What's new at the Curriculum Center?
AILF Announces Winner of Creative Writing Contest!
AILF is pleased to announce fifth grade, Olivia Chiu of South Pasadena, CA, as the first place winner of the 2009 "Celebrate America" Creative Writing Contest!
Olivia's winning entry, "The American Punch," was selected from thousands of entries from around the country. Olivia is in the fifth grade class at Monterey Hills Elementary School in South Pasadena, California. For the past 12 years, fifth graders write creative entries on the theme "Why I'm Glad America is a Nation of Immigrants."
The second place winner is Elise Wang (San Francisco, CA) for "The Way to America" and third place was awarded to Chloe Ding (San Diego, CA) for "A Better Way of Life". Honorable mentions were awarded to Nigel Castelino (Chicago, IL) for "Why I'm Glad America is a Nation of Immigrants" and Elizabeth Palmer (Queensbury, NY) for "One Heart, One Mind".
The 2009 Celebrity Judging Panel included Pulitzer Prize winning author, Junot Diaz, Dave Eggers, Firoozeh Dumas, Senator Edward Kennedy, and the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugee and Border Security Chairman, Senator Charles E. Schumer.
For more information on the contest or how to participate, visit the Creative Writing Contest homepage.
The 2009 Immigration Educators' Resource Guide is Now Available
The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) is pleased to present the 2009 "Appreciating America's Heritage" Educators' Resource Guide. Each year, AILF publishes a new free resource guide because we know how important it is to promote respect, dignity and an appreciation for everyone in this country, regardless of where you were born. By ensuring our children learn that every person deserves respect and that celebrating multiculturalism is at the heart of our American values, the sooner the next generation can end the divisive rhetoric that has divided America for too long.
This latest edition provides a variety of resources that continue to keep the needs of classroom teachers, community educators and concerned citizens in mind by providing new and innovative lesson plans, book and film reviews as well as a brief history of U.S. immigration. Please pass this along to your friends, colleagues and educators so that they too can join in the effort to appreciate America as a nation of immigrants.
Teacher Grant Program
Do you have an innovative classroom project that needs funding? The American Immigration Law Foundation's Curriculum Center is here to help! The next deadline for AILF's Teacher Grant Program is June 5, 2009. If you didn't apply earlier this year, now's your chance!
In an effort to support educators in engaging their students and communities in thoughtful dialogues centered on the issue of immigration and multiculturalism, the Center awards bi-annual grants of $100 to $500 for immigration-themed classroom projects.
Check out what past grant winners have done to get an idea of what we're looking for and fill out an application today.
FREE Multimedia Immigration Resources
Looking for thoughtful immigration resources to use in and out of the classroom? Well look no further. Thanks to the kind people at The Epidavros Project, the American Immigration Law Foundation is distributing videos (VHS) and study guides from the Well-Founded Fear documentary series for FREE!
Well-Founded Fear Discussion Modules: Tales from Real Life
Tales From Real Life is an introduction to five stories--five people from different countries and very different lives. Yet they are five people you'll want to know--a grandmother who was once a resistance fighter, a high school kid whose life was changed forever by an article he wrote for his school newspaper, an indigenous artist caught in a civil war, a political dissident who describes his unusual torture after a midnight arrest, a woman whose story shows how domestic violence can become political. None of these Tales have been available until now. Each story opens the door to a universe of questions, and each can be looked at in several ways. Each person is someone you'll remember and wonder about.
Well-Founded Fear Discussion Modules: Practicing Asylum Law
From the archive of footage produced for the ground-breaking documentary Well-Founded Fear comes a set of video modules that offer an unprecedented look into what goes on behind the electronic doors of our nation's asylum offices. For anyone who must walk into an asylum interview with little idea of what to expect, the scenes of translation confusion, attorney strategies, and client preparation provide more than just fascinating food for thought-they also provide virtual experience.
To get your copy of Tales from Real Life and Practicing Asylum Law today, please send a request with your name and address to teacher@ailf.org. We ask that you pay shipping and handling. We will provide payment instructions upon receipt of your request.
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