Stories of First Generation Immigrants from Europe
Recommended Grade Levels:6-8; 9-12
Subjects:Reading & Language Arts; Social Studies, etc.
Activity: Learningabout immigrantsthought taped videos about their lives.
Summary
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries most of US immigrants came from Latin American and Asian countries. Immigrant from Europe represented just over 10% of immigrant population (stark contrast with the trend seen before 1960). Nonetheless, several million US immigrantsstill come from various European countries. According to the Pew Hispanic Center there are 618,227 German-born, 452,224 Polish-born, 368.789 Italian- bornimmigrants; 120,077 immigrants moved to the US following the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. This activity has been designed for students to learn more about life stories of first-generation immigrants coming from Europe. Immigrant narratives teach about immigration and address many commonly held stereotypes. This is a STUDENT CENTERED ACTIVITY. We suggest that students choose and watch one - three immigrant stories at and fill out the WORKSHEET #1. In this lesson the students hear stories of different immigrants, including their challenges, achievements and contributions to the US.
Goal: Students will examine different personal stories of immigrants from Europeexplore immigrants’ challenges as well as their achievements and contributions to the US.
Objective: After completing this lesson, student will be able to:
- Compare and contrast immigrants’ stories
- Analyze issues through personal narratives
- Reflect on personal emotions associated with moving, being an outsider, etc.
- Understand the different challenges immigrants face.
- Give suggestion on how they could make them feel welcome
- Empathize with new immigrants who encounter alienation and isolation living in a new country
Materials:
- WORKSHEET #7
- Internet access to (onIPad, computer, or smart phone). Stories of Immigrants from Europe are:
- MariuszOlszewski, Poland
- Irene Ruderman-Clark, Belarus
- SrdjanJovanovic-Weiss, Serbia
- NickolaiKolarov, Bulgaria
- Chris Harris, U.K.
- MajraMucic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Claudia Madrigal, Portugal
Time frame:one hour
New vocabulary and terms: N/A
Recommendations for teachers:Students vote one or two stories to be shown in classroom.
PROCESS:
- Activity
Students choose one - three immigrant storiesand listen to them on an iPad, iPhone or computer. They choose and watch to the immigrant stories of their interest (whether it’s immigrant’s country or origin, occupation, gender age, etc). Each student should fill out a WORKSHEET #7 after watching each story.
- Discussion and explanation
- Teacher asks what they learned and writes their answers on the board.
- Students share what surprised them the most?
- Teacher asks students if they have ever moved or changed schools. Then elaborates by asking them how they felt and what kind of challenges they had to deal with. Writes answers on the board.
- Teacher asks the students to name some of the countries and occupations of the immigrants whose stories they listened to.
- Teacher asks to share the answers from the worksheet:
- What was his/her biggest surprise when s/he came to the U.S.?
- How did s/he cope with the new environment?
- How does s/he contribute to the new homeland?
- Recap of things learned
The class discusses the lessons learned.
Worksheet # 7Stories of First Generation Immigrants from Europe
Listen to one immigrant story of your choosing on the Green Card Voices website at the at Fill in the missing information & answer the questions:
I Listened to the story of …(first and last name)
S/he was born in city/country:
The reason(s) s/he left the country of origin
Education completed in the country of origin and in the U.S.
Who s/he left behind; who came with to the U.S.
Current Occupation
What was his/her biggest surprise when s/he came to the U.S.?
______
______
How did s/he cope with the new environment?
______
______
How does s/he contribute to the new homeland?
______