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Immigration
Historical Push and Pull Theory:
The Push and Pull theory uses two kinds of factors to explain migration factors. On the one hand there are push factors that drive people away from a place and on the other pull factors that draw people into a country.
A3 a) Decide whether the factors in the grid on the left are push or pull and tick the boxes accordingly.
b) Note down additional push and pull factors in the grid on the right.
Push
Pull
Push
Pull
Not enough jobs
Better living conditions
Enjoyment
Famine or drought
Natural disasters
Family links
Discrimination
Poor medical care
Political fear or persecution
Political and/or religious freedom
Better chances of finding a partner
c)Think of examples of people you know who have either moved away to live somewhere else or who have
come to live in Germany or moved from another part of Germany. Identify factors why these people decided
to uproot themselves like this.
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3
Immigration
A4 Read the passages from Half Broke Horses below and look at the film stills from Crash. Talk to a partner about:
– the push and pull factors that made Lily and the Asians migrate.
–which challenges Lily and which challenges the Asians in the van face in the situations below.
Life had been hard in west
Texas, but that low yellow
land was all I knew, and I
loved it. Mom was saying,
as she always did, that it
was God’s will, and this
time I accepted it. God had
saved us, but he had also
taken our house from us.
Whether as payment for
saving us or as punishment
because we didn’t deserve
it, I couldn’t say. Maybe he
was just giving us a kick in
the behind to say: Time to
move on.
Patches and I left at first
light one morning in early
August. (...) Mom, Dad,
Buster, and Helen were
all up, and we sat down
at the long wooden table
in the kitchen, passing
the platter of johnnycakes
and the tin teapot back
and forth. “Will we ever
see you again?” Helen
asked. “Sure,” I said.
“When?” I hadn’t thought
about that, and I realized I
didn’t want to think about
it.
“We received a complaint, ma’am, alleging you took a
potshot at one of the townspeople.” “There was a menacing intruder, and I was defending myself and my children.
I’ll be happy to stand up in court and explain exactly what
happened.” The sheriff sighed. “Around here, we like
people to work out their differences amongst themselves.
But if you can’t get along with these folks, and there’s
many that can’t, you probably don’t belong here.” After
that, I knew it was only a matter of time. I continued to
teach in Main Street, telling those girls what I thought
they needed to know about the world, but I stopped getting dinner invitations, and a bunch of the parents took
their kids out of the school. In the spring I got a letter
from the Mohave County superintendent saying that he
didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to continue
teaching in Main Street come next fall.
word bank to feel at home somewhere
to have a feeling of security
to be part of a community
to face an uncertain future
to have a sense of belonging
to be confident about your future
to be familiar with a place, with people
Extra task: find further examples of migration in Half Broke Horses.
A5 Imagine you are one of the Asians in the van. Describe your thoughts in the moments before you arrive in your
new home. Write an interior monologue.
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