Carnegie Great Immigrants: The Pride of America - Presentation

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Activity Description

Students use the Internet to find and read information about a great immigrant from their native countries. Using the Carnegie Great Immigrants: The Pride of America Web site, they choose an immigrant, read and take notes about him/her, and prepare an oral presentation, optionally using the PowerPoint template provided.

Preparation

1. Make sure that the site is not blocked at your school.
2. Practice using the Example Web Site to be familiar with its navigation.
3. Download the handout Great Immigrant Project and Score Sheet, modify as desired, print, and make photocopies.
4. Prepare a lesson to teach or review biographical information and related vocabulary (was born, grew up, got married, immigrated, etc.).
5. Be sure you are familiar with the basics of PowerPoint before assigning that portion of the activity.
6. Prepare a rubric for scoring their PowerPoint presentations.

How-To

1. Teach or review biographical information.
2. Ask students if they can name any well-known or famous immigrants from their countries here in the United States.
3. Distribute the handout and explain the project to students.
4. Model for students how to use the Web site and fill out the note-taking section of the handout.
5. Model a sample presentation and/or explain how to use the PowerPoint template (as desired).
6. Allow students time to create their PowerPoints.
7. Share and explain the scoring for students' presentations.
8. Have students practice their presentations and then present to the class.
9. Use the score sheet to provide feedback to students on how they can improve their presentation/public speaking skills.

Teacher Tips

• If you have many students from one country, you may choose to have them work on this project in pairs or small groups.
• If some students lack technology skills and you have chosen for them to create a presentation using PowerPoint or other slideshow presentation software, consider pairing novice computer users with those who are more advanced.
• Students could also create posters, magazines, or other types of print media instead or in addition.
• The Civics Quiz portion of the site may not play well with the Chrome browser. Besure to check this out in advance.

More Ways

• In the Carnegie's Journey section of the Web site, visitors can view an interactive map and historic images from Andrew Carnegie’s life story.
• In the Today's Journey section, learn about the New Americans Campaign (NAC), which is currently driving a national, nonpartisan citizenship campaign throughout the country, focused on eight major cities with large numbers of citizenship-eligible residents. Throughout the year, the NAC sponsors daylong workshops in these cities to assist immigrants who are seeking to become citizens. Read the stories of selected workshop participants or watch video testimonials as they complete their own naturalization process.
• Students can visit the Civics Quiz section at to quiz themselves on the 100 questions below, taken from the official Naturalization Test administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by selecting a question cards.

Program Areas

• ESL: English as a Second Language

Levels

• Intermediate High
• Advanced

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