A citizen of nowhere?

Birth citizenship laws differ by country. Some countries give citizenship to anyone born there, while others base it on the nationality of the parents. In January 2025, Donald Trump proposed an executive order aimed at stripping the automatic right to American citizenship for anyone born in the country to non-citizen parents.

Collage of pages from the “A citizen of nowhere?” teaching resource showing the cover and lesson plan

Published 21 February 2025

So what might happen to the people who are no longer considered citizens? And what’s the fairest way for citizenship to be decided?

Use this lesson to help students:

  • Discuss what citizenship means to them
  • Consider different countries’ rules
  • Debate President Trump’s proposed rule for citizenship in America
Download the resource (Zip)

Skills and knowledge

Every lesson has a skill and knowledge focus. Click to see this lesson's focus and some of the questions students will answer 

  • Creativity

    • Step 1: I imagine different situations and can say what I imagine
      Did you imagine situations to help you decide who would get citizenship?
    • Step 5: I generate ideas by combining different concepts
      Did you work out the citizenship for different people because of
      their scenarios?
    • Step 10: I develop ideas by considering different perspectives
      Did you listen to other sides of the debate before sharing your ideas?

  • Knowledge

    I know that different countries have different citizenship rules and about how President Trump wants to change the rules for America
    How do countries decide who can be a citizen? How does President Trump want to change the rules in America?

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