Who are the Americans?

Discuss and note your ideas

Who lives in America? Where did they come from? When?

 

 

Have you seen any films about people immigrating to America? Which?

 

Were there any immigrants on The Titanic?

 

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?

·         How long did it take to cross the Atlantic?

·         What was the first thing people saw in America?

·         What did the officers give the immigrants?

·         What did the doctors do while the people walked upstairs?

·         Why couldn’t women enter America 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?