The study of the Pilgrims, the Mayflower Compact, and the settlement of Plymouth is an excellent opportunity to develop an understanding of religious freedom and self-government with second language learners.

Highlight the importance of immigration in the history of the United States and link this information to students' own experiences. Help your students see the Pilgrims as the first immigrants. Provide "hands-on" activities which engage your ELLS in learning. Graphic organizers are important to make information comprehensible to second language learners.

Lesson topic

The Founding of the Plymouth Colony

Proficiency/Grade level

Advanced beginners-Intermediate Grades 4-8

Content Concepts and Skills

Vocabulary for colonization; social studies concepts of immigration, self- government and religious freedom

Vocabulary needed

Pilgrim, Mayflower, passenger, freedom, Compact, pray, king, Native Americans, tools, equal, rules, warriors, harvest, self-government, religious freedom. Vocabulary will vary according to grade and English language level.

Materials or Resources

• The Explore Series: Settling the English Colonies; Ballard & Tighe, Brea, CA: 1995.
• Colonial America by Elaine Keeley; Teacher Designed Learning, Inc. Fountain Valley, CA: 1992;
• Puritans & Pilgrims by Jane Pofahl; T.S. Denison & Company, Inc. Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1994
• Life as a Colonist by Bob Rybak; Frank Schaeffer Publications, Torrance, CA, 1994

Instructional Sequence

• Look for library books with simple pictures in it about the Pilgrims' voyage on the Mayflower and the founding of the Plymouth Colony. If the text is too difficult, tell the story using the pictures in the book. Review the story several times. Emphasize the reasons the Pilgrims left England, the hardships of the voyage, and the terrible first winter.
• Students should review any unfamiliar vocabulary. Have them make flashcards, if necessary.
• You may want students in Grades 3-4 to read an easier text. Download our PDF file Thanksgiving Story.

The Voyage of the Mayflower

• Brainstorm important facts about the Mayflower as a group and have students sequence these facts. You may wish to use Scholastic's online Voyage of the Mayflower. Choose information that is at your students' language learning level.
• Have students compare traveling today with a voyage on the Mayflower. Download the PDF file Mayflower Word Bank and cut the sentences into strips. Distribute the strips to your students. Draw a large Venn Diagram and label it "Traveling in 2006" and "Traveling on the Mayflower." Have students take turns putting their sentences in the correct place. More advanced students can do this activity individually. You can have students make a Venn diagram at Read,Write, Thinkand ask them to make the Venn diagram in pairs.
• Introduce the Mayflower Compact to students in Grades 4-8. To better understand this document, have classes write an E.S.L. Compact of rules for getting along with each other in school.

Founding the Plymouth Colony

Find the New England Colonies on a map. Students label blank maps with the names of the New England Colonies. Have students match them with the U.S. states that are in existence today. Make connections between these states and the students' experiences: Visits to Boston, Plymouth or Connecticut; relatives who may live in one of these states; where they are in relationship to students' state.

Students should be able to understand the difficulties that the Pilgrims had and how hard they worked to survive in Plymouth. They should be able to understand the link between that desire for religious freedom and self-rule and how these are reflected in the constitution.

Make a time line for 1620-1621: Winter 1620; Spring 1621; Summer 1621; Fall 1621. Have students write in the events for each time period. Use this material to teach students how to pick out important information in an encyclopedia. Download an article on the Plimouth Colony from the internet and make copies for each student. Have them use highlighters to pick out the important facts.

Have students watch a slide show about Plimouth and the first Thanksgiving.

Have students study the life of the Wampanoag. Compare the life of the Pilgrims with the life of the Wampanoag in 1621.

Have students take an online Thanksgiving Webquest. This activity will increase knowledge as they work their way through the test. It will also encourage your students to read for detail.

Links for Thanksgiving

Here are additional links for a Thanksgiving unit.

1. Thanksgiving Flash Cards

2. Thanksgiving lesson plans

3. Thanksgiving Printables.

4. Daily Life in Plimouth.

5. Pilgrim Children Name Game

7. Pilgrim Village

8. Mayflower History

© 1998-2006 Judie Haynes, www.everythingESL.net