Cultural Text Set: Immigration and Refugees
INFO237 by Jessica Brooks
Audience: 6th-7th grade
Anchor Text: Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs
Essential Questions:
What are some of the factors that would influence a person to leave their home with little hope of returning?
How has society's perception and acceptance of legal, or illegal, immigration and refugees changed over time?
Purpose of the text set:
The purpose of the text set is to give students multiple and diverse opportunities to examine and discuss the reasons why people immigrate to countries that are not the country of their birth. This text set will foster and build empathy for people who, in the news, are often viewed as a danger to society. Through different perspectives and narrative structures, students will see the complex and multilayered reasons a person or family may have for moving, and the emotional impact of such a move.
INFO237 by Jessica Brooks
Audience: 6th-7th grade
Anchor Text: Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs
Essential Questions:
What are some of the factors that would influence a person to leave their home with little hope of returning?
How has society's perception and acceptance of legal, or illegal, immigration and refugees changed over time?
Purpose of the text set:
The purpose of the text set is to give students multiple and diverse opportunities to examine and discuss the reasons why people immigrate to countries that are not the country of their birth. This text set will foster and build empathy for people who, in the news, are often viewed as a danger to society. Through different perspectives and narrative structures, students will see the complex and multilayered reasons a person or family may have for moving, and the emotional impact of such a move.
Anchor Text:
Crossing the Wire
224 pages
Lexile 670L
The main character of this novel is Victor, a 15 year old boy from Mexico who is struggling to support his family after his father dies on a work site in "El Norte". He realizes that, with the drop in the price of Mexican corn, he will need to find work in "El Norte" and "cross the wire" into the United States, like his father did, in order to send enough money back to feed his mother, brother, and sisters. This novel sets the tone for a unit on immigration, specifically economic immigration, and refugees because it examines the factors that would compel a person to leave their home, likely never to return, and face the numerous dangers that imperil their journey as "illegal" workers and residents in the U.S.A. The narration is clear and the language is not particularly complex, but some of the Spanish words and references to Mexican culture and life on the border may be difficult for many students to understand without direct instruction. This book should be teacher-led and discussed.
Hobbs, W. (2007). Crossing the wire. New York: HarperTrophy.
224 pages
Lexile 670L
The main character of this novel is Victor, a 15 year old boy from Mexico who is struggling to support his family after his father dies on a work site in "El Norte". He realizes that, with the drop in the price of Mexican corn, he will need to find work in "El Norte" and "cross the wire" into the United States, like his father did, in order to send enough money back to feed his mother, brother, and sisters. This novel sets the tone for a unit on immigration, specifically economic immigration, and refugees because it examines the factors that would compel a person to leave their home, likely never to return, and face the numerous dangers that imperil their journey as "illegal" workers and residents in the U.S.A. The narration is clear and the language is not particularly complex, but some of the Spanish words and references to Mexican culture and life on the border may be difficult for many students to understand without direct instruction. This book should be teacher-led and discussed.
Hobbs, W. (2007). Crossing the wire. New York: HarperTrophy.
Supporting Texts:
Home of the Brave
272 pages
Lexile N/A (poetry)
This is a novel, written in verse, which tells the story of a Sudanese boy and his brother who have been relocated as refugees to Minnesota in the middle of winter. It is beautifully written, showing all of the conflicting emotions of Kek as he wonders what happened to his family in Sudan while his brother struggles to acclimate to their new surroundings. When Kek sees a cow, alone, neglected, and unhappy in the snow, he is able to reconnect to his own feelings of home and bring his brother some hope as well. This novel is a good supplementary text because it shows the perspective of an immigrant who does not leave his country by choice but, as a refugee of war, the choice is life or death. Most of our students have never met a person who has had to make a decision like this. This text may not need to be teacher-led and instead could be used in small groups as a lit-circle text, though it could of course be read with a whole class.
Applegate, K. (2009). Home of the brave. New York: Square Fish.
Enrique's Journey
299 pages
Lexile 830L
Enrique's Journey is the true story of a boy from Honduras who rides the trains to the United States in order to find his mother. Enrique's mother left him in the hands of relatives, along with his sister, when he was 5 years old, in order to work and send money back. Without his mother, Enrique falls into a life of crime and despair. His dream of reuniting with his mother sustains him through multiple border crossings and deportations, but when he does finally find her, he realizes that she is not the answer to all of his problems.
This book shows the reader the harsh realities and dangers that people face when the make the illegal crossing into the United States. Even more important than that, though, is the way that Enrique's Journey shows the harsh realities of his life in Honduras, fending for himself, without his mother. His story gives context to the debate about illegal immigration and humanizes the statistics, putting a face on the numbers of people who come to the U.S. seeking opportunity when they have none at home. This book has many difficult topics and, though it is young-readers version, should be teacher-led and discussed.
Nazario, S. (2014). Enrique's journey. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Enrique's Journey. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://enriquesjourney.com/
I
A Different Pond
32 pages
Lexile 620L
This picture book, written by poet Bao Phi, tells the story of a young boy who wakes up early with his father, long before the sun has risen, to fish. They are not fishing for fun, but fishing for food before the workday begins. The "different pond" refers to a story Phi's father tells him about a pond in Vietnam that he used to fish with his brother. This story provides inference about the cost of war in Vietnam, lost family members, and life as a refugee in a country where you can work two jobs and still not have enough to feed your family properly. This is a beautiful addition to the text set because of the moving and spare narration of a child looking up to his father and recognizing all that he has left behind as a refugee in the U.S. I envision this being teacher led, read out loud for to a whole class, and opened up to discussion for students to compare this story with other stories they have read or heard.
Phi, B., & Bui, T. (2017). A different pond. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Young Readers, an imprint of Capstone Press.
A Different Pond
32 pages
Lexile 620L
This picture book, written by poet Bao Phi, tells the story of a young boy who wakes up early with his father, long before the sun has risen, to fish. They are not fishing for fun, but fishing for food before the workday begins. The "different pond" refers to a story Phi's father tells him about a pond in Vietnam that he used to fish with his brother. This story provides inference about the cost of war in Vietnam, lost family members, and life as a refugee in a country where you can work two jobs and still not have enough to feed your family properly. This is a beautiful addition to the text set because of the moving and spare narration of a child looking up to his father and recognizing all that he has left behind as a refugee in the U.S. I envision this being teacher led, read out loud for to a whole class, and opened up to discussion for students to compare this story with other stories they have read or heard.
Phi, B., & Bui, T. (2017). A different pond. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Young Readers, an imprint of Capstone Press.
My Immigration Story (website)
User-generated content
This website gives a forum for immigrants and children of immigrants to read true stories written by other immigrants and to publish their own stories. There are hundreds of accounts, both under the Older Stories tab and the Home tab. According to the site host on the Home page, "Statistics do not tell the story of immigration. People do. Since its inception, this nation has been continually infused with the energy of newcomers. Yet their assimilation has seldom been smooth. The challenges we face today are not new. Only the stories are." As part of the text set, students could be encouraged to read stories and, if they are so inclined, write their own. This could be done individually with minimal teacher interference.
Ramos y Sanchez, R. (n.d.). My Immigration Story. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://myimmigrationstory.com/
"Don't feel sorry for refugees-- believe in them"
TEDx talk
Time 14:13
Luma Mufleh is an advocate for refugees and a refugee herself, originally from Jordan . She founded Fugees Acadamy, a non-profit program that provides soccer support and tutoring, for refugee and child survivors of war after spotting some kids playing soccer in a vacant lot and playing with them. Over time she was struck by the hardships they faced, namely poverty, and prejudice. She says in her TEDx talk, "In the last two years, we have seen an escalating anti-refugee sentiment. It's global. The numbers continue to grow because we do nothing to prevent it and nothing to stop it. The issue shouldn't be stopping refugees from coming into our countries. The issue should be not forcing them to leave their own." Her talk is a powerful and important component of the text set because of her real-life examples, the way she relates her own story, and the emotions she can't contain as she advocates for humane and just treatment of refugees. This piece could be watched without a lot of teacher input and then discussed in small groups.
Mufleh, L. (2017, April). Don't feel sorry for refugees -- believe in them. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/luma_mufleh_don_t_feel_sorry_for_refugees_believe_in_them
TEDx talk
Time 14:13
Luma Mufleh is an advocate for refugees and a refugee herself, originally from Jordan . She founded Fugees Acadamy, a non-profit program that provides soccer support and tutoring, for refugee and child survivors of war after spotting some kids playing soccer in a vacant lot and playing with them. Over time she was struck by the hardships they faced, namely poverty, and prejudice. She says in her TEDx talk, "In the last two years, we have seen an escalating anti-refugee sentiment. It's global. The numbers continue to grow because we do nothing to prevent it and nothing to stop it. The issue shouldn't be stopping refugees from coming into our countries. The issue should be not forcing them to leave their own." Her talk is a powerful and important component of the text set because of her real-life examples, the way she relates her own story, and the emotions she can't contain as she advocates for humane and just treatment of refugees. This piece could be watched without a lot of teacher input and then discussed in small groups.
Mufleh, L. (2017, April). Don't feel sorry for refugees -- believe in them. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/luma_mufleh_don_t_feel_sorry_for_refugees_believe_in_them
"Home"
Poem: animated spoken word and text
Time 3:42
This powerful poem by Warsan Shire, a British poet born in Kenya, describes the reasons why people would leave their homes and brave all of the incredible dangers in order to seek asylum. She says, " no one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark/you only run for the border/when you see the whole city running as well." The youtube video is a black and white animation with a voiceover by Shire reading the poem. As far as complexity level is concerned, this poem is full of deep and thought provoking figurative language and imagery. She uses the n-word in the context of the subject of the poem being harassed and insulted, and a teacher may choose to discuss this word choice with their class before listening. As a supplementary text, this is a haunting and profound perspective on leaving home and could be used in so many ways to build empathy for immigrants and refugees. It would definitely need to be teacher led because of the figurative language and multiple levels of meaning.
Shire, W. (2017, March 13). "Home" . Retrieved November 20, 2017
Voos, H., Parsley, H., & Pelton, A. (2017, March 13). "Home" by Warsan Shire (G. Mogge, Ed.). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
time_continue=70&v=nI9D92Xiygo
"Refugees": Some Poems. (2015, September 09). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://www.warscapes.com/poetry/refugees-some-poems
Poem: animated spoken word and text
Time 3:42
This powerful poem by Warsan Shire, a British poet born in Kenya, describes the reasons why people would leave their homes and brave all of the incredible dangers in order to seek asylum. She says, " no one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark/you only run for the border/when you see the whole city running as well." The youtube video is a black and white animation with a voiceover by Shire reading the poem. As far as complexity level is concerned, this poem is full of deep and thought provoking figurative language and imagery. She uses the n-word in the context of the subject of the poem being harassed and insulted, and a teacher may choose to discuss this word choice with their class before listening. As a supplementary text, this is a haunting and profound perspective on leaving home and could be used in so many ways to build empathy for immigrants and refugees. It would definitely need to be teacher led because of the figurative language and multiple levels of meaning.
Shire, W. (2017, March 13). "Home" . Retrieved November 20, 2017
Voos, H., Parsley, H., & Pelton, A. (2017, March 13). "Home" by Warsan Shire (G. Mogge, Ed.). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
time_continue=70&v=nI9D92Xiygo
"Refugees": Some Poems. (2015, September 09). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://www.warscapes.com/poetry/refugees-some-poems
Migration Policy Institute (website)
Infographs
There are so many thought-provoking, interactive graphs on the Migration Policy Institute website. This website offers maps with infographics like Unauthorized Immigrant Populations by Country and Region, Top State and County Destinations, 2010-2014, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Data Tools. The information seeker can change data preferences to search by country of origin in most of the maps. This is a valuable element in the cultural text set especially when considering people as data, like numbers on a graph or bubble on a map. Being able to focus in on the individuals and understanding their stories is just as, if not more important, than calculating their numbers as a group. However, having data to analyze and leading students to come up with statements based on the data is a valuable skill to teach as well. This would require teacher led and small group instruction.
Maps of Immigrants in the United States. (2017, February 01). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/maps-foreign-born-
united-states
Infographs
There are so many thought-provoking, interactive graphs on the Migration Policy Institute website. This website offers maps with infographics like Unauthorized Immigrant Populations by Country and Region, Top State and County Destinations, 2010-2014, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Data Tools. The information seeker can change data preferences to search by country of origin in most of the maps. This is a valuable element in the cultural text set especially when considering people as data, like numbers on a graph or bubble on a map. Being able to focus in on the individuals and understanding their stories is just as, if not more important, than calculating their numbers as a group. However, having data to analyze and leading students to come up with statements based on the data is a valuable skill to teach as well. This would require teacher led and small group instruction.
Maps of Immigrants in the United States. (2017, February 01). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/maps-foreign-born-
united-states