Teacher Background Notes

PUSH AND PULL FACTORS OF MIGRATION Push FactorsFactors that make you want to leave a place
Economic factors: Lack of employment Natural disasters (earthquakes, floods) Lack of food or shelter Lower standard of living Social Factors: Lack of health care Lack of educational opportunities Lack of religious tolerance Political Factors: Unfair legal system Disenfranchisement (Not being able to vote) or lack of governmental tolerance War and terrorism

Pull FactorsFactors that draw you to live in a place

Economic Factors: Hope for better employment More money and food Better shelter Hope for family to have a higher standard of living Social Factors: Encouragement from family and friends Better health care Better educational opportunities Religious tolerance Political Factors: To gain protection under the law Right to vote and freedom from persecution Safety

Immigration Survey Name _____________________________________ Date ______________________ Person being surveyed__________________________________________________ Please complete the following statements: I moved to Arizona because: ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________. I moved to Arizona _____________ years ago when I was ___________ years old. Two great things about living in Arizona are: _______________________________ and ____________________________________ My ancestors are from ________________________________________________. If I had my choice to live anywhere, I would love to live in _____________________. I would choose this place because of these two reasons: ________________________________ and ___________________________________ The worst place I ever lived was ___________________________________________. I didnt like living there because of these two reasons: __________________________________ and ________________________________ I plan to move within the next two years? Yes or No. If Yes, I plan to move to this place: _____________________________________________________ because _____________________________________________________________.

Push Factors

Pull Factors

Text-to-Text Connections Graphic Organizer

Text-to-Self Connections Graphic Organizer

Immigrant Stories Fact Sheet My name is Clara. I came from Guatemala in 2008. I came to live with my aunt in Tucson, Arizona, because in Guatemala I didnt have much of a chance for a good education. Many girls only go to school until they are 13, and then they get married. There are more chances for me to be successful here in America. I miss my family in Guatemala because they couldnt come with me. I have a brother that lives there with my mother and father. For now, I am trying my best to get my education. That is the most important thing to my family back in Guatemala. I feel lucky to have an aunt that is an American citizen. She helps me try my best in school. My name is Nia. I am from Jamaica. I came to the United States in the 1990s when I was only 13 years old. My grandmother wanted to bring me much earlier, but the paperwork that she had to file took 10 years to be accepted. I miss Jamaica very much. The people there are more fair than in the United States. My family says that I will have a better life here and there will be more opportunities for me to do well in America. Some of my other family members have come to the United States to live since I came here. We now live in Connecticut. My name is Imre. When I was a little boy in Hungary in the 1950s, my father and mother were killed in the war that was tearing our country apart. My brother and I traveled as orphans, living in the streets and begging for any food that we ate. We traveled all over Europe before I was able to come to America. My brother stayed behind in Europe. I felt alone at first, but then I met the woman that I married. We moved to Phoenix, Arizona, because there were jobs available for hard-working immigrants at the time. I didnt speak English when I first got here, but I learned enough to do simple jobs like sweeping factories and parking lots. I am happy to live in a safe place like America. My name is Lan. I am from Vietnam. My stepdad was an American that fought in the war in Vietnam. He met my mother in Vietnam in the 1970s, fell in love, and married her. Once the war was over, he wanted to move back to the United States so that my 3 sisters, 2 brothers and I could have a better life. There wasnt much risk of war in the United States. We now live in Eugene, Oregon. Not only did we all come to the United States...but my grandmother Hong came with us too. It is nice having all of the family together. I speak English now almost all of the time. My name is Catherine. I came from Ireland in the 1840s. When I was a little girl, we ran out of food in Ireland. My mother and brother and father and I had just enough money to pay for a cheap ticket on a boat from Ireland to America. When we got here, we had to stay in a small room with another family that came from Ireland. Even though it was crowded, we still had a little more food than we did in Ireland. Sometimes, people that werent from Ireland would talk badly about my family. They didnt want me here because they said I could get them sick. I didnt understand this, because I felt healthy. All ended up all right though.

My name is Carlo, but here they call me Charles. I came from Italy. I came to New Orleans, Louisiana, in the early 1900s. I delivered huge blocks of ice when I came here. It was great having a job, but it was hard work! I had a mule that used to help me carry the giant blocks of ice through the streets. I got married here and had seven children. I came here with nothing but my clothes. I made a little bit of money working hard. I was able to have a house and raise my children the right way. They said that America was the land of opportunity. I guess they were right. My name is Moses. I came from Sudan in Africa three years ago. My mother and three sisters brought me to America to be free from my father. In Africa, my dad used to hit my mother and me. There are lots of bad things, like war, happening in Sudan. I am happy that my mother brought me to America where I can go to school and eat school lunches. The people at the refugee center help us keep our apartment and they are teaching my mom how to speak English. It is much safer here than in Sudan for many reasons. I think it was a good thing that we came here. My name is Ling. I came from China to help build the railroad in the United States in 1873. The work was hard, but there were many of us working together. The goal was for the United States to have train tracks run from coast to coast. Not only were Chinese people helping build the railroad, but also some Irish and Italians were too. There werent many women that came for this kind of work. Sometimes I wished I was home. I was glad to be here and working though. China isnt easy to get back to. Theres a lot of water separating the United States from Asia. My name is Paul. I am from Germany. My father was a farmer. We moved to the United States in the early 1900s because there were too many people living in Germany. Even though my dad was a great farmer, back in Germany we didnt have enough land to grow enough food for our own family to live off of. We learned English quickly and built a place to live on our land. The work was hard because we first had to clear all the land before we could grow crops. Our only friends lived miles away. I felt lucky to have my family, but I could tell that my dad was lonely a lot. America wasnt as easy of a life as other German immigrants wrote and told us about. My name is Ricardo. I am from Cuba, but I came to America in 1961. There are about a million other Cubans that have moved to the United States. Many Cubans live in Miami, Florida. We like to live near each other so that we dont feel too far from home. Its nice having a Cuban for a neighbor, one that speaks your language (Spanish) and cooks and eats the same kind of food you do. Most people that have come from Cuba like me are unhappy with the way the Cubans run their government. In the United States, a person has specific rights, based on the Constitution. In Cuba, the government decides what is best for a person. It is much safer to live in America.

Immigration Push and Pull and Reading Comprehension Quiz Name _____________________________________ Date ___________________________ Answer the following questions using your Immigrant Stories Fact Sheet 1. In Catherines story, a pull factor was that she would get to stay in a small room with another family? T ___________ F__________ 2. A push factor for Imre was the war happening in Hungary? T ___________ F__________ 3. Pauls story included a push and a pull factor? T ___________ F__________ 4. Clara lives in Arizona with her parents? T ___________ F__________ 5. Lan came to America with her stepmother and father? T ___________ F__________ 6. In Mosess story, what was a pull factor? __________________________________________________________________________. 7. In Ricardos story, what was a push factor? __________________________________________________________________________. 8. In Lings story, why couldnt he go back to China easily? __________________________________________________________________________. 9. In Imres story, what kind of jobs did Imre do here? __________________________________________________________________________. 10. In Maria Isabels story, what was a pull factor? __________________________________________________________________________. 11. In Charless story, tell what he did to earn money once he came to America? __________________________________________________________________________. 12. Why is Clara unhappy in America? __________________________________________________________________________. 13. In Lings story, when did he say he came to help build the railroad? __________________________________________________________________________. 14. In Imres story, what was a reason that he came to Arizona? __________________________________________________________________________.

15. In Nias story, what took so long for Nia to come to America? a. The people were not as fair as in Jamaica b. The paperwork took a long time c. It was hard to get here from Peru. d. She was going to live in Miami instead of Connecticut 16. In Lans story, how many people in all came to the United States with her stepdad? a. 5 b. 6 c. 7 d. 8 17. In Claras story, what do you know about her aunt? a. She is a good cook. b. She lives in Peru. c. She is an American citizen. d. She likes animals. 18. In Ricardos story, what two reasons made it nice for Cubans to live by each other? a. They could watch TV together and eat the same food. b. They dont feel far from home and they like to swim. c. They didnt want to go back to Cuba and they liked pancakes. d. They both spoke Spanish and ate the same kind of food. 19. In Nias story, how do you know shes not completely happy in the United States? a. She says she misses Jamaica and the people there are fair. b. She says the people there are fair and they have better food. c. She says the food is better there and she likes the beach. d. She says the beach is better and there are more fun ways to spend your day in Jamaica. 20. If you or your family came here from someplace else, write down a) one good thing and b) one bad thing about moving to the United States. If you have always lived here, use one of the people from the story and tell one good thing and one bad thing about their migration to the United States. a) __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ b) __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

Immigration Push and Pull and Reading Comprehension Quiz Answer Key 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. F 5. F 6. Go to school- safer in U.S. 7. Unhappy with Cubas government 8. Theres lots of ocean between the U.S. and China 9. Sweep factories and parking lots 10. Chance for good education 11. Ice delivery man 12. She misses her family. 13. 1873 14. There were jobs in Arizona 15. b 16. d 17. c 18. d 19. a 20. answers will vary

Push Pull Factor Word Sort

Push Factor
Famine

Pull Factor
Drought

War

Family

Agriculture-Land

Freedom

Job opportunity

Tornados

Poverty

Gold

Money

Good climate

Bad climate

Adventure

Venn Diagram Write the names of the 2 people that you are comparing over their circles. Write at least 3 similarities and 3 differences between the 2 people that you are comparing.