Henry+and+the+Kite+Dragon+Reinforcing+Activity

History Stand Theme: Heritage Content Statement: European exploration and colonization had lasting effects which can be used to understand the Western Hemisphere today.

Reinforcing Activity

Materials: One laptop per group, tape, pencils, paper

Objectives: -the student will be able to see the barriers between groups during the immigration era

I will break up my students into four groups. They will research the different ethnic groups that live in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. I will send them to this website [] and based on whatever area they are assigned, they will look up the different groups that lived in that neighborhood. For the remainder of the class period, each student will pick a different heritage in their neighborhood. This means that no two students in the same group will speak the same language.

I want to show how hard it was for people to communicate during the times of immigration. People didn’t know how to communicate and express their thoughts to one another, and this is one reason that people did not always get along. Each person will have a piece of paper taped to their shirts labeling what their heritage is and give a short background on it that's visible for students to read.

Each person is going to be assigned a task they need to complete by the end of the period. I will hand a piece of paper to each group member labeling them one through six, and each number is assigned a task. The purpose is so that all the other people understand what they are asking. Each person has to act out, draw pictures, or use props in the classroom in order to accomplish each task. The students will write down what they think each person is asking. At the end, they will share what they thought each person’s task was. Once all the sharing is finished, each person will reveal what he or she was asking.

Person 1: Person one needs to find out how far the grocery store is from the school. Person 2: Person two needs two eggs from her neighbor to bake a pound cake. Person 3: Person three is looking for a job so he/she can make money. Person 4: Person four needs someone to watch her kids. Person 5: Person five needs to find a restroom. Person 6: Person six wants to know where to find a park.

After all of the students have had a chance to reveal what their task was, I want students to write a reflection on the types of skills they had to use in order to communicate what their task was. I also want them to reflect on the techniques they used to guess what others tasks were. Then I want them to relate these ideas to living in New York City during the times of heavy immigration.

Reflection Questions: What was the hardest part of the activity? What was the easiest? How did you feel while trying to communicate with the other students when they couldn't understand you? How was it for all of these different groups? How did they survive? Why do you think they stuck to their own groups? What kind of tension do you think rose in these neighborhoods between groups?

The reflection should be 1-2 pages.