Paul Salopek, his walking partners, and other collaborators have collected many stories of migration along the Out of Eden Walk. The following stories show some of the different perspectives on migration they have encountered.

The articles, regular dispatches that Paul writes throughout the journey, are available at fifth- and eighth-grade reading levels, as well as in their original form. There are also multimedia resources from the walk: “milestones” are snapshots Paul records every 100 miles on the trek. These contain videos, panoramic photographs, and brief interviews with the first person he encounters at each location. Walking tours include interactive maps with photos and narration that guide readers through key locations along the route. Consider assigning different articles to groups of students in your class for analysis and discussion. Students can also locate the regions Paul and his walking partners visit using National Geographic Mapmaker. Other cooperative learning activities such as stations and jigsaw would also work well for exploring these resources (more specific activities and tools are included in the next section).

• The Things They Leave Behind: (article) Migrant workers, refugees, and deserters travel through the Rift Valley to reach Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. The harsh desert path is exhausting and dangerous.
• Tomatoes: (article) Paul visits with refugees from the Syrian war in Jordan, who work as tomato pickers. They share stories of their journey and the homes they left behind.
• Displaced: (milestone) In this multimedia milestone, we see the tents of refugees from Syria who are living in Jordan and picking tomatoes.
• Walking Through a Youthful Exodus in India: (article) In the Punjab region of Northern India, numerous young people are taking English lessons. Many are leaving the area to seek opportunities in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom.
• Walking Kolata: (walking tour) In this virtual walking tour, Paul’s walk takes him through neighborhoods in Kolkata, a major city in eastern India. Paul encounters current migrants living in the city and evidence of migrations from the city’s long history.
• Walking the World for 10 Years, a Storyteller Ponders the Upsides of Nomadism in an Age of Drastic Change: (article) Paul details the global importance and benefits of migration, despite the poor treatment many often experience in their new homes.
• On the Walking Trail, a Young Man Ponders His Divided Identity: (article) A young man who grew up in China and the United States reflects upon how his upbringing shaped his identity.
• Adjusting to New Lives, Kids Bond over Stories of Home and Hope: (lab talk) Through the HomeStories project, immigrant families from various countries come together to share stories about home and adjusting to life in the United States. They answer the same three questions that Paul asks the first person he sees every hundred miles on his journey. Note: This is the original article; text is not leveled. You can also access the Homestories project here.
• Leaving the Farm: In this chapter of the Out of Eden Walk podcast, Paul Salopek and walking partner Arati Kumar-Rao recall meeting young people in Punjab, India who planned to seek their futures far from home.

As your students explore the Out of Eden Walk, use the Learning Tools below to look more closely at what these stories can reveal about human migration.

• Use the See, Think, Wonder Learning Tool with the “Displaced” milestone, a location from the “Walking Kolkata” walking tour, or a striking image from one of the articles. You may want to assign different images to different student groups, then have groups share. Collect student questions and categorize them to identify topics for more exploration.
• Break students into small groups, assigning each group an article to read - or a podcast segment to listen to - and discuss. Have students use the Save the Last Word for Me discussion protocol from the Conducting Powerful Conversations Learning Tool to examine the resource closely. As they read or listen, ask them to choose their passage based on what it shows about how humans experience migration.
• Conduct a structured group discussion with your students to analyze the links between stories. Use the Socratic Seminar format from the Conducting Powerful Conversations Learning Tool to help students think critically about and make connections between the varied stories of human migration from the Out of Eden Walk and other resources you may be using in your classroom. Use the guiding questions below to begin the discussion. Encourage students to speak to each other and use examples from their texts:
  • What was the most surprising thing you learned from these stories? Why did that surprise you?
  • What are some of the similarities between the stories of migration we have seen? What are some of the differences?
  • How would you describe the role push factors play in these stories? How would you describe the role of pull factors?
  • How have the stories of migrants in the Out of Eden Walk changed the way you think about migration in our community? Why has this changed?

You may want to “fishbowl” your classroom discussions to allow smaller groups to discuss while the larger group observes. See the Learning Tool for more details on this practice.