America

Yesterday we read a story about some immigrants from Ireland coming to America in the late 1800s.  Immigrate is one of our vocabulary words for the week so I settled in for a whole conversation.

I told them that all of us had ancestors or close family members that were immigrants.  They didn't believe me. 

So I started with Columbus.  Do you know who Columbus was?

He discovered America?

Well, he discovered it for the Europeans.  There were already people living here.  It's like if I came to Bonneville for the first time and I said, "I discovered Bonneville!"

They all laughed.

I grabbed my globe and showed them where Spain was.  I told them about King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel.  I told them about the Nina and the Pinta and the Santa Maria.  I showed them where India was and how Europeans wanted to go there, but it was dangerous.

I showed them where Columbus had sailed and how he called the people Indians because he thought he was in India.

"He wasn't!" they exclaimed.

It was a mistake, I agreed.  I told them about the Mayflower and the pilgrims.

One of them asked, "How do you know all this?"

I said, "I went to school and learned and now you are in school and learning."

They wanted to know how long I had lived in America.  "50 years."

I told them their homework was to find out where their family had come from before they came to America.

They realized they knew some actual immigrants after all.  One boy was born in Tonga.  They have parents from Tonga, Samoa, Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, and Haiti.

We talked about reasons why someone would choose to immigrate and they had reasons.  They also brought up that some people came as slaves.  We all agreed they didn't choose to come.  My students said that people immigrate because it is safer and there are better jobs and there may be a war or America is where their family is.  Their experience is vastly different than my experience, but I'm glad we're all Americans.  I told them that it made America better to have ideas and art and food and words and traditions from other countries.  They quizzed me on Spanish words and were thrilled by the very few I know.

Of all the things I teach them, high on the list is to value where they're from but also to value each other.  I know my life is enriched by my association with them.  

I also know that I'm not in charge of immigration policy and it's way more nuanced than I understand, but I say, "Come on in!"