the high percentage of children, I decided to make them the focus of my project). In my research, I found that Syrian refugees are comprised of a large Christian population. In following up on this information I found that the majority of these are Arab Christians (Arabs of the Christian faith who are mostly descendants from ancient Arab Christian clans that never converted to Islam). Additionally, the refugees coming from South America are overwhelmingly Catholic, and these large numbers lead me to focus my efforts on refugee children of the Christian Faith. Being that 2/3 of refugees in the world come from Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia, I knew that I needed to include translations into Arabic. But, considering the large trend of refugees from South American countries, I thought that including Spanish would also be useful. My design aims to be a hand-out packet that can be provided to children all over the world, not just one location specifically. Because refugees can come from anywhere, having a broad audience in mind can help the relatability and effectiveness of this as a tool.The initial idea for this packet was to be a small booklet containing a story or multiple stories that have words selected from them that can be used in translation, helping children to communicate with others around them through word cards. In my research, I found that children learn best through stories and images. Having a connection to these words and context provides more information to a child than simply giving a word and definition. And illustrations can help children visualize their meaning, developing a deeper understanding.Originally, the stories that I decided on were going to include 5 short retellings from the Bible (particularly Genesis), but after further development I decided to work with the story of Exodus, divided into three key parts. Exodus is the story of refugees, the Jews being delivered from enslavement in Egypt, and the tale of escape, migration, and survival may not only be relatable but also hopeful and inspiring to children under these circumstances.

The story works as a counite for helpful words. Those words can be picked out of the story and seen on flash cards to help them rearrange and make their own, constructive sentences in order to communicate with an adult, authority figure, or new friend who speaks a different language.Ultimately, it works as a form of entertainment, a tool for education, and a means of communication.Ideally, I would like for there to be multiple versions of this packet with different stories or with variations on the languages, but for the purposes of this project, we have made the initial story in English, with the translations being in Arabic and Spanish. These can be given out to Children upon arrival to a safe location and can continue to be a useful tool for these children in any environment they go to and even as they adapt into a new culture and society.