How Does Migration Change Culture?
A Classroom Activity and Explanatory Performance Task
for 9th grade Geography
Written by:
Kimberly Statham
Caesar Rodney School District
Acknowledgements: Ms. Denise Weiner, Private Consultant in collaboration with the University of Delaware’s Professional Development Center for Educators
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Classroom Activity
The Classroom Activity introduces students to the context of a performance task, so they are not disadvantaged in demonstrating the skills the task intends to assess. Contextual elements include: an understanding of the setting or situation in which the task is placed, potentially unfamiliar concepts that are associated with the scenario; and key terms or vocabulary students will need to understand in order to meaningfully engage with and complete the performance task. The Classroom Activity is also intended to generate student interest in further exploration of key idea(s). The Classroom Activity should be easy to implement with clear instructions.
Please read through the entire Classroom Activity before beginning the activity with students to ensure any classroom preparation can be completed in advance.
Throughout the activity it is permissible to pause and ask students if they have any questions.
Resources Needed:
* Chart paper, whiteboard, or a chalkboard
* Markers or chalk
Learning Goal:
* Students will understand the context of the key concepts related to the topic:
- Both push factors and pull factors influence migration & where people tend to settle.
Note: Definitions are provided here for the convenience of the facilitator. Students are expected to understand these key terms in the context of the task, not memorize the definitions.
People on the Move Classroom Activity
Purpose: The facilitator’s goal is to introduce or reinforce key terms and concepts that students will need to be familiar with to successfully complete the performance task.
Before the students enter the room, write the following questions on the board: How many people have moved at some point in their lives? Why did you move? Where did you go? Why did your parents or guardians chose that location?
Facilitator: Once all students have arrived say: “Today, in preparation for your performance task, we are going to have a discussion about reasons people move and why they decide to settle in specific locations.” Then read the questions out loud.
Survey the classroom to see how many students have moved. Follow this up by asking students to share reasons why they moved. As they share the reasons record those on the board. Responses might include “my dad/mom got a new job, the military issued new orders which included a relocation, my dad/mom bought a new house, etc.”
Facilitator says: “Which of these reasons shows that the family moved to a new location due to an opportunity that ‘pulled’ them to that new location?Pull factors are the reasons people would be attracted to a particular place.” Create a T-chart and list the reasons that would be considered pull factors. List these on the side of the T-chart labeled pull factors.
When the issue of job opportunities is discussed, ask the students: “Why might people settle in different regions depending upon their levels of education? What types of jobs would draw people to urban areas or cities, which are often called ‘metropolitan areas?’ What types of jobs would draw people to the suburban or rural areas? How might a person’s level of education influence their economic opportunities?” Create a second chart to highlight this.
Region / Jobs & Education RequiredUrban/Metropolitan / *doctors (doctorate degree)
*lawyers (law degree/graduate degree)
* corporate executives (master’s degree or higher)
* teachers (bachelor’s degree or higher)
Suburban or Rural / * farm laborer (no college degree required)
*shopkeepers (no college degree required)
* teachers (bachelor’s degree or higher)
Facilitator says: “Are any of these reasons due to negative reasons leading people to want to leave where they were originally from? These would be called ‘push’ factors.’Push factors are reasons a person wants to leave town.” List these on the T-chart labeled push factors.
Facilitator says: “Out of those of you who shared information about your move, how many of you moved within the United States? Did any of you move to the United States from another country?” If there are any students who did, ask the students if they would like to share their story and then categorize their family’s motive as either a push or pull factor. If no students moved into the country, ask “Why might people move to the United States from other countries?” Add those reasons to the chart.
Sample answers might include:
Push Factors / Pull FactorsNatural disaster
Crime
Unemployment
Poverty
Drought
Crop Failure
Lack of services
Pollution
Remoteness from family
Climate issues like too much snow/cold
War
Political instability - Political Refugee
Lack of Religious Freedom / Employment opportunities
Educational opportunities
Improved living conditions
Friends and family
Political stability
Fertile Land
Greater Wealth: higher wages/salary
Safer atmosphere
Less risk of natural disasters
More attractive climate
Religious Tolerance
* Note: Be sure to include the term political refugee in discussing push factors.
Facilitator says: “You will learn more about specific immigrant groups coming to the United States, including push factors which influenced why they left their country or origin and pull factors which influenced why they settled in particular regions. You are now ready to complete your performance task.”
MODERN AMERICAN IMMIGRATION PERFORMANCE TASK
Task: Over the course of the last fifty years American immigration has changed significantly and has created many changes to the American culture, economy, and landscape. Regions throughout the United States are experiencing waves of immigrants arriving for a variety of reasons. The issue of these changes is a topic that is influencing government services at all levels: local, state, and national. As an American economic development researcher you have uncovered five sources related to regional differences.
After you have reviewed these sources, you will answer some questions about them. Briefly scan the sources and the three questions that follow. Then, go back and read the sources carefully so you will have the information you will need to answer the questions and finalize your research.
In Part 2, you will write an explanatory essay on a topic related to the sources.
Directions for Beginning:
You will now examine several sources. You can re-examine any of the sources as often as you like.
Research Questions:
After examining the research sources, use the remaining time in Part 1 to answer three questions about them. Your answers to these questions will be scored. Also, your answers will help you think about the research sources you have read and looked at, which should help you write your explanatory essay.
You may refer back to your scratch paper to look at your notes when you think it will be helpful. Answer the questions in the space provided.
Part 1 - Sources for Performance Task:
SOURCE 1
GROWING PAINS: MULTICULTURAL EXPLOSION RATTLES RESIDENTS
By Marisol Bello and Paul Overberg, USA Today
November 10, 2014
"...The three fast-growing Virginia counties nestles near the nation's capital - Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William - are at the leading edge of a diversity explosion sweeping the USA. Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics and Asians moved to the area since the 1990s and account for 32% of the 1.8 million people in the three counties, triple the number in 1990. Blacks account for another 12%, and multirace residents, 1%...
On the plus side, multiethnic families are boosting the regional economy by buying homes, opening businesses and shopping locally. They bring a richness of language, tradition and food that are evident in local shopping centers where African futu -pounded yams, cassava or plaintains - can be had alongside Salvadoran pupusas - corn or rice tortillas stuffed with cheese, meat and beans - and Vietnamese pho - a noodle soup...
The diversity boom here started in earnest in the 1980s when conflicts abroad, from civil war in El Salvador to a Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, led a wave of immigrants to the USA. The number of foreign-born residents in Northern Virginia rose from 177,000 in 1990 to 463,000 in 2010 - 27% of the region's population.
And many of them are highly educated minorities, particularly Asians. Almost 10% of adults in the three counties speak an Asian language at home and have at least a bachelor's degree and, in many cases, a high-paying job.
And those 'highly educated, high-paying jobs also bring low-paying jobs because you need people to clean homes, take care of children, mow the lawn, these things come in tandem,' says the University of Virginia's Cai.
So the new immigrants stayed. And had families. And more friends and relatives followed them. And they stayed, leading to a wide range of repercussions."
SOURCE 2
THE SOUTH’S DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT AS ASIAN-AMERICAN POPULATION EXPLODES
By Stateline.org, adapted by Newsela staff
October 23, 2014
“ For decades, Asian-Americans have lived mainly on the coasts of the United States. In recent years, thousands have moved to the South, remaking communities in the process. Between 2000 and 2010, Asian-Americans were the fastest-growing ethnic group in the South. The Asian-American population there increased 69 percent during that period… The growth in the Asian-American population in the South has outpaced the increases in every other region. In the Midwest, the Asia-American population grew 47 percent, in the Northeast it grew 45 percent, and in the West it increased 36 percent. By comparison, the Latino population gained 57 percent in the South.
State by state, the growth is even more striking. Some states saw their Asian-American populations nearly double between 2000 and 2010, and in Georgia and North Carolina the increases were more than 80 percent… The growth in certain metropolitan areas was even more dramatic, even if the Asian-American population sourced 88 and the Latino population more than doubled.
The explosive growth presents several dilemmas for state and local governments. They now have to educate students who don’t speak English as a first language and translate official documents to providing housing assistance to refugees. Compared to other parts of the country, some states in the South have little experience in hosting large immigrant communities.
…MaritaEtcubanez of Asian-American Advancing Justice says many of those moving to the South are chasing economic opportunity and a cheaper coast of living. “People are willing to settle wherever opportunity is available to them,” Etcubanez said. The opportunities pursued can vary widely, though, Etcubanez and other experts said. For example, refugees from other parts of Southeast Asia are likely to have very different backgrounds and qualifications than a highly educated professional from India.
... New populations can create problems for public officials, and language barriers are perhaps the most prominent example. One school district in Georgia has 111 different languages spoken nearby. Some cities in Georgia are encouraging Asian-American owed businesses to have signs in English, so law enforcement will know where to go in an emergency.
…How well each state is positioned to deal with these challenges and others will vary as well, in part, based on cultural and political realities and history of immigration. Some, like Tennessee, have long been a destination for refugees, and might be better positioned to a changing population.
“Many of these states don’t have as long of history of immigration,” said Chris Kromm of the Institute for Southern Studies, a civil rights advocacy group. “A lot of them are catching up, and it takes a lot more to turn the ship.”
SOURCE 3
SOURCE 4
Immigrants from India thriving in U.S.
By Brian Knowlton
- Top of Form
- Bottom of Form
VIENNA, Virginia — When GangadharChirravuri and his wife, KalpanaSeethepalli, meet Americans in the neighborhood here, they are sometimes asked whether they come from northern or southern India. The question would have been highly unusual five years ago, but much has changed in that time.
The ethnic Indian population of the United States has soared, boosted by a demand for English-speaking scientists, technicians, engineers, doctors, and other professionals. From 2000 to 2005, it swelled by 640,000, to 2.3 million, a 38 percent growth rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That pushed the population of Indian-Americans past that of ethnic Filipinos, with only ethnic Chinese more numerous among Asian immigrant groups. By comparison, from 1948 to 1965, the population of "Asian Indians" - as the bureau calls immigrants from India to differentiate them from Native Americans - grew by a mere 7,000.
While Indians arriving in years past often encountered ignorance and misunderstanding, and sometimes discrimination, people like Chirravuri and Seethepalli represent a new wave of extremely well-educated and ambitious young professionals who seem to have little trouble fitting in.
Chirravuri, 32, is a software engineer with two master's degrees from Villanova University, in suburban Philadelphia, and ambitions for a third. Seethepalli, 31, finished a doctorate in economics at George Washington University in Washington last year and now works at the World Bank.
The Indian population has mushroomed in areas like Fairfax County, Virginia, in the suburbs of Washington, where people like Chirravuri and Seethepalli live, drawn by jobs in technology companies and international organizations like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The area's Indian population has grown 50 percent in five years, from 70,000 to about 107,000, and a high level of education sets this local group apart. In the 2000 census, 72 percent of Indians in the Washington area aged 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 24 percent of the overall U.S. population.
What is more, Indian Americans are now the country's richest ethnic group. Median household income for all Asians in the United States was $57,518 in 2004, the highest among all racial groups, including whites, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in March. And for Indians, it was even higher: $68,771. The overall median household income, nationwide, was $46,326.
Amid the rapid growth, neighborhoods in Fairfax County that were nearly all white a decade ago now have significant Indian populations. Hindu temples like the RajdhaniMandir in Chantilly, Virginia, are bustling. It is not hard at all, Chirravuri said, to find Indian food or to rent a Bollywood movie.
Rani Varna, owner of the Bombay Tandoor restaurant here, was "lonely, very lonely," she said, when she arrived from India 40 years ago. Now the comfort level is far higher, she said in an interview at her large and popular restaurant, as a group of young Indian girls, regular patrons, sang gaily behind a carved wooden partition. "Do I need a temple?" Varna asked. "It's here. Do I need family? It's here. Do I need a business? I have it."
Like many immigrant groups, Indians have come far since first making their way to the West Coast about a century ago to work on farms or in lumber mills. Many were uneducated Sikhs who spoke little English; they were often looked down on, referred to dismissively as "Hindus." In 1917, a law barred nearly all Asian immigrants from the United States, and few Indians arrived until a law in 1965 set a limit of 20,000 immigrants a year from each country. The quota remains but is often exceeded, for a variety of reasons.
From India, 85,000 people came to the United States legally last year, said Jane Delung, president of the Population Resource Center in Princeton, New Jersey. More than half of those arrived on the employer-linked work visas that bring many technology workers and professionals. Most of the rest have family members in the United States. In the six years since Varna opened the Bombay Tandoor, "the population has exploded," she said. She frequently rents out her restaurant for large wedding parties, often mixed Indian-American couples, and her friends want her to open a second place.