Immigration+Invasion

__**Team Immigration Invasion**__ toc Brandon Chiger, Sam Jones, Eric Kasper


 * ======**Big Idea**======
 * Immigration
 * ======**Essential Question**======
 * How do immigrants feel being in a foreign school and is PV a welcoming environment for immigrant students?
 * ======**Challenge**======
 * To find out what experience an immigrant has when going to a foreign school, and does the school have a welcoming environment.
 * ======**Guiding Questions**======
 * Do you feel that it is important for an immigrant to know English?
 * Do you feel that PV is welcoming toward immigrants?
 * Do you feel that it is important for immigrants to be exposed to American culture in order to adapt to an American way of life?
 * ======**Guiding Activities**======
 * Conduct a school wide survey on whether students feel that immigrants:
 * should know English
 * are welcomed in PV
 * should be exposed to American culture/way of life.
 * Speak with a guidance counselor who has dealt with immigrant students.
 * Use the internet to research literacy of immigrants.
 * ======**Guiding Resources**======
 * http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=723
 * (has good statistics about immigration flow to the United States)
 * https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2103.html
 * (has good percentages on literacy rates of countries around the world)
 * http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/07/detroit-illiteracy-nearly-half-education_n_858307.html
 * (great article; includes statistics describing high illiteracy rates in Detroit)
 * http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=109
 * (statistics on immigration in Detroit)

culture in order to adapt to an American way of life? || 88% || 12% ||
 * ======**Survey Results**======
 * **Question** || **Yes** || **No** ||
 * Is it important for an immigrant to know english? || 97% || 3% ||
 * Is PVHS a welcoming environment for immigrants? || 84% || 16% ||
 * Is it important for immigrants to be exposed to American
 * Our survey statistics which answered the essential question, "//Is PV a welcoming environment for immigrants?"// can be represented as follows:**

1. Have you ever been a counselor for an immigrant student? Yes, a handful. 2. Were the immigrant students comfortable here at PV? I think they were as comfortable as they could be because the main problem is the language barrier. The language is always the issue. That prevents them from infiltrating. Since we give them the ESL, it helps them. The teachers and students have always been kind to them, I don't know of any isolation. They were as comfortable as they could be. 3. How many of them knew English or were functionally literate? Most of them were functionally literate. They could understand the language, they could understand what I was saying. They had difficulty speaking the language. When you're in a math class, or biology, you're trying to understand what they are saying, never mind the math and biology. When they left, they had a better understanding of the language. 4. Do immigrants require extra "care" when choosing classes? Yes, because we have to schedule them as an ESL, (English as second language), in addition to their regular English class. We have to consider a foreign language, its a graduation requirement. So, extra time and thought go into making their schedule. I wouldn't put them in an honors level course, but it depends on the student.
 * ======**Expert Interview**======
 * (Q&A) Mary Jo Callanan, Guidance Counselor**

Immigrants have many barriers that differentiate them from American students. For example, language barriers make learning twice as difficult. In addition, immigrants may take extra time to adjust to a new school. Naturally, any kid takes time to adjust to a new school. For immigrants it takes even more time because their new school is in a new part of the world with a totally different language. These factors bring up an interesting question. What does it feel like to be an immigrant in a foreign school?
 * ======**Solution/Action**======

Over the past few days, we have gathered vital information on how immigrant students feel being in totally new, foreign environment. According to Mrs. Callanan, a guidance counselor, the main setback for immigrant students is their language barrier. Not only do immigrant students have to worry about learning the material taught in class, but they have to pick up what the teacher is saying in English. This is the biggest problem. According to gathered survey results, students at PV agreed overall, that PV is a welcoming environment for immigrants. If immigrants feel uncomfortable in our school, it is not because of isolationism, but more because of the fact that they have a language barrier.

Pascack Valley has shown to be a welcoming environment but that may not be the situation with most schools across America. In the article we posted about illiteracy rates in Detroit it shows that there’s a difficulty with immigrants adapting to the new area. They need more support and help from the surrounding citizens to teach them English and to make them feel comfortable. The action we’re taking is to make students more aware of an immigrants experience in a new country. We need to support them and make them feel comfortable so they can feel like they can live without worry and get a successful education.

**__Notes__**
9/16: Came up with group name, challenge and questions 9/19: We revised our questions and looked for resources online 9/20: Sam and Eric surveyed classes, Brandon found more resources and information 9/21: Today we sent an email contacted a guidance counselor asking to interview them and read over resources 9/22: Brandon interviewed Mrs. Callanan, a guidance counselor here at PV. 9/23: Eric started working on the presentation, Brandon and Sam worked on the Solution/Action 9/26: Brandon and Eric worked on the presentation together