1. The Immigrant Experience
Lesson starter:
What problems might immigrants face when they arrived in the USA?

2. Today we will…
Understand some of the problems facing immigrants to the USA
Understand the type of welcome they received

3. Task
You are going to create a mind map based on the Immigrant Experience – this should be written in the middle of your page.
Each group has five aspects of the immigrant experience.
Ellis Island
Slum Housing
Communities
Politics
WASPs
You should take it in turns to read one aspect of the immigrants’ experience and make notes on your mind map.
By the end of the lesson you should all have notes on every section.

4. Island of Hope – Island of Tears
We will now watch a documentary about Ellis Island.
As we watch, you should add more information to your mind map about the experiences of immigrants as they were being processed.

5. 9 Mark Question Mark Allocation
1 mark for intro (a list of the things you’re going to write about).
1 mark for structure (i.e. writing about more than one thing and in paragraphs).
5 marks for knowledge.
1 mark for choosing a most important reason/factor.
1 mark for giving a reason why you have chosen this.

6. 9 Mark Question Example Question:
To what extent was the immigrant experience positive? (9 marks)
Structure
There were many parts of the experience of immigrants to the USA such as the journey to the USA, Ellis Island, slum housing, communities and treatment by WASPs.
One part of the immigrant experience was the journey to the USA. This was positive/negative as…. Another part of the immigrant experience was…This was positive/negative as…
A further part of the immigrant experience was… This was positive/negative as…. In addition, immigrants …. This was positive/negative as…. Finally, immigrants had to …. This was positive/negative as….
In conclusion, the immigrant experience was positive/negative/positive to an extent as….

7. 1. Ellis Island All immigrants arrived here to be ‘processed’.
They waited for hours to be checked by a doctor.
Immigrants would be marked with chalk if they were ill or ‘feeble minded’ – those people would be sent back to the country they came from.
After the medical inspection, pages of forms had to be completed to receive a ‘landing card’.
This allowed you into New York.

8. 2. Slum Housing
Most immigrants settled in cities where work was: New York, Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago
They could only afford the cheapest rents and slums started to develop: Overcrowding, poor sanitation etc.

9. 3. Communities
Immigrants moved beside people of similar religion, nationality and culture.
Names such as ‘Little Italy’, ‘Little Germany’, ‘Irishtown’ and ‘Chinatown’ became common.

10. 4. Politics
Most immigrants had no idea about US politics - many did not even speak English.
This meant they were willing to vote for anyone who helped them.
Sometimes immigrants were bribed for their vote.
Some immigrants became politically powerful – the Irish in Boston for example (Kennedy family).

11. The WASP term typically excludes Catholics, Jews, Slavs, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians

12. 6 – Discrimination from WASPs
9 mark essay question
Describe the experiences of many immigrants to the USA. (8 marks)
Paragraph Plan
1 – introduction
2 – Ellis Island
3 – Slum Housing
4 Communities
5 – Politics
6 – Discrimination from WASPs
7 - Conclusion