Website: Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory fire

Figure 1: 5 of 20.  This figure shows water canons being

directed at the buring Triangle Factory.

   Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory fire (Lyons, Morley, & Sione, 2011) has a wealth of information about this New York City tragedy.  Audio recordings, images of the workers, first-hand accounts, tributes to those who perished, maps of the building, and more can be found on the website.  While many sources praise the accomplishments of the Industrial Revolution in America, this source highlights some of the negatives of the period through this pivotal event.  ELLs in middle school may become lost among the many links, so I would direct them to the primary sources section.  A writing or presentation project for supporting (or refuting) the conclusions of the investigation and trial of the fire could be designed from the website content.  With some guidance, middle school ELL students can navigate and learn much from the rich content on this website.

Figure 2: 18 of 20.  This figure shows the charred remains of a

 room in the Triangle Factory after the fire was exstinguished.

                                        

 

 

References 

5 of 20 [Photograph]. March 25, 1911. Triangle Fire (Kheel Center

   image identifier: 5780-087pb1f5c). Cornell University. Retrieved

   from Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory fire. Web. 28

   Sept.2012. 

Brown Brothers. 1911. 18 of 20 [Photograph]. Triangle Fire (Kheel
   Center image identifier: 5780Pb39f15g).  Cornell University.
   Retrieved from Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory fire. Web.
   28 Sept. 2012.
Lyons, C. (Director), Morley, B. & Sione, P. (Editors). (2011, Jan.).
   Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory fire. Retrieved from
   http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/index.html

 

 

 

 

Tradebook: Kids at work

 

   Kids at work: Lewis Hine and the crusade against child labor (Freedman, 1998) is a book that captures the images and stories of many immigrant children during the industrialization in America. Praised in customer reviews of the book (Lappen, March 3, 2002: An [sic] powerful book, Nov. 16,1998), the authentic pictures of children in poor health and working conditions are striking and memorable. Mr. Hines photography contributed toward the creation of child labor laws in America. The text in the book gives more background and history to the photos. For ELL students, this quality visual support should help them comprehend the text and generate personal opinions about the subject. Connecting this with class material could lead to class discussion and a writing assignment (perhaps one in which the students imagine themselves as one of those working children). Because Kids at work is about actual children, young student readers should find it an interesting expansion on a school subject.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

Freedman, Russell. Kids at work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade against
   child labor. (1998). San Anselmo, CA: Sandpiper Press.
Lappen, Alyssa A. (2002, March 3). The Meaning of Tough. [Review of the
   book Kids at work: Lewis Hine and the crusade against hild labor ].
   Amazon.com. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/review/
   R3BGGYURMTPX9V/ref=cm_cr_dp_title ie=UTF8&ASIN= 
   B003IWYJZE&nodeID=283155&store=books
An [sic] powerful book full of visual and written imagery. (1998, Nov. 16).
   [Review of Kids at work: Lewis Hine and the crusade against child
   labor]. Amazon.com. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/review/
   R1Z7M8VQ15ZLD9/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=
   B003IWYJZE&nodeID=283155&store=books

Video: The birth of an Industrial Revolution 2

   The birth of an Industrial Revolution 2 (Ranusingh123, May 22, 2009) is one of several simple, understandable videos about the Industrialization.  Under two minutes in length, it presents one chunk of information: a description of one kind of manual work that would soon be performed by machines.  The significance of this manual work is also mentioned.  I would ask my students to watch this video as well as the preceding and following video, and make some comparisons between pre-industrialization and industrialization life and work in 2-3 paragraphs.  For ELL students, these videos provide the clear language and visuals they can use to gain comprehension and learning of the content in a self-directed way.


Supplementary Videos: The birth of an Industrial Revolution 
                                   The growth of industrial cities





REFERENCES
Ranusingh123. (2009, May 22). The birth of an Industrial Revolution
   [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
   HNUSes7cJss&feature=relmfu
Ranusingh123. (2009, May 22). The Bbrth of an Industrial Revolution 2
   [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6BZ-
   WTcR8Y&list=PLUflnPiDzPGcFIskZgq6joR3556mGsvP&index=6&
   feature=plpp_video
Ranusingh123. (2009, May 22). The growth of industrial cities [Video file].
   Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
   vPlFGGJkQK0&feature=relmfu

Article: "A real worker's views"

   "A real worker's views" (Sept., 03, 1878) is an article that The Washington Post reprinted from another newspaper, The New York Tribune.  Dated Sept. 1878, it reports the opinions of Mr. Roach, a worker during the American industrialization.  He recounts the positives and negatives of the industrialization - changes in SES, labor costs, the impact of war, etc - from a personal viewpoint. For my ELL students, I would probably create a selective reading guide for this article and have them concentrate on a few paragraphs prior to instruction on the formation of labor unions.  "A real worker's views" touches on several main ideas about the impact of America's industrustializtion on the working individual. 

 

REFERENCE
A Real worker's views. (1878, Sep 03). The Washington Post (1877-1922), pp. 2-2.
   Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/hnpwashingtonpost/docview/137675276/
  1396ADB5D6F5CD69EBB/1?accountid=34685

So I had to change my topic again and raise the supposed language level of my students.  My topic now is the American Industrial Revolution. 

The English proficiency level of the students is High Intermediate.  According to the WIDA Standards for English language development, this level may be labeled Developing or Expanding.

After some reading and talking to a teacher, I've thought of another topic idea:

Title: In the Kitchen
Grade(s): 6-8
Language Proficiency: Beginner English Language Learners

Summary:  The unit will include some basic foods, basic tools/utensil, some key dynamic verbs, adjectives, 1 or 2 sentence structures, and following directions.

So after finding out that articles is too small a topic, I would like to make my unit topic Prepositions and Participles.  But I don't know if that is too narrow as well...

My unit for instruction is on articles - a, an, and the - for middle school beginner level English language learners.