Alissa Witzke
2011
Modern Immigrant Families in America
Text Set (grades 4-6)
America is a hugely diverse country, and many schools have students from widely different backgrounds. Addressing diversity means learning about all of the types of students that could be in a classroom and I feel an important part of this exploration is learning about life as an immigrant in the United States. Since I plan to be an ESL teacher I hope that students in the regular classrooms who may have differing experiences from my ELL students will be able to learn about and connect to immigrant children’s struggles and fears. Bullying is regularly a problem in schools, and immigrant children can sometimes become victims because of their perceived status as outsiders and their seemingly strange customs or beliefs. I hope that by learning about their experiences and relating to their obstacles children will be ready to accept new students from all walks of life. Even if the immigrant population is low in a particular school or school district, children will benefit from learning about a lifestyle very different from their own, and will discover similarities in children from all around the world.
This text set is a clear bridge between language arts and the social studies curriculum, but because I feel the books chosen for this text set represent high quality children’s literature there is so much room to discuss literary elements, perspective, prose and poetry style, and other important aspects of the text itself. For this reason I feel there are many language arts side-lessons that could be seamlessly integrated. Although not outlined in the sample unit below, creative or essay writing exercises could easily be incorporated as an extension of the lessons. Many of the books I have selected have realistic dialogue while also using figurative language to represent themes and symbols throughout (Tunnell & Jacobs Children’s Literature, Briefly, chapter 3 “How To Recognize a Well-Written Book”). The extended metaphor in A Place To Grow and the fantastic word choice in the poetry of Home of the Brave are great starting points for discussions on literature. Some books used language that was too simple for students; I have included some of these at the end of the text set for use with younger students (Additional & Alternate Titles for Primary Grades), mostly because of the information they offer, but the picture books and novels in the set itself are of superior quality.
I have tried to include books in this set that represent multiple cultural perspectives, including texts written by authors who immigrated to the United States and those who were born here, as well as texts showing immigrants from Eastern and Western Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Taking cue from Short, Harste, and Burke (Creating Classrooms for Authors & Inquirers) I have also tried to consider different genres (picture book, novel, poetry) and some non-print options (videos, guest speakers) to aid student learning. Many of the non-fiction books I found for this topic were about the history of immigration and did not focus on contemporary families so I did not include any in the set itself. I read about a few books, however, that sounded promising, although I could not locate them. These exceptions may be Janet Bode’s “New Kids In Town: Oral Histories of Immigrant Teens” (1991) and Fay Kenton Smith’s “Zakery’s Bridge: Children’s Journeys from Around the World to Iowa” (2011) because each allows the immigrants to tell their own stories. However, because many books about immigrant families and children have been published within the last ten years contemporary real-world issues come into play in many of the stories.
Although this set is intended for students in the upper elementary grades I believe it could be easily adapted for children in the primary grades learning about different types of families in the United States and around the world, as well as introducing the concept of immigration in its broad sense. Many, if not all, of the picture books could be included in this exploration, and a few other titles are mentioned at the end. Something About America and Blue Jasmine might be excellent read-aloud books for younger students, as well.
Sample Unit Outline:
To begin the unit I would read aloud A Place to Grow by Soyung Pak, as it is a beautiful summation of many positive aspects of immigration. To prepare students for the extended metaphor of seeds and gardens I would read the inside flap (“A family is like a seed. It needs a good, safe place to grow. Sometimes that place is just a hop away. Sometimes it’s a long, hard journey. This book is a tribute to all parents who took that journey in order for their families to blossom.”). After reading the book we could have a grand conversation (see Tunnell & Jacobs Children’s Literature, Briefly, chapter 18 “Teaching With Children’s Books”) about how the metaphor weaves between the story of a garden and the story of immigration, just as the illustrations do. We can discuss the hardships the girl’s father may have faced and why he came to America.
I feel that discussions of what America symbolizes and means to different people is an important part of understanding why people leave their homes to move here. I would like to encourage all students to make a visual representation of what American means to them, before considering other perspectives. A good way to do this would be to make a silhouette of each student and fill the inside with images of ‘their’ America. Some students may be immigrants themselves, and so discussion may be held until after the book Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet Wong is read aloud, so these varied perspectives can be included later in the collages/drawings. After reading the text have students discuss in small groups what new symbols they see in the book that represent America, and what other symbols might be for immigrants. Students should share some of these ideas with the entire class, and then add these conceptions of America to the outer section of their collages. Encourage students to continue to add to these collages as they read more books about immigrants or learn more from other sources.
As a continuation of the discussion of immigration in the United States, I feel it is important to include texts that deal with different types of struggles immigrants may face. Some of these can be familiar to students of all backgrounds, like feeling like an outsider at school, but others can be more specific, like struggles with language and fears of deportation. Students may share ways that they feel they do not fit in, and make predictions about things that may be difficult for students who just arrived from another country. Split into small group literature circles (see Tunnell & Jacobs, chapter 18) so that the students can read Creativity by John Steptoe, Hannah Is My Name by Belle Yang, and One Green Apple by Eve Bunting. Have groups discuss what struggles the children in these books face and share these with the large group. Encourage students reading Creativity to consider how the perspective of the story helps or hinders our understanding of foreign student’s struggles. Showing video interviews with immigrant teenagers could extend this lesson – some examples include “Knock Knock America” about a refugee group in St. Louis reaching out to teens, and the British Red Cross video series “Young Refugees Speak Up.” Links to these videos can be found at the end of this document. To show English-speaking students about the language barrier a book could also be read to the class in a foreign language. Students could respond to what they understood in the book and what difficulty they had finding meaning in the unfamiliar words.
Many texts on immigration focus on the ways that place defines a person, the way that home is defined in a new place, and the way homeland becomes part of a new place. Most books in this set explore this issue, but a few stand out especially: The Color of Home by Mary Hoffman, In the Small, Small Night by Jane Kurtz, and Xochitl and the Flowers by Jorge Argueta. These texts all show how bringing parts of home to America helps immigrants define home in a new place, bringing together the familiar and unfamiliar in a new way. Three groups could be formed to read these books and have a brief discussion – including other thematic aspects already discussed like what America means and how immigrants struggle in a new place. After groups have finished they could be split into mixed groups for a jigsaw type activity, where students share about the book they read and the groups are able to compare and contrast the three stories. They might discuss what aspects of the home country immigrants emphasized in these stories and how these aspects translated in the new country.
For another lesson I think the books Going Home by Eve Bunting and Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say can beautifully create a paired set (see Short et al. pages 543-544 for more information on paired sets) about dual representations of home. First we would need to spend time in class carefully reading the two books, but then in a grand conversation we could create a visual representation of the differences and similarities in the two books. We could use a Venn diagram or another comparison chart to explore how place defines characters in each text, how the two places represent different aspects of these characters, and what internal dilemmas the characters face.
For a long-term final exploration of immigrant children and families in the United States I would split the group into small group ‘book clubs’ (see Tunnell & Jacobs, chapter18) to read and respond to children’s novels. Students will choose – or be placed – in groups to read Blue Jasmine by Kashmira Sheth, Something About America by Maria Testa, A Step from Heaven by An Na and Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. It should be noted that Something About America is quite a bit shorter than the other texts, so it could be offered for struggling readers or left out of the set of books, and A Step from Heaven deals with domestic abuse and may require further discussion than the unit can offer. There are a number of other novels that could replace novels in this group or be added to them, and some of them are included below (Alternate Novel Options). Students should be encouraged to carefully read the text and mark passages that they feel reflect topics already discussed in the unit (what America means, struggles of immigrants, defining home in a new place, and dual representations of home) – and to look for other themes that they feel are relevant, like the relationships between immigrant children and their parents. Students should also be looking for text-to-text connections with the picture books already read and discussed in the unit. After all of these aspects are discussed in the small groups it would be great to assign one of the themes explored in class or literary elements that will convey some of these thematic concepts (see Peterson & Eeds Grand Conversations, chapter 4 “Literary Elements”) to each group and allow them to make a dramatic or creative response to the text that they can share with the class. Encourage different types of responses: a reader’s theater exposition, a skit, a collage, a drawing or graph, and many others. Physical artifacts from these presentations can be included with the American symbols collages in a display representing the unit as a whole.
The unit could also end nicely with a visit from a guest speaker who was a child immigrant to the United States. I might look for past ELL students that have gone on to junior high or high school, parents of students, or even professors form a nearby university with children who can tell about what brought them to America. After exploring stories of other immigrants I feel students will be able to ask thought-provoking questions of the speaker and will enjoy seeing how a person in their community overcame the struggles of immigration.
Annotated Text Set:
Applegate, Katherine. Home of the Brave. New York, NY: Feiwel and Friends, 2007.
Written in beautiful free verse stanzas, this book tells the story of Kek, a Sudanese refugee who lost most of his family and much of his positive temperament in the war. When he comes to America he faces new struggles, but he finds friends in unexpected places, even a cow who begins to represent much of what he left behind.
Immigration topics: defining home in a new place, struggles
Argueta, Jorge. Xochitl and the Flowers / Xóchitl, la Niña de las Flores. Illus. Carl Angel. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press, 2003.
Xochitl is named for flowers in her native Nahuatl, and the last name Flores means the same thing. So when an El Salvadoran immigrant family have not been able to fit flowers into their new life in America, they have to find a way. Although an unhappy landlord stands in their way, they are able to find a great community of supporters in their neighborhood, and can begin a life like the one they knew in El Salvador. Written in both English and Spanish.
Immigration topics: defining home in a new place
Bunting, Eve. Going Home. Illus. David Diaz. New York, NY: Joanna Cotler Books (Harper Collins), 1996.
Carlos and his family are taking a trip to visit the family they left behind in Mexico, but to Carlos and his sisters, Mexico does not feel like home. His parents struggle with their move to the United States and their children cannot understand why they left Mexico if they miss it so much. Slowly they begin to see why their parents love their homeland so much, and how two distinct places can seem like home.
Immigration topics: dual representations of home, relationships between parents & children
Bunting, Eve. One Green Apple. Illus. Ted Lewin. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 2006.
Farah is newly arrived in the United States and struggling to find her place with the American children as they pick apples on a school field trip. She does not like to speak, and although she finds herself feeling like an outsider, she slowly learns that her differences can meld with her classmates and that America shares many aspects with her Middle Eastern homeland.
Immigration topics: struggles/fitting in, defining home in a new place
Hoffman, Mary. The Color of Home. Illus. Karin Littlewood. New York, NY: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 2002.
Hassan has arrived in the United States from war torn Somalia, but despite the hardships in his homeland he misses the beautiful colors and finds America to be gray and bleak. On his first day in school he has the opportunity to paint his home in Africa, but memories of loss and terror overtake the beauty that he remembers. He is given the opportunity to share the pain with his new teacher, and he slowly begins to accept that parts of Somalia can make the U.S. home, too.
Immigration topics: defining home in a new place, dual meaning of home
Kurtz, Jane. In the Small, Small Night. Illus. Rachel Isadora. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins), 2005.
On Kofi’s first night in America he finds himself terrified of the new place and the worries of forgetting home and the family he left behind. He finds his sister Abena to be a light in the dark as she begins to share stories of their native Ghana. Their fears are made smaller and smaller by the tales, as they realize that home and family can travel with you no matter where you are.
Immigration topics: defining home in a new place, struggles
Na, An. A Step from Heaven. New York, NY: Speak (Penguin Putnam), 2001.
Young Ju Park learns that she is going to Mi Gook – America – when she is four years old and believes that she is going to heaven. But after their move she realizes that dreams are hard to reach, that the hardships from one place move with you to another, and that new problems can leave you trapped between two worlds. Young Ju remains hopeful, though, that Mi Gook will give her a voice that Korea never could.
Immigration topics: what America means, defining home in a new place, struggles, relationships between parents & children
Pak, Soyung. A Place To Grow. Illus. Marcelino Troung. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2002.
Told through an extended metaphor about seeds finding their way on the wind, a father shares the story of his long, hard journey to America seeking a new life for his family. He tells his daughter that no matter the distances between family and homeland they always remain in his heart.
Immigration topics: what America means, relationships between parents & children
Say, Allen. Grandfather’s Journey. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
Allen Say tells the poignant account of his grandfather’s journey to America and back to his native Japan, uncovering the beauty and pain that exists in loving two places at once. The grandson begins to learn this same truth as he grows older and seeks a home for himself.
Immigration topics: dual meaning of home, relationships between parents & children
Sheth, Kashmira. Blue Jasmine. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 2004.
When Seema moves to Iowa City from her native India she feels as if she is abandoning family and friends, especially her cousin Raju who is a brother to her. On top of leaving her family behind Seema struggles with language, finding new friends, and dealing with a bully in school. But even as she begins to feel more American she is drawn to her homeland and its sweet-smelling jasmine.
Immigration topics: what America means, dual meaning of home, struggles/fitting in
Steptoe, John. Creativity. Illus. E. B. Lewis. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 1997.
Hector has just arrived in class from Puerto Rico, and Charles is surprised to learn that he is not African American like him. As Charles tries to help Hector learn the neighborhood and his creative style of English, Hector’s presence teaches Charles about shared heritage and superficial differences.
Immigration topics: struggles/fitting in
Testa, Maria. Something About America. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2005.
Ten years ago her family fled the fires of ethnic hatred in Kosova, Yugoslavia but she still has the burn scars that tie her to her homeland. Although she has largely transformed herself into an American schoolgirl, her parents still feel like outsiders and have mixed feelings about America after 9/11, but they are not sure they can go home. Through short poems the narrator tells the story of helping her family cope with the change, and trying to understand what makes life so difficult for them in the States.
Immigration topics: what America means, relationships between parents & children
Wong, Janet S. Apple Pie 4th of July. Illus. Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc., 2002.
A Chinese-American girl does not want to help her parents in their restaurant on the 4th of July. She wants to be out in the streets, watching the parade, and enjoying American foods like apple pie just like everyone else. Not eating Chinese food. And although the day starts slow in the restaurant, she begins to learn as the day progresses that ‘real’ Americans do want to eat Chinese food on the 4th of July – and that maybe Chinese food is just as American as apple pie.
Immigration topics: what America means, relationships between parents & children
Yang, Belle. Hannah Is My Name. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2004.
Although representing immigration to the United States in the late 1960s, this book shows the struggles of a family waiting for green cards and fearing deportation that is still relevant to families today. Told from the perspective of a young Chinese girl, with a charming childlike voice, this book covers personal struggles for a child and familial struggles for families in a new places.
Immigration topics: struggles, what America means
Alternate Novel Options:
I have not read these titles in their entirety, but I have seen them on a number of book lists recommending texts about immigrant youth.
Cheng, Andrea. Honeysuckle House. Honesdale, PA: Front Street Press, 2004.
Ten-year-old Sarah misses her best friend terribly, but finds herself paired with a new girl in school who has just arrived from China. Sarah resents the pairing with another Asian student - and finds their common cultural roots still don't make up for the fact she's been raised in America and Tina is a newcomer. A reluctant friendship forms as the two find close ties to bind them in Honeysuckle House's inviting story of friendship.
Himelblau, Linda. The Trouble Begins. New York, NY: Delacorte Press (Random House), 2005.
Du Nguyen is finally home. Except he’s never even met his family. And home is an ocean away from everything he’s ever known. Du can’t seem to fit in anywhere and even his mom and dad think he’s trouble. His grandmother, who made the journey with him, understands that he is a “dragon.” But for Du to feel proud, like a dragon, he must untangle the trouble he finds himself in and call upon the strength he knows he’s always carried inside.
Munoz Ryan, Pam. Esperanza Rising. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2002.
Although set during the Depression, this book covers many aspects of finding your way in a new place that would still be relevant to this unit today. Esperanza Ortega lived a privileged existence in Aguascacientes, Mexico during the early 1920s. Her luxurious family home was tended by servants and she anticipated a lifetime of ease when she grew up and came to oversee El Ranch de las Rosas. Her dream was shattered when Esperanza and her mother were forced to leave Mexico and migrate to a company owned farm labor camp in California. Now, not only were their days defined by drudgery but many of their own people did not accept them. Can she find a new life for herself here?
Additional & Alternate Titles for Primary Grades:
Argueta, Jorge. A Movie in My Pillow / Una película en mi almohada. Illus. Elizabeth Gómez. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press, 2001.
A collection of poems in both Spanish and English that cover aspects of childhood, but also finding your way in a new place. Poems like “Voice from Home” and “When We Left El Salvador” paint a picture of immigrant life through simply composed stanzas.
Colato Laínez, René. My Shoes and I. Illus. Fabricio Vanden Broeck. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2010
The story of a boy leaving his native El Salvador to try to make it to his mother in America. His shoes represent his new life, but as they become tattered and frayed he realizes they simply represent the journey. Simple language with some interspersed Spanish phrases make this book a nice read-aloud for younger children, although the meaning behind the journey may not be as clear to them.
Kuklin, Susan. How My Family Lives in America. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1992.
A photographic exploration of three different children in America who have an immigrant parent. The children share their stories with Susan Kuklin to describe traditions, food, and language. Written as though directly transcribed from a child’s story. This book would fit nicely into a unit on families, although the pictures may be more powerful than the text.
Maestro, Betsy. Coming To America. Illus. Susannah Ryan. New York, NY: Scholastic, 1996.
This is a history of immigration in America, beginning thousands of years ago. Although wide in scope this book shows a number of different reasons that people have immigrated to America and why they continue to do so today. It shows that the spirit of American strength and independence is the spirit of its people – who are all immigrants in one sense or another.
Video Links:
“Knock Knock America - Story of Refugee Teens in St. Louis”
Follows the struggles of a few refugee teenagers who would like to follow the arts but find barriers in the language and culture, as well as their own families.
“Young Refugees Speak Up”
Although these are young people finding their way to the United Kingdom, the struggles faced by immigrants from all over the world are nicely documented in these interviews. This is a link to Kamran’s story, although others can be found on the sidebar or by visiting the British Red Cross page.
