Labor, Workforce, and Immigration – A Study of Japan

The objective of this lesson is for students to see the connection between labor and immigration. In this lesson, students will learn about migration push and pull factors. Japan is one of the few countries in the world that has an aging population and diminishing workforce. Students will examine how the aging population and diminishing workforce forces Japan to resolve their labor woes. Students will aim to answer these questions through reading, writing, and discussing.

Procedures
a. Warm up
b. Video on topic
c. PowerPoint – teacher instruction
d. Guided practice – Read the article and fill in graphic organizer
e. Group work – Read the articles, discuss, and fill in graphic organizer
f. Independent work – Historical writing
g. Closure – Exit ticket

Reading –

Students will be provided reading supports like word banks, chunked text, summaries, highlight the important points, and provide titles for each paragraph.

Students will be given a cheat sheet to help them analyze the document, highlight important information and annotate.

Teacher will model how to read, source, and analyze a source.

Teacher will work with students on reading, sourcing, and analyzing a source.

Writing –

Students will be given sentence starters and sentence frames to assist with the warm up, checking for understanding questions, and the guiding questions.

Have students research immigration policies and give a presentation.

PowerPoint:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1motVNfAfgTesXIb4_REcWWxHzzbdOHdVRSsB8eyR_-w/edit?usp=sharing

Graphic Organizer:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZRIfOhK3e-mgE9hlk46V_WhdW-Fu6lWGZS9Rjb_AK0E/edit?usp=sharing

Video(s):

Japan’s Labour Woes – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z94nCkzhpY

Which Countries Have Shrinking Populations? –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn9DDsxfpCA

(Additional Video) Japan’s Workforce Grows Older – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqo1RY9V4oc

Article(s):

Why Japan is going to accept more foreign workers https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2018/07/economist-explains-7

The face of immigration is rapidly changing in Japan – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/17/national/media-national/face-immigration-rapidly-changing-japan/#.W1tcMthKiRs

Japan’s economy needs AI and robots to offset graying population –
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/08/03/business/economy-business/japans-economy-needs-ai-robots-offset-graying-population-white-paper/#.W3WiU5NKiRs

Japan faces challenges as it moves to accept more foreign workers –
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/25/national/japan-faces-challenges-moves-accept-foreign-workers/#.W3WjXZNKiRs

Demand for foreign workers may soften Japan’s immigration rules – (additional)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-immigration/demand-for-foreign-workers-may-soften-japans-immigration-rules-idUSKBN1JB05H

Japan Open Doors for More Foreign Workers – (additional)
https://thediplomat.com/2018/06/japan-open-doors-for-more-foreign-workers/
Japan agrees to accept 10,000 Vietnamese caregivers – https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-agrees-to-accept-10-000-Vietnamese-caregivers2