Migration in Europe and multiculturalism in Britain

Europe is struggling to cope with a growing migrants flow. More and more migrants and asylum seekers are coming to Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

First of all, we are going to try to understand what migration is and what it means today. Then, we are going to talk about multiculturalism and, of course, about multicultural society in Britain.

Read the following articles, watch the video and answer the questions.

READING

HISTORY OF MIGRATION

History of migration:




http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=bbv

Migration from the colonies to Western Europe since 1800:




http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/economic-migration/pieter-c-emmer-leo-lucassen-migration-from-the-colonies-to-western-europe-since-1800

Migration to Britain:




http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/int_05_europe_01.shtml

MIGRATION TODAY

Some articles explain what is happening in Europe today 

Migration in Europe today: 
The following article try to answer these questions:

Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum seekers? 

What has caused migrant numbers to rise?

What is the EU doing about it? 

Are all the EU countries sharing the burden?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286

These 5 Facts Explain Europe’s Deadly Migrants Crisis:

http://time.com/3833333/ian-bremmer-europe-migrants-deaths/

Multicultural societies in an historic perspective:

http://ndla.no/en/node/89615

LISTENING

MULTICULTURALISM

Multicultural Britain

WRITING
Answer the following questions

Unfortunately, because of the migrants crisis, xenophobia and anti-immigrant attitudes have recently risen across the continent. 

• What do you think about that?
• Do you live in a multicultural place? 
• Is there migration from or immigration to your country? 
• What is your opinion about multiculturalism? What are the pros and cons of a multicultural society?
• Watch the video above about multicultural Britain and write a summary.

SPEAKING

Role-play

If we are travelling to a foreign country, we are all immigrants although we are going to stay there for short periods. In fact, as soon as we set foot in a foreign airport, we have to pass trough the Customs Office, show our documents and answer some questions.

Watch the following video.  Imagine you are in a British airport, you and your class mate are respectively a customs officer and and a traveller. Invent dialogues like the one in the video, ask and answer questions like: 

• What is your final destination?
• How long will you be staying in the UK?
• What is the purpose of your visit?
• Where will you be staying?
• Do you have anything to declare?

English communication - Airport Immigration and Customs

Immigration to the USA: Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

In the late 19th century, people from many parts of the world immigrated to the United States for different reasons: famine, lack of jobs, rising taxes, or because they were politically or religiously persecuted. In fact, U.S.A. was perceived as the land of freedom and economic opportunity. 

At the beginning, the federal government left immigration policy to individual states but then, it decided to regulate the increasing influx of immigrants. In 1890, the president Benjamin Harrison decided that Ellis Island, in New York Harbor near the Statue of Liberty, would be a federal immigration station. It was operational from 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants entered the United States through “the golden door”.

In 1954 it was abandoned and it began to decay rapidly. In 1965 President Johnson declared Ellis Island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument but only in the 1970s the Congress allocated a sum to repair it. In 1976 Ellis Island was reopened to the public.

Today you can take a ferryboat from Liberty Island and go on a one-hour guided tour retracing the steps of the immigrants.

                Surf my interactive Thinglink image and learn more. 

                                http://www.thinglink.com/scene/581896999171784706

Now surf the following sites to investigate 

some aspects related to immigration.

Immigration to the USA

http://spartacus-educational.com/USAimmigration.htm

Immigration to the USA, 1851-1900

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/riseind/immgnts/

U.S. immigration before 1965
http://www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965

USA immigration problems
https://www.numbersusa.com/problems

The White House website about immigration (watch the video!)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration

STUDENTS' WRITING TASK

You are an immigrant at the beginning of the 20th century. Tell me why you are going to the USA, where you are from, which are your expectations. Describe your journey and what you felt when you first saw the "golden door" and "Lady Liberty".