Immigration: Coming to America
Barry D. Thibault
MEDT 7464
Overview, Goals & Objectives
In this particular lesson, children will write scenes for a class play about immigration based on the book, “What if your name was changed at Ellis Island” and write scripted monologues in the voices of their immigrant characters from their group selected countries. Each group of 4 will re-write a scene for the overall play of the story including each member of the group writing his/her own theater monologue about the reactions of coming to America based on the books characters.
The goals are to allow the children to: exercise their Language Art skills, demonstrate their knowledge gained from a social studies unit on immigrants and Ellis Island, interpret the book, present what they had learned about theater monologues and developing characters in theater, while practicing working in groups to accomplish a final goal. The children will conclude the project by creating a Microsoft Movie Maker Scrapbook of their character displaying technology skills introduced through the class with scripted monologue created using Microsoft Word.
Rationale
This lesson will introduce the young actor to the discovery of creating their own monologues and scripts of immigrants coming to America. The idea of characterization is an important role in theater and this activity will allow the actor to develop special characters through the research and study of immigrants along with a Social Studies curriculum.
Prerequisites
Students should have a previous lesson on monologues and characterization to fully understand the background requirements and needs to perform and present special characters in theater. Background knowledge of immigration will be discussed in the Social Studies curriculum. Microsoft Word and Microsoft’s Publisher will also be utilized and should be taught prior to using this lesson.
Resources
This lesson will require a computer lab and internet research for the story “What if your Name was changed at Ellis Island.” Students can bring in old cloths and props to act out the specific characters that they create for this lesson.
Processes
Students will read the book “What if your Name was changed at Ellis Island” along with the Social Studies chapter on Immigration in America for this lesson. The following plans are suggested activities for the students:
1. Students will spend 2-3 days in the computer lab researching their immigrant’s background by reading biographies of immigrants. Students will create a monologue based on this research.
2. Students will create a scrapbook that describes the journey the immigrant had to travel. This can include a background of their life before they left,their trip to the U.S., or life in America based on their monologue.
3. Students will have to assemble a scrapbook or movie video that
describes the events written in the monologue.
4. They can write their monologue script under the picture as a suggestion.
5. Students will then correlate the scripted monologue that details the images chosen with other audio/visuals and other design elements.
6. Students will have to present their character in class or through a video recording
7. Students will be graded on script presentation and scrapbook/movie.
8. Creativity is very important for the students to receive a good grade.
Feedback
Students can present the immigrant’s story on video or perform live for an audience. Many other possible ideas can be presented for performance and feedback depending on the age group and acting/writing levels of the students. The obvious outcome would be a mature monologue that displays the struggles of the immigrants as they arrive to America for the first time. A rubric can also used to detail the requirements of the scrapbook, brochure, monologues, scripts or writings of the students.
