ESL/Social Studies Interdisciplinary Unit Plan

Since I want to be a middle school ESL teacher, I've always thought it would be a good idea to do a unit on citizenship. Luckily, my partner Monica (from Dr. Dana's other class) also thought that this was a good idea. We're both Linguistics majors, but really, this is an interdisciplinary unit we could possibly do with a history or social studies teacher one day.

Anyway, here are some broad lesson ideas that we came up with for this unit:

1. What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen? -- An Open Discussion with Our Students about What This Term Means and How Its Meaning Can Vary Across Cultures
2. Immigration, Citizenship, and Other Related Terminology -- A Basic Vocabulary Lesson
3. What's It Like to Be an Immigrant Today? -- Students Write about and Share Their Experiences
4. How Does One Become a US Citizen? -- A Lecture on this Topic*
5. What Are Your Rights as a US Citizen? -- A Lecture on this Topic*
6. Why Is It Important to Know Your Rights? -- A Lecture on this Topic*
* We don't want to do straight lectures for these lessons, so we'll be trying to think of fun activities that we could integrate into these lessons as well.

Then for the final assessment, we were thinking of having a final unit project. The kids would have a number of choices, but they would have to use the knowledge they gained to complete these projects. Here are some ideas we've come up with:

1. Essay (5-Pages)
- Should be written on one of the following topics or a teacher-approved topic:
1.) Why is it important for immigrants to gain citizenship and to know their rights?
2.) Compare and contrast what it means to be a citizen in your native country to what it means to be a citizen in the US.
3.) Another teacher approved topic.

2. Create an Informational Website for New/Future Immigrants
- Should be written in the student's native language and should include details about becoming a citizen, citizen's rights, and the lives of immigrants; the website should also be translated into English; the student may also include other information he/she thinks is relevant.

3. Start a Community Program that Will Help New/Future Immigrants
- Pretty much the same type of thing as the website -- students have more freedom to create art projects like posters, fliers, etc.

4. Interview an Immigrant and Write about His/Her Life Story
- Students should try to make connections to what they've learned in class when writing this report

In general, we tried to come up with a unit that our students might find meaningful (through shared personal experiences and/or involvement in the community). Anyway, what do you guys think? Does this sound like a reasonable unit for intermediate to advanced ESL students?