Making It In America

In our World Literature course, we are exploring Latin American/Caribbean literature right now. Part of that includes reading both fictional and non fictional poetry and prose about Latin American immigration. Through these various accounts, students gain a whole new perspective on not only Latinx/Caribbean culture but also on how one of the major political issues facing our nation right now affects those involved. Some of the literary pieces we have covered so far are Dyaspora by Joanne Hyppolite (Haitian American), and Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros (Mexican American). We also watched a short documentary film titled Making It In America by the Global Oneness Project. Global Oneness is one of my favorite teaching resources due to its vast array of topics covered around the world. The stories are beautifully told and the students relate to them well. This particular story was about an El Salvadorian woman named Alma, who moved to the United States to provide a better life for her daughters. The students were required to write a reflection on the film after watching it together in class. One of my students who is a non native English speaker from Korea wrote a great reflection. We are still working together to improve her grammar, but her vocabulary has come a long way, and she expresses herself really well. I am proud of the progress she has made over the past two years here.

Here is an excerpt from her reflection:

"Alma is still working for her child although her job is hard. She wants to make her child not working in a clothing factory because she already knows that that place is not a good place to be. It is a safe place for herself to work but she doesn’t want her child to be there. Alma wants their child to be in more better place so they can have more better job than her. She hope her child study hard in the United States and explore there dream so they can follow the dream that they wanted to do. Even though Alma is in bad situation she is trying her best for herself and her child and try to make everything better."- Karry