Immigration and Migration and the Making of a Modern American City

Classroom Activities

These activities are for students to understand what immigration is and how it connects to them. The students will also be learning more on their surrounding neighborhoods and who surrounds them. They will then explore the histories of Mexico and El Salvador and the typical foods they eat. The students will have a better understanding of how these immigrants have influenced and brought native foods and traditions to the U.S. We will also explore different Latin American restaurants and see how these foods can also be found in popular fast foods like Taco Bell. The overall idea is for the students to realize the importance of change over time and how food is important and shapes what we eat today. This will expose second graders who have limited to no knowledge of immigration especially the Latino migration into the city surrounding them.

Some of the activities will be whole group and lead to discussion. There will be multiple visual activities to give the students the ability to see and interact with the different books, maps and restaurant menus that will be used throughout the instruction. Individually the students will be creating a food book where they will record different foods discussed and learned about that represent the two main countries we are covering. The students will also be working in small groups to compare and contrast three different Latin American country restaurant menus. The students will also be using their creativity to recreate a menu based on the menus we have looked at.

Classroom Activity 1

The lesson will begin with the students being asked to draw what an immigrant looks like. Then we will look at a children's book, The Arrival by Shaun Tan.Although this book is not directly connected to Latino migration history it would be a great book to illustrate what immigration is and how immigration is a shared experience amongst many people from many countries. This will be used to assess and see what the students know about immigration. This is a picture book with no words. Since this lesson is conducted in Spanish the students will be able to create a storyline and see what they think is happening in the story. We will look at the pictures in the book and have the students point out what they see and what they think is happening. These ideas will be listed on a poster board and later used to reference back to what it means to be an immigrant.

The students will go back and look at their drawing of an immigrant and compare to the man in the story. Then the students will define what immigration is and how it was illustrated in our story. They will discuss how there are many people in our country but also in our city that are immigrants. The students will use the pictures from the story to have a better understanding of what immigrants do, like leaving their homes and trying to find a living once they arrive to their destination. Then we will talk about how there are immigrants all around us and within our community and surrounding neighborhoods. This will lead to discussion of two subgroups of Latinos that we will focus on that are in our neighborhoods, Mexican and Salvadorians.

Classroom Activity 2

In the next lesson we will begin by introducing an online map that shows countries where Spanish is spoken as the primary language around the world. The link to the map is under the student resource section. The students will be looking at the world map and discuss what they see. We will explore the map and see the regions as a whole group where Spanish is the primary language pointing out North and Central America. Then we will move to the U.S. and Richmond so that the students have a sense of progression of scale.

We will then look at a Racial Dot Map online that shows the 2010 Census Bureau. You will find the link in the student resources section. This will be great visual aid for the students to see the breakdown of racial groups, Whites, Black, Asian, Hispanic and other race. We will see that the United States is predominantly White but that there are areas where there are dense populations of other races. We will be looking at U.S. and then zooming into Richmond, Virginia. The students can use this to locate their state and then zoom in to their city and see what the demographics looks like around them and how diverse their surroundings are.

During this lesson using the online map, we will begin by looking at the whole map and identifying and labeling with a sticky note specific locations. First where does the United States border with Mexico and then locating Central America. Once finding Central America we will discuss how all these countries have people that migrate to the United States and who speak Spanish but have different foods and traditions. With a star we will identify Mexico and El Salvador the countries that our main focus will be on. Once we have identified these countries we will locate our state Virginia and zoom in to the Richmond area and label approximately the area where our school is located. The students will get to examine the map and discuss with a partner what they observe and take note about the patterns and trends they see in the Richmond area. The students will share what they learned about looking at the map and as whole group point out patterns we see. We will then point out the Latino populated area and how close it is to the student's school and neighborhood. This will allow the students to see that there are Spanish-speaking communities and that they are mainly concentrated in one area.

Once the students have looked at the map and see the demographics in the city we will discuss how two of the countries that populate that area are, Mexico and El Salvador. I will then read Corn/Maize by Doreen Gonzales, which will introduce them to the importance of corn in the Latino Culture. This book allows students to have an understanding of how vital corn can be to not only the indigenous Latino population but also to the Latin American population and their communities. The students will think about how they use corn and if they eat corn at home. This will lead to the conversation of what other foods they eat and what influence it has had in dishes we see today in restaurants.

Classroom Activity 3

The opening for this lesson will be a YouTube video Chocolate: Uno, dos, tres and the students signing along. The link is in the student resource section. It is an easy song for the students to sing and follow along. Then we will discuss how cacao has been cultivated in Mexico and other Central American countries and main ingredient for chocolate. We will then go and look at Mexico on the map and we will discuss how families and individuals have traveled into the United States throughout the centuries and we will then look at the graph shown below, showing the waves from the 1849 to 2000 and the increase of Mexicans coming into the United States. The students will see how there has been a great number of Mexicans coming into the country after the Mexican revolution, the Braceros program and families migrating to the U.S. for better opportunities. Once we have looked at the graph and discussed some of the waves we will begin talking about what have these immigrants brought to this country. The students will work together to think of some of the traditions they have learned about or heard about. Then I will give the students some picture of Mexican foods, menudo, ceviche, chiles rellenos, rice, beans and also foods that have been Americanized for example a burrito or a fajita. The students will have a good understanding of what some typical native Mexican dishes are and what today we see in a Tex-mex restaurant.

Figure 1: Graph of Mexican population ³⁷

The next lesson will begin with a study on the Salvadorian immigration waves on a graph shown below and they will be able to compare it to the Mexican immigration waves graph and see that there has been fewer Salvadorians migrating compared to the Mexicans. It will show that there has been a drastic increase of immigrants from both countries but a greater amount of Mexicans coming into the United States. Then we will list and see pictures of the typical foods Salvadorians eat which are pupusas, tamales, carne asada (grilled steak), horchata (milk and cinnamon based drink) and other dishes. We will then watch a YouTube video called "Cooking with Kids: How to Make Pupusas for Children - Weelicious," that will show the students and easy step-by-step video on how to make the popular pupusas at home with a parent. The link to this video is listed in the student resource section.

Figure 2: Graph of Salvadorian population ³⁸

The students will make a food book and will be able to use the video to make a page for a pupusas step by step to take home. The students will continue to add to the book as we learn and list foods and draw pictures that are "Latino foods". The students will be able to take it home and see if they have any of these items at home. With these lessons the students will have a grasp of the waves of Mexican immigration and the foods we see today at restaurants. This activity can be done with any countries of your choice but for this unit our focus is these two countries.

Figure 3: Graph of Mexican and Salvadorian population ³⁹

Classroom Activity 4

The students have discussed the typical Latin American dishes and foods that are common today in the United States in the previous lesson. The students will see pictures taken of the front of three local Latin America restaurants and labeled with the type of Latin cuisine used, a Mexican menu, a Cuban menu and a Salvadorian menu. Then the students will compare the three menus from these local restaurants. The students will work in groups to compare and contrast the menus and record their findings on a Venn diagram. They will see that some of the menus have similar foods like rice, beans and meats used but not necessarily cooked the same way. The students will also find that there are differences between the three cuisines. Once the students have had a chance to look over the menus they will share with the class their findings and be posted on a poster board. The students will see that although these three restaurants have Spanish-speaking people and classified as Latin America food they each have unique dishes they cook.

The students will then work in teams to create a menu for their future Latin American restaurant. The students can use the food book they have from the previous lesson and the menus that they used in this activity. The students can brainstorm at home and work together in class to make a list of the dishes and using pictures to put together the menu. Once they have drafted their ideal menu they will be put it together and decorate their final menu and present it to the class.