Strategies
Learning to question, to analyze, to make deductions, to examine ideas and themes from multiple perspectives is a fundamental goal of education. A variety of strategies can promote and reinforce learning and can help students to learn to make judgments about their country and themselves. This unit will be an interdisciplinary unit with standards across the disciplines of social studies, language arts, technology, and English Language Development (ESL). I see this as a variety of activities, lessons, viewings, and projects that will constitute an introductory unit of four weeks. There will be five strategies central to the curriculum unit:
- Expository readings, lectures, and activities
- Fictional readings from poetry and short stories with activities
- Films which depict the themes addressed in the unit
- Personal experiences of the immigrant students
- Use of mapping, charting, and graphic organizers
Expository Readings, Lectures, and Activities
The first section of the unit will address the history of immigration and the experiences of immigrants. Though the focus is on American immigration, a brief look at global migration patterns will be included. A few facts from a National Public Radio source, "Debunking Global Migration Myths,"5 states that globally there are 200 million migrants—defined as people living for at least one year outside their home country. This figure does not include people moving within a country. For example, in China, at least 100 million people in search of work have moved from rural areas to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Half of all international immigrants are women, and the percentage grows each year.
An overview of United States immigration will help the students to see their own immigration in the larger context of overall immigration. The United States has a much larger immigrant population by far than other countries. The US has 35 million foreign—born residents. One can think of immigration coming in waves. The earliest were the colonists of both English and Spanish descent in the 1616th and 17th centuries. The next major wave was composed of mostly Irish and German immigrants in the mid 19th century (1820—1850), The next wave was made up of immigrants from northwestern Europe and China (1860—1880). The period from 1890 to 1920 saw the arrival of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. And finally, 1920 to current times, saw the arrival of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. By the late 1980's, the countries of Europe accounted for only 10 percent of the arrivals
Historically the concept of "push—pullll" factors has been used to explain the causes of immigration. The "push" factors are the conditions inside the homeland that cause a person to want to leave. The "pull" factors are the conditions the would—be immigrant hopes to find in the new country. Students will explore what are some of the factors such as s "a better life", "economic opportunities", "freedom", "safety" "to reunite the family", "to escape war and death".
Students will also view images of immigrants and will complete an activity on political cartoons. Since this is a visual activity that uses the computer and internet, it will give students an opportunity to learn and/or expand their technology skills. There will be some brief readings and lectures which will also include some maps and graphs.
This introduction will help students to have an overview of immigration history so that they can begin to grasp the dialogue and trends that make up the contemporary discussion on immigration. This will also help them to see what their future might be and to understand the issues that surround immigration today, especially illegal immigration. Those who are undocumented live in a shadowy world without a legal ID, without a social security number, without a driver's license. Their sense of belonging and their very identity is blurred.
Fictional Readings from Poetry and Stories
I have selected four poems for reading and analysis. I am using a book, Poetry Like Bread,6 which is a collection of poems from poets of the political imagination and many of the poems are translated from the language in which they were originally written into English. The number of poems can be expanded, but I will begin with four poems including Patria abnegada, El otro lado, Lo major de dos lados, and Nostalgia. These poems have themes of immigration, loss, survival, and political repression.
The first of the poems is a poem by Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú T entitled Patria abnegada (My Martyred Homeland). It is written in Spanish and translated into English. There are four stanzas written in the first person. Each stanza begins with an expression of having crossed the border and not knowing when I will return. The everyday objects and events of the homeland village are remembered: the first rains, the stars, the fields in bloom, the calloused hands that harvest the honey.
"Crucé la frontera amor" "I crossed the border, my love"
The martyred homeland is Guatemala. This poem is of the genre of political poetry and describes a forced immigration, a flight from political repression. The poem passionately describes the massacres, the terror and the flight. Students will respond to questions about voice and mood. The voice could be that of the author. The tone and mood of the poem changes from stanza to stanza but ends on a hopeful note that there will be a homecoming
"Crucé la frontera amor. Volveré manana, cuando mamá torturada" "I crossed the border, my love. I will return tomorrow, when my tortured mother...." The students will be able to pick out many images that are familiar to them and students from Guatemala will especially identify with the poem. Students will learn that refugee status is one of the classifications of immigration in which immigrants may petition to enter the United States or other countries based on their fear of political repression which could end in death or torture.
The second poem is entitled El otro lado (The other side) by Sylvia S. Lizarraga. This short poem expresses a spectrum of emotions which describe the other side. Students will point out that the other side is the United States. The poem begins with a mood characterized by desire and hope. These are the first steps of entering, arriving, taking risks, working. It moves to a final reality characterized as misery, discrimination, and exploitation. For some immigrants the poem aptly captures their feelings. The poem is also a poem that can be used as a model for students to write their own poetry because it is very structured. Each first line is a noun, followed by three descriptive words.
Lo major de dos lados (The best of both sides) by Juan José Gloria Rocha is a comparison that relates the crossing of a river and being on the other side. It laments what is lost while recognizing what is gained. But asks the rhetorical question: why?
In addition to the poetry, students will read short stories and one short novel (134 pages). The novel is Cajas de Cartón by Francisco Jiménez. (This story is also published under the name, The Circuit in English.) It is a poignant tale of a family of migrant farm workers and is based on the life of the author. It is set in the 1940s and details the travels of this Mexican family from Guadalajara, Mexico to the central California valley. In some respects it is a coming of age story. We see Francisco as a young child, a spectator watching the adults work in the fields. Later he, too, is working in the fields. The narrator is a child who sees life as an endless stream of upheavals as the family moves from one harvest to another. The family lives in the sparest of conditions but the family is bound by loyalty, a strong work ethic, and perseverance.
"Kike" by Hilda Perera.is a short story which relates the experience of immigration through the eyes of eight year old Kike who is leaving Havana, Cuba to live with his grandfather in Miami, Florida following the Cuban Revolution. He is on the airplane and looks wistfully down at his parents, who stay behind and remembers his grandmother running after the car, crying, "My son, my son". It has many humorous moments and appeals to students.
Films which Depict Themes of Immigration and Migration
In my Seminar class, Storytelling around the Globe, led by Dudley Andrew at the Yale National Initiative,7 I viewed many international films which featured children, origin legends, and storytelling. The films are rich tales from Africa, Ireland, China, France, Japan, Cuba, and Iran. They are delightfully insightful films which portray life, culture, and humanity in an endearing, unforgettable fashion. I have not previously used films in presenting the topic of immigration but have been inspired to do so during this seminar. I sought out films which have immigration or a migratory movement theme, which feature children or teenagers, and which were in Spanish or featured Latin American culture or themes. As with the literature and poetry selections, students will be looking at the film critically and will be analyzing the films from the perspective of point of view, tone, voice, symbolism, and theme. They will look at the artistic elements of the film. I will include several films in the unit. Some films they will view in their entirety and for other films they will view clips or trailers.
The films that I am considering using include El Norte, Viva Cuba, Sin Nombre, and Into the West. As I become more experienced with film and the art of critical analysis, I will add other films to the repertoire of films. I will also add films from other countries and in other languages that will reflect the diversity of my school.
The Films
El Norte
Director: Gregory Nava
Country: United States, 1983
139 minutes long, DVD
In El Norte, two indigenous siblings, Enrique and Rosa, flee Guatemala to come to the United States after their father is murdered and their mother disappears as a repressive government seeks to kill the native villagers. They are political refugees who flee to come North to safety and a better future in the United States. There are three parts: Part I in Guatemala, Part II El Coyote, in Mexico, and Part III, the North. The dehumanizing hardships of illegal immigrants are vividly portrayed as Enrique and Rosa suffer betrayal in Mexico, endure a horrendous border crossing, and ultimately are defeated in their quest for the American Dream as Rosa dies and Enrique compromises his commitment to family when he puts employment before family.
In reviewing the film, Tom Charity, in Sight and Sound describes the film as low—budget realism with elements of epic fable, melodrama, and folktale. He notes that Director Nava, , "ties the hardships of immigration to the "kill—or—be—killed success ethic that drives American capitalism.alism."
The film is melodramatic; however it does portray many of the hardships that illegal immigrants experience in coming to and living in the United States. Like Enrique and Rosa, my students have described border crossings in which they questioned whether they would live through the experience. They will identify with the hardships of looking for work and going to school to try to learn English.
Sin Nombre
Director: Gary Fukunaga
Country: Mexico, 2009
96 minutes long
Soon to be released on DVD
Spanish with English subtitles
Sin Nombre is also a tale of desperate people trying to enter the United States illegally. It displays the risks that people are willing to take to escape abject poverty and violence. It centers on two teenagers whose paths cross and weaves their two stories into one. Sayra is from Honduras. Her father has returned to Honduras to take her back to New Jersey. It will be a harrowing trip through Guatemala, Mexico, and then across the border into the United States. The second story is that of Willy, nicknamed Casper, who is from Southern Mexico. He is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS13)—an ultra violent gang that preys on immigrants passing through Mexico on their way North. The movie displays much of the gang culture of the MS13 gang which thrives in Honduras and El Salvador and has become an international gang with members here in the United States. When Sayra falls prey to the gang, Willy intervenes and saves her and their lives become intertwined. However, by defying the gang, Willy is now a target for death. Sayra, the only one left of the trio who started out from Honduras, and Willy are now traveling together.
The images of the immigrants traveling on top of the train cars, lying down flat with the villages and countryside passing in the background is visually arresting. The images and tales of the MS13 gang members, heavily tattooed, fiercely loyal and dangerously violent is startling. The risks that desperate people must take is disconcerting.
Because of the violence and the gang element, this is a movie where I would show only the trailer or highly selective parts of the movie. Gangs are a fact of life in San Francisco and I see MS13 written on the walls of my school. Nonetheless, the film has a message about contemporary immigration.
Viva Cuba
Director: Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti
Country: Cuba, 2006
80 minutes long, DVD
Spanish, English subtitles
Malú, age 11, and Jorgito, age 12, are best friends and have a strong bond. The families are neighbors with socioeconomic and political differences and the mothers disapprove of the children's friendship. When Malú's mother plans to leave Cuba, Malú and Jorgito run away to find Malú's father to ask that he not give his permission for Malú to leave. The children have many adventures, both humorous and scary, as they make the perilous journey from Havana in the north of Cuba to Camaguay in the south. The end of the movie is ambiguous. As the children reach the lighthouse in Camaguay, the parents also all arrive and begin to fight. The children hold hands and turn to face the sea, and there's nowhere else to escape to.
The perspective in Viva Cuba is that of the children. It makes a statement about the cynicism of adults and the innocence of children and the beauty of friendship. It also speaks to the matter of emigration. Malú is not asked if she wants to leave Cuba and the effects on Malú of leaving home and friends is not a consideration of the mother. There are many beautiful images: the magical sky that the children look up at and see the stars light up, singing on the bus. It is a light hearted look at childhood and students will learn from and enjoy this film.
Into the West
Director: Mike Newell
Country: United States, 1993
97 minutes long, DVD
English
Into the West is set in Ireland and is told from the perspective of two brothers, Ossie and Tito who live in Dublin with their single father. He and his deceased wife had been part of a group of Travelers who lead a nomadic life in the west of Ireland. However, the father has taken the children to live in Dublin, where they live in a crowded apartment. When the children's grandfather comes to the city, he is followed by a white horse, Tir na nog, Ossie mounts the horse to the surprise of all, saying: "He likes me because I like him." There are humorous moments as when the children take Tir na nog into their apartment and into a movie theater. They lose the horse to an unscrupulous man who sees potential in the horse's ability to jump. The children reclaim the horse and run away to the West.
This is a delightful film. The children go through many adventures as they try to evade the police. The horse takes them to the mother's grave and Ossie sees that his birthdate is the same as his mother's date of death. The horse Tir na nog is taking them back to their roots. Being pursued by police, they reach the end of land and Tir na nog, with Ossie on his back goes into the sea. In the sea, as Ossie struggles, we see a hand reaches out to save him. Here we see that Tir na nog symbolizes the mother and is trying to bring the children back to the traditional land and way of life of the Travelers. There is also redemption for the father.
Some of the themes in the film include the freedom in the life of the Travelers as opposed to the constraints of life in the city. As in Viva Cuba, we see the innocence of children and the sometimes evil nature of adults. Another parallel in the films is the ending at the ocean which suggests ambiguity or "no where else to go." The theme of migration, movement of people, is also present. Internal migration from the rural countryside to the cities is commonplace today and presents its own set of problems as people become anonymous in the urban setting.
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