Lesson 1 Borders: Metaphors & Realities

Objective: Students will explore and create definitions of the word "border."  Students will engage in a multi-perspective way of looking at the border which will be continued throughout the Border Studies Curriculum (BSC).

NCSS Standards Met By This Lesson: III, V, VII and IX

Materials/Preparation: Butcher paper, markers; pen, pencils, and paper.

Instruction/Practice:

Part 1--Individual Writing:

Ask students to freewrite their responses to the following questions:

1) What is a border?
2) What words come to mind when you hear the word "border"? (no matter how irrelevant or off-the-wall the word or thought is, write it down);
3) What borders have you crossed in your life?
4) What borders do you not cross?

Part 2--Group Discussion

Have students gather in groups of three or four.  Have them share responses, then work together to write up and illustrate their own definitions and lists of types of borders on a large sheet of butcher paper.  If time, have each group present their ideas.  If not, simply have the sheets posted on the walls.

Part 3--Class Discussion

How many different kinds of borders can we list using what the groups have written?  (Also, questions 3 and 4 from Part 1 above may be discussed.)

Examples: Border as Wall or Fence
Border as a Membrane, Skin, Porous
Border as Meeting Place, Interaction
Border as Marketplace, Goods & Services
Border Between Groups of People, Languages, Economies
Border Between Ways of Life, Cultures, ("Ecosystems")
Border as Edge, Fuzzy or Crisp, Rules, Inside/Outside, Etc.
Border as Psychological, Physical, Social, etc.

Question for discussion: Can a border function in more than one way? Why or why not?

Part 4--Listening & Responding

Read some quotes/passages from writings about the border. Students can either respond to the quotes for 5-10 minutes or make up their own statements/poems on the idea of "borders." Starter line: "The border is..."

Sample statements:

"For Mexico, the border is not that rigid Puritan thing, a line; straight lines are unknown in Mexico. The border, like everything else, is subject to supply and demand. The border is a revolving door." --Richard Rodriguez

"The border is transient...the border is a word game...the border is a virtual cesspool"--Atlantic Monthly

"Tijuana has more in common with Santiago, Chilé than San Diego, California." -- Jorge Bustamante, former president, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte

"This is the only place I know where you can jump from the First World to the Third World in five minutes." --Julio Chiu, El Paso bank executive and native of Cd. Juárez

"We have people here who have never heard of the word 'environment' or 'ecosystem.' It's as if you were talking in another language." --Naachiely Lopez, Tijuana environmentalist, 1992

"Many Mexicans think of the move from Cd. Juárez across the Rio Grande more like moving to a richer neighborhood than going to another country." -- Washington Post, 1978

Source: La Frontera/The Border: An Enigma for Two Nations. University of Southern California, 1993.

Closure: Students can read aloud a favorite line or phrase from their writings (see also writing workshop closure activity from lesson 19, Border Poetry Writing Workshop).  Students can revise order of lines to create a group poem/writing on the border.

Extensions: An essay exploring the various ways the border functions . Consider the questions: What would the region be like if there were no border?  What has the border done to the region?  to the people?  Consider indigenous peoples of the area (particularly in Arizona) who have lived here for over 500 years and say there is no border.  How can anyone say that there is no border?

Updated October 2004.