Call Me American

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“What Messages Do Movies Send?”

This activity encourages students to consider and evaluate how the United States is presented in movies and how fiction compares with people’s actual experiences, such as Abdi’s when he arrives in the US.

Abdi quickly becomes fascinated with the United States after watching American films at the cinema in his neighborhood. He references movies like The Terminator and Titanic to demonstrate his familiarity with American culture. For him, it becomes an escape, a way of imagining a life outside of Somalia.

Select 3 movies that you think would provide an accurate representation of American life to someone who is very unfamiliar with the United States. Under each title on your list, write 2-3 sentences summarizing what someone would learn about the US from the movie.

As a class, list your movies on the board. Then discuss the following questions:

1. If these were the movies Abdi saw, what would he learn about the United States?

2. Are there any themes that emerge across the films?

3. Who is represented in these films? Are they inclusive, featuring people of different races and ethnicities, people of all genders and sexual orientations, etc.