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The New Americans

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/index.html

Provider: Independent Television Service

Resource summary

• Appropriate grades: 7–12
• Subjects: arts (general), English language arts (debate, literature, story telling, writing), guidance (character education), mathematics (statistics), second languages (cultural awareness), social studies (civics and government, global education, sociology, United States history, world cultures), thinking skills (research skills), diverse learners (race and culture), teaching methods (cooperative learning, discussions, reflective learning)
• Provider: Independent Television Service

More on the web

• More websites with resources on arts, debate, literature, story telling, writing, character education, statistics, cultural awareness, civics and government, global education, sociology, United States history, world cultures, research skills, race and culture, cooperative learning, discussions and reflective learning.

At this companion site for the film The New Americans, there are a wealth of resources, information, and lesson plan ideas for studying the subject of immigration. From the home page, visit the Meet the New Americans section to find information on five different groups of immigrants: Ogoni, Palestinian, Dominican, Mexican, and Indian. To learn more about the cultures of immigrant and refugee groups, go to the Culture section, which gives samples of art, food, music, and language from varying places. After exploring these two sections, you can then take a quiz on immigrants and immigration to test what you have learned. In addition, there is a space for people to share their own stories. Here, you can find the experiences of various individuals and can also give your students a chance to write about any related experiences they may have.

The site also contains great lesson plans, which are located in the For Educators segment. Click on the link for the Lesson Plan Index to see all eleven lessons, written for grades 7-12. Each lesson provides national standard correlations, learning objectives, step by step procedures, assessment and extension ideas, and related resources. The activities include debate, discussion, analyzing statistical data, cultural study, and more. Some of the lesson plans list a copy of the film as a needed material, but the procedures do not seem to require the film.

When navigating the site, avoid using the tabs in the top bar of the page, as they will take you back to the Independent Lens home. Use the links within the main body of the page.