Mónica Marcela Trujillo Ramirez, ESL, West Charlotte High School
Implementing Common Core Standards (PDF)
200 Word Synopsis
ESL teachers have to deal with a great variety of immigrant students who often represent an array of cultures, traditions and languages. The reasons why people immigrate to the United States of America are diverse. People might migrate seeking religious and political freedom, family reunification, education and job opportunities, or a better life style. In this respect some students are aware of the reasons that brought them here and like to share their stories; others do not. This is a starting point to develop a unit on new geographies of immigration. This topic will allow my students to explore and clarify some concepts and issues related to immigration, adaptation and integration into American culture. Exploring the concept of immigration and some misconceptions related to it in the classroom, seems to be essential, not only because my students are immigrants and have different perspectives, but also because immigration has affected the whole nation and is a very controversial topic, and needs to be discussed from a critical point of view. Taking into account that immigration has been broadly discussed by different authors who have provided a rich amount of informational text and media, we will examine different sources that can be useful in understanding this issue, particularly in the context of the ESL classroom.
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