Free Lesson Plans for Teachers: Immigration

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Free Lesson Plans for Teachers
Alpha Stage

Immigration
May 21, 2007

The L.A. Times is running an article entitled, "Businesses, Families
Have a Lot Riding on Immigration Change."

The article explains that proposed changes to U.S. immigration laws,
"would shift the way the nation awards green cards from a heavy
preference on applicants with family ties - a system adopted in 1965 -
to those with advanced skills, college degrees and English-speaking
ability."

"The proposed shift is included in a massive immigration reform bill
unveiled last week by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat, and
Jon Kyl, a Republican. It would introduce a point system immediately
as a basis for the 140,000 permanent visas awarded annually for
workers and, after about eight years, increase that number to 380,000.
Point systems are used in countries such as Canada, Australia and the
United Kingdom."

Read the article!!

Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

Ask your students what the word guest means? Do your
students like having guests over to their homes? Why/why not?
Are there certain things that people should do when they have
guests over? What? Are their certain things that guests should
do when they are visiting somebody? What?

Students could prepare invitations for a friend to visit
their home. This could be through arts and crafts.

If a home was very small and one did not have enough room
for more than one guest do your students think it would be
appropriate to invite over a grandparent or a friend? Why do
they think this way?

Consider making a list of reasons why each option
should/should not be chosen, collaboratively as a class.

Ask your students if they think that somebody could live in
their backyard? Encourage them to explain their reasoning.
What kinds of "things" does a person need to live?

In groups of two or three students could develop lists of
the "things" that a person needs to live.

Do your students think it's important to learn? Why/why not?
If they had an extra house to give somebody who either knew a
lot or knew very little who would they give it to? Why?

Students could ask this question to others and use the
results for simple computation.

Discussion-Starters for Older Students

Vocabulary terms to discuss: "Sweeping Proposed Change";
"Globally Competitive"; Visa; and, "Dramatic Shift".

Do your students think that the United States has a
responsibility to allow people to move here from other
countries? Why/why not? What might be some advantages to
allowing people to move here? What might be some
disadvantages?

Ask students to respond to these questions in persuasive
essays.

The article quotes the executive director of the Pilipino
Workers' Center in L.A. as saying, "The proposal seems not to
value people as human beings, but only how they service and
benefit corporations." If this statement is correct, does it
matter? Why/why not? How does this set of questions differ
from the previous set of questions? Explain!

These questions could prompt an interesting class
discussion.

According to the article, several well informed individuals have
emphasized that before making dramatic changes Congress
should conduct a test to ensure that the changes will work. Tell
your students to imagine that they worked at the United States
Immigration Department. What kinds of specific information
would they want to find out if they conducted such a test?

Consider asking students to develop proposals for
implementing this proposed legislation as a test in order
to determine if it would work effectively. As part of this
proposal, they should explain what it would mean for
the legislation to work effectively.

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