The following are responses to the questions
posed by your class. Hopefully
you find some good information.
*English
as a Second Language (ESL), which is a program for students (usually
immigrants) who are learning the English language is now called English
Language Learners (ELL) at our school.
Therefore as you read the following responses, you will find
references to both. They
are the same thing.
Green
Cards
·
They allow people to live in the United States while they
aren’t citizens. It’s a temporary residence.
·
50,000 cards are available every year through a lottery.
·
Green cards aren’t available to anyone who comes from a
country that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants over the past 5
years.
·
They must be native of a country that is eligible to
participate. They could
also be eligible to apply if their parent was born in a country that
is eligible to participate.
·
They must have a high school diploma or the equivalent,
defined in the United States as successful completion of a 12-year
course of elementary and secondary education; or they must have two
years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation
that requires at least two years of training or experience to
perform.
·
Anyone who is selected is given the opportunity to apply for
permanent residence. If
permanent residence is granted, they will be authorized to live and
work permanently in the United States.
They are also allowed to bring their spouse and any unmarried
children under the age of 21 to the United States.
*
* * * *
Illegal
Immigrants
INS
(Immigration and Naturalization Service) usually sends a form to
companies that are possibly employing illegal workers, warning them
to fire them, instead of making direct raids.
Many
illegal immigrants work in agriculture and manufacturing along the
border.
Studies
have estimated profit from aliens’ labor from $1-10 billion but
that the cost to native taxpayers is much high. ($15-20 billion)
Illegal
immigrants widen the economic gap between the rich and the poor.
*
* * * *
In
the past, Minnesota was a very popular place for people of German
and other Northern European countries.
If you were to come here and look around, you would probably
see a lot of the physical characteristics are similar.
Mostly we are blond and tall or short and brunette reflecting
the coastal “Viking” Norwegians and the darker Laplanders.
Many of the foods that are popular were influenced by German
culture. We eat a lot
of meals with potatoes or noodles.
We have cities named after German cities, such as New Ulm or
New Munich, which reflect the place from which the German immigrants
originally came. Though
there are few Europeans immigrating the U.S. today, the original
immigrants live on in our own Minnesotan culture.
*
* * * *
Questions:
Immigration
rate in general?
Immigration
rate of Mexicans and Hispanics?
How
important are illegal workers?
The
U.S.’s total population is 274,087,000. The immigration rate is 4% of that – 11,206,000 per year.
The immigration rate of Hispanics and Mexicans is 1% of that
number – a total of 112,060 per year.
Illegal
workers are not an integral part of our economy.
However, they are very helpful to us.
At first, illegal workers were mainly only in places like New
York, California, or Texas. However,
it has spread across the country, mainly into larger cities such as
Minneapolis and St. Paul. Illegal
workers are important in that they take jobs most Americans consider
themselves above – sanitation, fast food, cleaning, and so on.
Illegal workers will take low pay, high risk, high labor jobs
– the jobs that legal workers demand things like health benefits
and higher pay for. So,
in a way, illegal workers benefit the economy.
*
* * * *
The
unemployment rate in 2000 for Mexico was 2.2% in urban settings.
However, there is significant underemployment, which means
that the jobs available aren’t necessarily enough to support a
family.
*
* * * *
Are
there like any preferences regarding their nationality?
Like Asian are immigrants more accepted than East Europeans?
Although
there are still quotas on U.S. immigration, there are no preferences
as to which are more accepted (socially) or which come into our
country. People with
working skills or a good education are usually more apt to be
accepted to live in the country.
How
is the schooling for immigrants and do you have something like a
multicultural classroom?
English
Language Learners (ELL) is offered at our school.
ELL is a program for recent immigrants to learn more English.
The classes are in a small group and they focus mostly on
learning the language.
*
* * * *
German
Immigrants
1.
German is one of the most common ethnic groups that American
people can trace their roots to.
While our state, Minnesota, is more Scandinavian than German,
we still have a large percentage of people with German ancestry.
Note, however, that most Americans are of mixed ancestry.
For more information concerning German immigration to
Minnesota, see the below listed site.
http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/history/mnstatehistory/german_migration.html
2.
In American schools, English as a Second Language (ESL) is
offered. Generally,
immigrants who cannot speak enough American style English take an
ESL course. They
typically have some normal classes with the rest of the students in
their grade, along with several smaller classes with others who are
at about their level of the language.
Americans are generally open to immigrants.
Southeastern U.S. is the exception, however.
There, tolerance for people who are not white, Anglo-Saxon
Protestants is very slim. Hispanics,
however, are the exception to THIS rule, simply because there are so
many. Germans are
widely accepted, as are other western Europeans.
Because of the recent September 11th attacks,
Anti-Muslim tension has increased ten-fold. In general, Americans love and embrace immigrants and
especially love showing off our country and “culture” to them. Regarding the multicultural classrooms…that’s what
America IS! One big,
fat, multicultural melting pot.
We don’t know of a single school in the U.S. that doesn’t
have at least a couple students who are first generation immigrants.
Basically, everyone in America is an immigrant (except for
Native Americans). We
are (as of yet) too young a country to forget where we came from.
*
* * * *
Opinion
–
How
is the schooling for immigrants and do you have something like a
multi-cultural classroom?
The schooling is, in my opinion, much better than what many
would receive in the mother country.
In some places, as we well know, there are one-room,
overcrowded, dirt-packed schools with fifty children in the area,
walking every morning. But
here, it’s a school – in all the suburban senses. Four to five hundred rooms, with 1,600 students.
There are two types of school for kindergarten through 12th
grade, private or public. Of
course, there are places where our school system is outshined; for
example, Japan and Germany (YES!
You guys rock! Much better than our own system.
But you know that. ^_^). But, as to the closer countries
immigrating to the U.S. – as in Mexico, our schooling is a LOT
better. To most, we are
still the land of opportunity.
As to multi-cultural classrooms – yes.
For immigrants who move here and are having difficulties with
their English – or, are trying to learn English, we have a special
type of course to take. It’s
called “ESL” – or, English as a Second Language.
It’s really helpful for them!
There’s ESL English, ESL Math classes (mainly basic algebra,
learning it all over again), and so on.
To my knowledge, there isn’t any ESL French, German or
Spanish classes. Mainly
because the goal is to teach them one first, and then go on from
there. We’re not
separated from the particular system of classes very much – we all
have lunch together and elective (extra) classes together.
But, if you speak English for your first language, or so well
that it could be your first, then you can’t join the class.
I’d be too easy!
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