Classroom Education

Classroom education was the main way that Americanization was spread.

In teaching Americanization, the teacher was the most important. There is a difference between teaching young students, a grade or specific subject, and teaching adult foreign-born students. Therefore, the preparation is different, and training teachers in the Americanization movement had very few established principles and methods. This led to a few different “guidebooks” for teaching Americanization. These books provided step-by-step instructions, guidelines and suggestions for teaching.

Training Teachers for Americanization: A Course of Study for Normal Schools and Teachers Institutes, by John J. Mahoney, published in 1920 was one such source.

The course for training teachers was divided into 5 parts, totaling about 30 hours of lectures and 24 hours of observation and practice. Teacher training facilities were set up by various agencies: colleges and universities, normal schools and colleges, state departments of education, city school systems, and various semipublic agencies. The course itself was presented in a skeleton outline, where students gathered information from the references provided and then discussed the material during class. 

Since the first step of Americanization was breaking the language barrier, the teacher must know more than how to teach one subject to immigrants. A teacher was expected to know what America stood for and be able to interpret America to the immigrant in a way that they will understand. 

In March of 1920, R. D. Harriman published basically a handbook entitled Suggestions for Americanization Teachers which outlined everything an Americanization teacher needed to know.

In order to teach, a person must have understanding and sympathy for their students- misunderstandings on the part of the teacher lead to misunderstandings on the part of the student. A teacher must also understand their foreign-born immigrant student and their past, present, and future.

 Harriman provides a list of ways teachers should classify their students:

1. Classification by race
2. Classification by sex
3. Classification by knowledge of English and by previous education
4. Classification by age and mentality
5. Size of class

And methods of teaching English:

1. Conversation
2. Reading
3. Spelling
4. Grammar
5. Writing
6. Phonics

Harriman also suggests how to make the most of classroom time, reminding the teacher that the main goal is to teach speaking and then reading and writing.