DRAGONWINGS

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Created by Kathy Cortland
10/29/02

Teacher Overview
Students will compare the experiences of present-day immigrants to the experiences of immigrant groups who came to the United States in the past, concentrating on the Lee family, a group of Chinese immigrants (c. 1900) in Laurence Yep’s novel Dragonwings. This unit addresses the essential question: Is the immigrant experience for newcomers to our country better today than it was for immigrants of the past?

Introduction

Since the birth of our country, groups of immigrants have been “coming to America.” Like the Lee family in Dragonwings, these groups have had a variety of expectations and goals in their quest for a fresh start and a better life.The subject of immigration has been and continues to be a controversial issue. In Dragonwings, some characters are welcoming and supportive of the Lee family; others are negative and hostile to the newcomers. Today we see the same broad spectrum of attitudes toward immigration to the United States.

Discussion: Share your views on the following questions.

• Why have people come to the United States in the past?
• Why do people come to the United States today?
• What are the benefits for immigrants and for the country when people from other lands settle here?
• What complications can develop for immigrants and for the country?
  
  

Poll: (of Team)

• How many students think that the United States should allow anyone to immigrate?
• How many students think that the United States today should not allow anyone from another land to move here permanently?
• How many students think that the United States should put a quota, or limit, on how many people come here from other places?

  Graph your results using either Excel or ClarisWorks spreadsheet.

Tasks

Group Task : Create a poster comparing the experiences of the Lee family to a modern day group of immigrants from a specific country chosen by your group.

Directions for Poster
Meet in your group and come to a consensus as to what information should be presented in your poster and to the format/design of your poster. Your poster should include information about:
Living Conditions
Education
Employment Opportunities
Legal Rights
Social Acceptance

Individual Task: Write a persuasive essay supporting your opinion
about whether modern day immigrant groups have a better or worse
experience than that of the Lee family in Laurence Yep’s novel
Dragonwings. You must support your opinion with examples from the
novel and information from your research.
.

Investigation

Explore the websites that are listed below. Find the answers to the following questions:

1. In the early 1900s, which five countries sent the largest numbers of immigrants to the United States?

2. From 1995 to 2000, what were the top five countries that sent immigrants to the U.S.?

For your group project, you will choose one of the current top countries for immigration to the U.S. and do a poster comparing that group with the Chinese immigrants in your novel.

Be sure you document where you collect information.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0201398.html
http://www.closeup.org/immigrat.htm
http://www.immigrationforum.org/index.htm
http://www.cis.org/
http://www.msnbc.com/news/755837.asp

Gathering and Sorting Information

Search for additional information on the Internet that relates to the modern day immigrant group you are researching. If you find something that might be useful to another research group, write down the URL and share it with them.
Remember that you need to document where you gather information!

Rubric for Poster

Rubric for Persuasive Essay