WebQuest: La inmigración

Theme/Introduction: Immigration - especially immigration from Latin America - is a controversial topic in the United States, with people from both parties in Congress taking action to solve this ‘issue;’ Sometimes in favor of immigration, but more often than not working to stem the tide of immigrants moving northward from Latin America. What we seek for you, the students, to accomplish in the course of this WebQuest is to address the topic from a number of different political positions and viewpoints, in order to formulate an unbiased and descriptive yet humanistic viewpoint of Latino immigration. The purpose is for you to form your own opinions as to the fairness of, consequences stemming from, and even the legitimacy of this idea of the existence of a border.

Task: You will have three main research tasks to be accomplished during the course of the WebQuest:

1. Read and analyze at least one general article related to the topic of immigration in the United States.

2. Find at least one argument for or against immigration and assimilation of Latinos in the US in pop culture (music, movies, shows, comedy, etc).

3. Identify at least one example of political or official action taken by the US government, either in favor of or against immigration.

After collecting the information from each of the three resources that you have chosen to analyze, you will come together in small groups and design a short video done in the style of a television program, presenting your findings and opinions related to the topic. Finally, you will work individually in producing a short write up (500+ words) related to your findings and opinions.

Process: This is the step-by-step process that you should take in conducting the WebQuest project.

1. Using the resources provided in the resources list, do individual research about immigration, from a position of being in favor of, neutral to, or against the issue. Review at least three articles or YouTube videos below.

2. After you have done your research, get in groups of four to discuss your own positions regarding the articles that you researched.

3. Make a short video together of (1) a mock debate in which you show opposite positions regarding the immigration issue, (2) a newscast where you present facts regarding the issue, or (3) a talk show where you would argue for or against the issue. The videos must be between five and ten minutes in length, and don’t be afraid to play the devil’s advocate. The videos will be presented in class.

4. As the last activity, individually do a short write up, sharing your own personal opinions regarding the topic, in a respectful and logical manner. The write up has to be typed, double-spaced, and a minimum of 500 words, and has to be written in Spanish.

Resources: This is a list of potential resources that you might use whenever you are collecting data for the presentation, however, further research may be required dependent on what positions you seek to argue during the video activity. You must review at least three of these.

Amadeo, K. (2019). Immigration’s effect on the economy and you: it’s pros and cons. the balance. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/how-immigration-impacts-the-economy-4125413.

American Immigration Council. (2016). How the united states immigration system works. Retrieved from https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works.

Anti-Defamation League. (2019). Mainstreaming hate: the anti-immigrant movement in the u.s. Retrieved from https://www.adl.org/the-anti-immigrant-movement-in-the-us.

Arcaute, R. (2011). Latinoamérica [Recorded by Calle 13]. On Entre Los Que Quieran [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkFJE8ZdeG8.

Arce, J. (2019). Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric was never about legality - it was about our brown skin. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/5645501/trump-anti-immigration-rhetoric-racism/.

Arjona, R. (2005). Mojado [Recorded by Ricardo Arjona and Intocable]. On Adentro [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0kfYPZhHjw.

Bush, J. et al. (2019). U.S. immigration policy. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/report/us-immigration-policy.

Department of Homeland Security. (2019). Immigration data & statistics. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics.

Funny or Die. (2015). Mexican Donald Trump with George Lopez [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0noDEI2nLY.

Getmansky, A. et al. (2019). Will a u.s.-mexico border wall reduce crime. here’s what we know from israel’s west bank. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/09/will-us-mexico-border-wall-reduce-crime-heres-what-we-know-israels-west-bank/.

Immigration Policy Lab. (2017). How daca affects the health of america’s children. Retrieved from https://immigrationlab.org/project/daca-affects-health-americas-children/.

Law, T. (2019). Trump boasted that his border wall was ‘virtually impenetrable.’ then an 8-year-old girl climbed a replica. Time  Retrieved from https://time.com/5694432/girl-climbs-border-wall-replica/.

Los Tigres del Norte. (2011). América [Recorded by Los Tigres del Norte y Residente]. On MTV Unplugged: Los Tigres del Norte and Friends [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4NAMyDEIws.

Los Tigres del Norte. (2001). Somos más americanos [Recorded by Los Tigres del Norte]. On Uniendo Fronteras [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdZ8kojLu8Q.

Los Tigres del Norte. (1984). La jaula de oro [Recorded by Los Tigres del Norte]. On Jaula de Oro [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jeBzqS_6WE.

Menéndez, R. [director]. (1988). Stand and Deliver. Warner Bros.

Narea, N. (2019). Trump just quietly cut legal immigration by up to 65%. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2019/10/9/20903541/trump-proclamation-legal-immigration-health-insurance.

Policy Staff. (2019). A biblical view of immigrants: part 1. ERLC. Retrieved from https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/a-biblical-view-of-immigrants-part-1.

Saidman, A. & Chai, A. [directors]. (2019). Living Undocumented. Netflix.

Scott of the Insurgency Culture Collective. (2005). Anarchism and immigration. The Anarchist Library. Retrieved from https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/scott-of-the-insurgency-culture-collective-anarchism-and-immigration.

Trump, D. (2018). Remarks by president trump on the illegal immigration crisis and border security. The White House. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-illegal-immigration-crisis-border-security/.

Wade, K. (2014). Are illegal immigrants the ones ruining america? Daily Republic. Retrieved from https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/opinion/local-opinion-columnists/are-illegal-immigrants-the-ones-ruining-america/.

Wussow, T. & Pickering, J. (2019). Explainer: what’s happening with children at the southern border? ERLC. Retrieved from https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/explainer-whats-happening-with-children-at-the-southern-border.

Evaluation

Please refer to the Appendix for the evaluation rubric.

Conclusion: At the end of this WebQuest, we hope to have cultivated three things:

1. You should have sufficiently explored the topic of immigration, from both sides of the argument, and should have developed a deeper understanding and empathy for the people who are involved in and affected by immigration issues.

2. You should now be able to make arguments both for and against undocumented and documented immigration in the United States.

3. You should have further developed your analytical and research abilities to explore topics on your own and within a group, creating ‘toolkits’ applicable to future projects and investigations.

To conclude the WebQuest activity, please take the time to reflect upon the entire process - including doing research, working together in groups to develop a video, and writing up a summary of your own work and opinions. As a homework assignment for the next class, please write a one-paragraph reflection on this process, the information it contained, and what you learned from the project overall. Some questions you may address are: Did this change my opinion regarding the conflict and controversy surrounding immigration?; How did this affect the development of both my individual and group “toolkit”?; What did I learn and what can I apply to my next research project, based on this one?; Etc...