Civil War Unit in TOP Class

We just completed a successful, if brief, study of the Civil War in my ESL class at TOP. Some of the lessons were taken from the books, "America's Story" and "Entry into Citizenship." Both books are in the resource area at CA Fredd. We listened to Gospel spirituals on You Tube and sang along with them from printed sheets, being exposed to many new vocabulary words. We discussed the cotton based economy of the South with samples of cotton from local fields, an invoice from a cotton farmer (primary document), etc. Our discussion of slavery led into the topic of human trafficking today, with students sharing how they protect and teach their children about the dangers of predators on the internet, etc. We used a recent Tuscaloosa News article about over 700 people being arrested in 36 cities in a child prostitution ring of trafficking, learning vocabulary words such as "sweep," FBI and CIA, "crackdown, etc." We shared internet sites such as The International Justice Mission, etc. The lessons were serious but we did have some light moments such as when singing, "Cotton Fields" with Johnny Cash. They liked the country flavor of that song.