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Unit 9: Contemporary America

Contemporary Immigration Through Historical Senses

by Mark Dillon

 

Grade level – High School

Discipline - English (9th grade) / Advanced ESL

Lesson Abstract

An investigation of historical immigration and a comparison with contemporary immigration.

 

Overview:

Contemporary Immigration Through Historical Senses is a series of three lesson plans designed to show contemporary immigrant students that the history of immigration in the United States is not a new topic, nor is it a simple topic. The lesson plans are designed to be used with ESL students at the intermediate high and intermediate low English language level and for English I as defined by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.  The lesson plans are designed to work with historical documents, modern technology, and corridos to show immigration trends throughout the history of the United States. Primary source examples from early Latino immigration, Asian Immigration, Irish Immigration, German immigration and other immigrations will be used to illustrate the lesson plans.  As these lesson plans are designed primarily for language arts courses there will be a focus on language arts skills including; listening, speaking, writing, and reading.   The lesson plan will also provide extension materials including, novel, short story, editorial, and poetry.

History:

The corrido is defined as a popular narrative song and poetry form that started in Northern Mexico and the Southern United States.  The key themes of the corridos are community and people.  Corridos are almost exclusively sung in Spanish but they have migrated through the Americas along with their listeners.  Current corridos often deal with the immigrants (migra-corridos), and the darker elements, including, drug-runners (narco-corridos). The study of corridos can be a valuable in seeing how immigrants have historically felt about their situation.  Even though corridos are sung in Spanish they can be valuable tools to show how cultures can blend together. Corridos are in fact a combination of many cultures including, Mestizo, German, American and Spanish.  For further information on the history of corridos review the Smithsonian website listed in resources.

 

The Big Picture:

  • Immigration has a long history in the United States.
  • Immigration is a complicated multi-faceted topic.
  • Through art and literature, we can share the experiences of the past.
  • Writing corridos is not exclusive to famous people and is a valid form of self-expression.

Nuts and Bolts:

Each Lesson is set up for one 90-minute block schedule class, with the ability (and likelihood) that it could be extended into two ninety-minute block classes depending on specific needs and level of the student.

 

Essential Questions:

  • Lesson 1 -  Is immigration in the United States a new topic?
  • Lesson 2 - What is the history of immigration in the United States? Who were the immigrants? How have attitudes towards immigrant changed?
  • Lesson 3  - What are corridos?  Why do we use them?  Can you write a corrido?

Lesson 1: Immigration in the United States

Overview:

This lesson will address North Carolina standards for Intermediate Low/  Intermediate High ESL as well as English 1 standards 1.01, 1.02, 5.01, 5.02,  4.03, 3.01, 3.02. 3.03, 3.04.  The lesson is aimed for ESL level III students but will function for English I students.  This lesson is designed to bring to the forefront the idea that immigration is rooted in American history and that the current wave of immigration is a continuation of this  idea.  Through the song Thousands are Coming to Amerikay (VAT 5.69), Chinese Poem #69, and the corrido El Deportado students will learn  that immigration is a topic that has spanned not only different nationalities but also different times in America history.

 

Activating Prior Knowledge:

During initial questioning, leave answers open-ended.  Through investigation let students find their own answers.

  1. Who were the first immigrants to the Americas? Depends on perspective?  Native Americans “immigrated”.  Europeans immigrated starting in 1500’s.  In an interesting way we are all immigrants.
  2. Who were some of the first immigrants to what is now considered the United States? English, Germans, Irish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Scottish, Mexicano (mention that in 1800’s border moved across them)
  3. Is the current discussion about immigration new? No, immigration has been a often discussed topic in the past.
  4. How have immigrants been treated throughout History? They have often been treated with mistrust and disregard.
 

Activities:

Use "Thousands are Sailing to Amerikay" with a copy of the lyrics (VAT 5.69).  It may be worthwhile to temporarily change title of "Thousands are Coming to Amerikay" and remove any reference to country and date of song before playing the song.  Ask some cursory questions about this song

 
  1. Who would perform this song?
  2. When do you think that this song was performed?

Play the song as recorded.  Ask the same questions as listed above as well as some follow up questions.

  1. How has the perception of the students changed?
  2. Could the experiences of the past be superimposed on the experiences of the future? 
  3. Are the experiences of the Irish in immigration similar to current immigration? 

 

Play the song "El Deportado" and distribute lyrics in English.  Discuss the similarities and the differences between the immigrant experiences.  Use a Venn diagram (double bubble) to show the differences and similarities between the two immigration experiences.  As a follow-up show and play the primary source poem of Chinese Poem #69, to show further similarities between immigrant experiences.

 

 

Writing extension

Put yourself in the position of a new immigrant (in an inclusion classroom this will help take pressure off of immigrant students).  Write a letter home describing your experiences as a new immigrant.  What are things that you like about the United States what are your dislikes?

 

Reading Extension:

Use short collection of first person accounts from Stories of the Past  website for students to investigate different historical experiences. This is also an ideal introduction to the first person narrative style as used in the memoir.

 

Listening:

Use United Streaming (if available) Dear America: So Far from Home: The Story of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell As an added bonus you can use this to discuss dialect in.  Why do the characters in this video talk “funny”?  What is dialect?

 

Speaking:

Students will use the Stories of the Past first person historical accounts as a read aloud exercise.  Make sure that there is proper time for preparation and that each student has the opportunity to practice on teacher or assistant to correct pronunciation and punctuation pauses.  Students should work to use clear and consistent pronunciation. 

 

Assessment:

The lesson will be discussed in a classroom setting.  A written grade should be given for the Venn diagram.  The Venn diagram will be assessed using a rubric.

 

Resources:

Recordings

"Thousands are Coming to Amerikay"  - sound recording - Dick Gaughan and Andy Irvine. Parallel Lines. 17 June 1997.   available on Itunes.

"El Deportado"  - sound recording - Various Artists. First Recording of Historic Mexican American Ballads (1928 -1937). 1 Jan. 1994. Arhoolie Records. Available on Itunes

 

Segue:

The Second lesson does not necessarily need to be directly connected with the first lesson.  One convenient segue would be to introduce the idea of editorial cartoons (opinion), and then express a truly outrageous opinion, once students are finished objecting discuss what an opinion is and how people can express opinion.  Explain that we will be learning facts of historical immigration and opinions of historical immigration.

Lesson 2 Who Were the Immigrants

Overview:

This lesson will address North Carolina standards for Intermediate Low/ Intermediate High ESL as well as English I standards 2.01, 3.01, 3.02, 5.01, 5.02.  Once again, the lesson is directly tied to the ESL level III curriculum but can be easily modified to be used in the English I classroom.  This lesson will be used in the investigation of fact versus opinion. This lesson is also designed to have a public presentation component as ESL students often lack the opportunity to practice spoken English. It is also designed to build on the previously lesson idea that immigration has a long history in the United States as well as the rest of the world.  Students will use the Immigrants: The Living Mosaic of People, Culture, and Hope website as source material for investigation.

 

Activate prior knowledge:

A short review of the previous lesson should bring students up to speed on this lesson. Some questions of prior knowledge to ask are:

  • Are all immigrants to the United States only from one country? What are some of the countries that you can think of where immigrants came from?
  • What were some of the similar experiences that immigrants we’ve looked at have shared?
  • How long has immigration been happening in the Americas?
  • What is an opinion?  What is the opposite of an opinion?
  • What is an editorial cartoon and where would you find it?

Activities:

Using the Immigrants website and technology lab, divide students into 8 groups. Each group will be responsible for reporting on one immigrant group.  If in an ESL class divide students so that students with stronger language skills are with weaker students and if in inclusion English classroom try to have at least one native speaker in each group.  Assign one of each immigrant groups to a group of students.  Students should investigate the immigrant group and write a 1-2 paragraph description of the immigrant group.  The paragraph should consider the following questions. 

  • What were the years that this immigrant group primarily immigrated?
  • What was the push / pull factor that caused this group to come to the United States in such great numbers?
  • How was this group’s immigration experience similar / different from current immigration trends?
  • How was this group of immigrants greeted by the United States?

After investigation and writing, the small group of students should orally present their findings to the class as a whole.   On a white board or similar media draw out the similarities and the differences?  See if the class as a whole can find what is fairly universal about immigration and what is variable.  Once again the focus of this lesson is on how immigration has a long history in the United States. 

 

The second activity tied directly to this activity would be to investigate stereotypes of immigration using primary resources including political cartoons, sheet music covers, music, and other examples of racial stereotyping.  How are opinions portrayed through historical documents, particularly editorial documents? Students can either investigate using predefined web-links, or teacher can lead student through recommended web-links. Links for historical material containing editorials and examples of racial stereotyping are available in the listed resource materials.

 

Reading:

The young adult novel Esperanza Rising is an ideal tie into this lesson as well as lesson three.  This book discusses immigrant stereotyping of not only immigrants but also migrants moving within the United States, a factor that many students don’t take into account.

 

Listening:

The song "No Irish Need Apply" (VAT 5.19) shows the racial stereotyping that was applied to the Irish during the mid to late 1800’s.  An appropriate exercise would be to have the students listen to the song and document what they are hearing. How are the Irish portrayed in the song?  How does the Irishman react to the stereotyping?  

             

  

Writing:

This would be an opportunity to have students write about contemporary racial stereotyping.  What kind of stereotyping do we see in modern media? Find a modern editorial cartoon and reflect on how immigration is presented now.

 

Speaking:

Students may present their two-paragraph summary of selected immigration groups.  Students should make sure that they answer the questions listed above.

 

Resources:

Websites

Recordings

No Irish Need Apply - Pete Seeger. American Favorite Ballads Vol. 3. Rec. 1 July 2004.

Available on Itunes

 

Books

Ryan, Pam M. Esperanza Rising. 4th ed. New York: Scholastic, 2000.

Lesson3: The Corrido in the United States

Overview:

This lesson is designed to address North Carolina Standard course of Study standards 6.01, 6.02, 2.03, 2.04. The facet of this lesson is to tie the past two lessons into contemporary times.  Migracorridos literally translates as Immigrant Songs.  This lesson is designed to show the history of corridos and join them together in historical context.  Using elements of poetry the students will be able to write a corrido of their own.  The corrido will be written in English although several of the presented corridos are bilingual.

 

Activating Prior Knowledge:

Connection to previous lesson, a strong connection for this lesson would be to use the young adult novel Esperanza Rising to tie in the immigration issue with corridos.

The teacher should assess the students on their prior knowledge of corridos using some general discussion questions.

  1. What is a corrido?  A song.  Ok, but exactly what kind of song is it? A narrative ballad that use the theme of people and communities
  2. Why would people write and perform corridos? Some do it to tell a story, some for commission, some for fame, some for news
  3. What instruments are historically used in most corridos? Vocal, Bajo Sexto (12 string acoustic bass guitar), accordion)
  4. Why do some corridos sound so much like polka music? Because they are polkas, Germans had a large influence in south Texas / North Mexico, bringing with them the polka and the accordion.

Activities:

As a class lead the student to Corridos sin Fronteras, the Smithsonian website about corridos.  Direct the class through the history timeline (in English) and discuss what exactly a corrido is and what the history of the corrido is.   Using the timeline go through several of the musical selections, following the English lyrics (it may be helpful to have English only lyrics on overhead as the Smithsonian website shows both English and Spanish.   After you have finished discussing the history of corridos the students are going to write a corrido of their own.  The write your own corrido section is fairly self-explanatory but it is important to remember that this corrido should be written in English using rhyme, rhythm and a narrative style.  The teacher should try and model writing the corrido.  You can also discuss the previous songs of immigration and compare them to the corridos to find the similarities and the differences.

Assessment:

The student’s should based on the required Corrido.  The assessment will look at grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.  Further assessments could be based on basic information garnered from the history of the corrido.  A few basic questions to ask would be:

  • Where do corridos historically come form?
  • What are the themes of corridos?
  • What role did women play in corridos?
  • What cultures have influenced the corrido?

Reading Extension:

A novel extension of the corridos would be John Steinbeck’s The Pearl as it shares many of the same themes of the migra-corridos. 

 

Listening Extensions:

Find some more songs of immigrant experiences in English and compare them to migracorridos.  Ask students to find common themes that run through both songs.  This is also an opportunity to play the NPR Corridos available on their website.

 

Speaking Extension:

The obvious solution to the speaking component would be to have the students perform their corridos in English.  If you choose to do this you should give time for preparation of English lyrics and practice time.

 

Resources:

Websites            

DVDs

Chulas Fronteras. Dir. Les Blank. DVD. Arhoolie, 2003.  – A wonderful two-part video that depicts Norteño culture in the 1970s.  Chapter 2 and 4 of the video show Latino-Americans discussing what it means to be an American born Latino.  Chapter 4 also shows the traditional instrumentation of the corrido ensemble.

Recordings

Borderlands - Smithsonian / Folkways, 1993. – A recorded collection corridos that document the history of corridos in Southern Texas and Northern Mexico from the 1910s – the 1970s.  The liner notes are well worth the price as they are an excellent companion to the Smithsonian website