Coming to America: What's the Point???

For most immigrants, there is nothing better than the idea of coming to America. My question for these people is: What is the point? They are leaving their homelands because they are escaping poverty, war, or just in pursuit of a better life. The fact is, life in America (for these anxious immigrants) is no different from their lives previous to entering the borders of “the best country in the world”. They are treated as if they are the lowest piece of the totem pole and still live amongst people from their homelands. My lesson plan basically deals with the idea that there is no point for immigrants to come to America. TV shows and movies may make America seem like a great place to come to, but it truly is not (at least for many immigrants). Their lives remain virtually the same. Below are some videos, pictures, and articles to help you better understand my topic. Enjoy!

Assignment
I know all of the blog posts are overwhelming, so I will stay away from making you do ANOTHER post. While sitting in my room, trying to be creative for once, I actually thought of a decently creative assignment (with the help of Carly of course). I want you to research your ancestors roots: find out where they immigrated from, where they ended up living in America, why they came here, and any other information you can come up with while searching the Internet or talking with your relatives. I think that this “ancestor finder” will help you out just a little bit. Once you have gathered up your information, I want you to create an ID card for an ancestor or group of ancestors. You should include a picture, the information you gathered (where they are from, where they lived, etc…), and a list of stereotypes that those particular people face in America today (not inappropriate ones of course). You also should ask yourself and include on the ID card, why people of the same ethnic background live near each other and why they still come to America even though their situations do not improve. I hope this assignment is not too confusing; I am just trying to get my point across in a creative way. GOOD LUCK and have fun finding your ancestors!

Finding articles and clips relating to immigration is a very easy task, but I know no one will read or watch any boring clips so I attempted to use “funny sources”. While searching YouTube, I came across a Family Guy clip that relates to immigration. Everyone knows Family Guy is a classic, so this clip should generate some laughs (even though making fun of immigrants is no where near funny!).

I know everyone is sick of blogs and “blogging”, but I found a pretty cool blog dealing with Asian Americans. There is no specific topic but just about the general lives of Asian Americans. As you all know, it is easy to stereotype and put down immigrants and minority groups. This article from the Asian Journal disproves many sterotypes!

Since I am one of two people in the class to read Monkey Bridge, I am going to direct you to Friedy’s Blog to get a different perspective and lesson plan relating to our book.

Two things that I am not so familiar with (I’m hate using technology of any sort) are EBSCO and iTunes. However, since this project means so much to me, I will give you a source to use for this project from each of these databases. USA Today has an interesting article discussing the detention center for immigrants in America. On iTunes, I want you to search for Led Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song” and Nas’s “I Know I Can”. These songs briefly discuss immigration and are also two very good songs to listen to! Check out the music videos on YouTube.