Immigration
THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA:
Your students will role-play the life of an immigrant
early in the twentieth century. They will create diary
entries in the first person, telling your class what
reasons led them to emigrate from their home country,
what their journey was like, how they found their new
home, etc. Consider allowing students to work in groups
to create a script and produce a play based on several
characters coming to America together.
FAMILY HISTORIES:
To fully understand that America is a nation of immi-
grants, students must research their own backgrounds
and family histories to find out how their ancestors
first came to the United States. Interviews, documents,
and written reports are required.
IMMIGRANT BIOGRAPHIES:
Students will read online stories of immigrants who
made significant contributions to the United States,
from Madeleine Albright to Mikhail Barishnykov. They
will then write a short biography on a chosen person,
and try to find collective qualities that made these
immigrants successful.
AN INTERACTIVE TOUR OF ELLIS ISLAND:
Audio, video, and photos are available to complement
this journey back in time to Ellis Island. Enter the
Great Hall and learn what tests immigrants had to pass
in order to become American citizens.
AMERICA, HERE I COME:
After completing online research to learn what it was
like to be an immigrant in the early twentieth century,
leaving behind your homeland and coming to America, stu-
dents will work in groups to create a multimedia presen-
tation, a dramatic work, or a Reader's Theater script
to retell the experience and history of either fiction-
al or real immigrants coming to the land of dreams. Use
the 2nd and 3rd URLs above for further student research
resources.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Using a demographics chart on immigration, students
will respond to five main categories. In completing
these exercises, they will better understand the flows
of immigration, and offer reasons why families would
leave their countries to travel to a new land.
IMMIGRATION -- PROMISE OR PROBLEM?
Your students, as newly admitted United States Senators,
must write a well-founded immigration policy for America.
They will take their position papers to a Senate floor
debate (policy is included) to see whether immigration
doors are open, or whether policy should now be written
to restrict admittance.
U.S. PLACE NAMES AND IMMIGRATION:
Where did our cities and rivers and villages get their
names from? Very many have their origins in the "Old
World". Students will analyze road maps to find place
names in their area that they can associate with Euro-
pean and Native American origins, and then complete the
printable word search on United States place names.
| 
