Who are the Americans?
Discuss and note your ideas
Who lives in
America? Where did they come from? When?
Spain, from Europe in 17th centure
Have you
seen any films about people emigrating to America? Which?
no
Were there
any immigrants on The Titanic?
Yes there
was
Research
Look at this
website and study the data, especially the ‘by
region’ information to find out where Americans come from: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/immigration_data/
1. Explore
the historical timeline to see where
the immigrants arrived from in different eras. Choose one link from ‘A New
Land’, ‘Expanding America’ and ‘A Place of Refuge’ menus and note: Where did the people come from and why did they go to America.
A New Land:
Expanding
America:
A Place of
Refuge:
2. Look at the
‘Building a Modern America’ – ‘A Multicultural America’ page. What information
can you find about recent US
immigration?
3. Now click
on ‘Explore Ellis Island’ and answer the questions. (There is 1 question per page.)
·
Where did immigrants land when they arrived in
America? Ellies island in 1892 and 1954
·
How long did it take to cross the Atlantic? Week or 2
·
What was the first thing people saw in America? Statue
of liberty
·
What did the officers give the immigrants? Names
·
What did the doctors do while the people walked
upstairs? Check on them
·
Why couldn’t women enter America alone? Cause it would
be hard starting a life for them alone
·
What did the chalk marks X and P mean? What happened
to those people?
·
How many questions did they ask immigrants?
·
When did pre-departure health checks start?
·
What facilities were available at the bottom of the
stairs?
·
What happened at ‘The Kissing Post’?
Think!
When people come to work in the UAE,
what must they do? (Paperwork, procedures, tests…)
America is a
multicultural society; it is culturally diverse. It is not a ‘melting pot’, it
is more like a ‘salad bowl’. Americans often talk about being ‘first
generation’, ‘second generation’ or third generation’ immigrants. ‘First
generation’ is term used for the children of immigrants, ‘second generation’ is
the term for the grandchildren of immigrants, so ‘third generation’ is
……………………………………………………? By the second or third generation, the connection with
the immigrant’s country may be very weak or non-existent so we can say that
these people have assimilated into the culture. Over the years, some people and
cultural groups have assimilated into American society. They have blended and
are examples of assimilation. When two cultures meet, acculturation happens.
This is the meeting of the cultures and the process of adapting to each other
and adopting new behaviours, which can be a one-way or two-way process.
However, some groups may keep many of the customs, traditional ways and
characteristics of their home culture even though they adapt to the new
country. These people have acculturated by adopting new behaviours in their new
country, but they have not assimilated. Immigrants and the first generation may
acculturate but not assimilate, but later generations may be assimilated.
Think again!
Why do/did some people/groups assimilate
and others do/did not?
