Title of product: EL/Civics Online: Integrating EL/Civics into Adult ESL Classes

Author(s): N/A

Institutional affiliation/Agency/Program: Adult Learning Resource Center; Center for Applied Linguistics

Publication date or date of most recent update: 2008

Number of pages: N/A

Website URL: http://www.elcivicsonline.org

Type of product: professional development

Key words: English as a Second Language (ESL), immigrants, citizenship, civics, teacher training, professional development, methodology, program improvement

Targets: Instructors

Skill levels of instructional materials (lessons, curricula):N/A

Targets: None

Abstract: This professional development website provides practitioners with a wealth of practical information on ESL methodology and information on four content areas (US History, US Government, Civic Engagement, The Naturalization Process) pertaining to teaching civics and citizenship. (Please note only the ESL Foundations and The Naturalization Process sections were reviewed.) The website utilizes video, audio, and interactive activities to explain, teach, and exemplify concepts and appropriate ESL and content methodology.  In addition each content section provides example lessons for ESL students, with opportunities to adjust them to each person’s particular teaching setting.  The content sections contain the following: Demonstration Lesson, Lesson Planning, Naturalization Foundations, Put It All Together, Guided Lesson Plan, and Independent Lesson Plan.  At each step practitioners are given content, guidance, practical examples, and the opportunity to practice and reflect on what they are learning.  Registration is required for this site.  However the English Language Acquisition coordinator verified with the website manager that this is done so that persons using the website may save and return to their work at another time.

The ESL Foundations section (completion of this section is required to continue on to the content areas) is based on the TESOL Standards for Adult Education ESL Programs and addresses Student’s Background, Developing English Fluency, Building Conceptual Understanding, and Strengthening the Four Skills. Each section builds in an overview, learning activities, application to the classroom, and additional resources. 

The Naturalization Process section includes content that teachers need to know in order to teach this area, content that students need to know in order to pass the citizenship test (including which forms are needed and how to fill them out), activities for students that correspond to the ESL Foundations, lesson plans for particular components of the naturalization process (e.g., interview process), vocabulary lists, handouts, guiding questions, resources, and the opportunity to develop one’s own lesson plan. 

What the experts say: NOTE: This article has been reviewed by the Technology Collection and the English Language Acquisition Collection. Reviewer comments from both collections are included below.

Summary of English Language Acquisition Review Comments:

This review is divided into two sections, first the usefulness of the web site in terms of its ease of use and technical performance.  Are practitioners likely to find the site accessible and easy to use?  Second the content of the site is evaluated for sound teaching methodology based on research and value to the teachers in the field.

Site technology
Access: The site is relatively easy to access and the registration process is simple.  Registration allows practitioners to access the site and pick up where they left off in progressing through the various instructions sections.  There is easy access to other Internet resources (although the occasional glitch makes it necessary to try several times to make the connection).  The practitioner can make notes throughout in a journal that they access each time they sign on.  However there is no inter-connective feature so there is no feedback from a master teacher as there would be in on-line instruction. 
Organization:  The site is well organized and easy to navigate after a few trial and errors getting back to the main site after exploring links.
Are users engaged?:  There were some interesting and engaging activities along the way that gave instructional ideas for teachers use in classrooms.  There were also frequent knowledge checks after each component part.   There was some balance between passive reading and various activities. The journal writing encouraged users to reflect on their own learning, which is good adult educational practice.
Ease of use: There were effective helps along the way. Tabs make it easy to see where in the program you were located.  It was not easy to dip in and out.  However, once committed to a module you had to complete each segment before going on. The site was set up in a way that it was easy to use and locate the information you were interested in.  I was able to move from the Foundations Section, which introduced the TESOL standards to the Naturalization Process section.
Functionality: There were diverse and fairly robust tools used in the site.  There was an audio component and links to other sites.  The “saved journaling” feature also was a plus.
Site content and methodology: The primary theoretical and philosophical approach is cognitive context based.  The purpose of each section is clearly stated up front.  Each section follows the fundamental principles of language instruction in line with the researched TESOL standards.  Principles from adult learning theory such as, comfortable classroom atmosphere, relevance to the learner, authentic content, and cyclical learning in a variety of contexts are stated.

The various approaches used are outlined.  Active learning, whole language content and project-based learning are all on the forefront of adult education and classroom teaching in the K-12 system.  However, grammar based and competency based approaches although popular do have some drawbacks which are not really addressed in the foundations segment they are simply listed as approaches that can be used.

The foundations do include the SCANS skills promoted by ASTD (American Society for Training and Development, these represent the skills employers want employees to possess in the 21st Century) in their theoretical bases for instruction.  The SCANS skills have been cited in much adult education instruction over the last 10 years.
Holistic approaches that encompass all modalities have become the conventional wisdom for most educators, adult or K-12.  As such the lessons and lesson planning are reflective of good educational practice taught by most colleges of education.  In adopting these approaches, care needs to be taken to avoid also using strategies that are more appropriate to children.  Summer activities are a “what I did on my summer vacation” topic that may not be well received by adults!

In the presentations the teachers are urged to integrate new knowledge with previous knowledge.  Again this represented good cognitive based learning theory. However, the lesson planning approach will strike experienced teachers as pedestrian.  Volunteers new to the field may find it very helpful.  I do have a question about the inclusion of the Total Physical Response method.  The method is not bad on its face, but the inclusion of the website which is in essence commercial, since it sells the packets of materials, did concern me.

The naturalization process is difficult and represents a challenge to teachers since it also has so many legal and bureaucratic elements to be mastered.  The demonstration lessons are helpful.  The site does have the form available for download and help is given in filling out some of the sections.  This is a huge endeavor and this section cannot possibly cover the entire process.  However, there are links to websites that provide more help. The site wisely stresses that the teacher should never let the students think that they can help with the legal aspects of the process.

The lessons are again somewhat proscriptive.  However many CBO’s do offer help with the naturalization process and the citizenship exam and also rely on volunteers so this level of prescription may be necessary.

The privacy element is also addressed here since this is a subject with multiple sensibilities.  The possible cultural pitfalls however, were never really addressed in the depth I would have liked. 

I felt overall in the website there was a reticence to really fully address cultural differences and possible cultural conflict that ESL learners may face in adapting to life in the United States.  Cognitive approaches stress prior experience but how an individual sees and interprets the world around them is crucial.  For example a program to teach nurses’ aides or new mothers about the importance of sterilizing baby bottles would fail if it did not recognize that in the Hmong culture, germ theories of illness are not recognized.  There are also not words in the indigenous language for “germ” or “bacteria”.  The naturalization process similarly must address some concepts that are entirely absent in some cultures and gender issues are a field where these issues are rife.  Perhaps the site authors cannot deal in depth with this, but cultural aspects do deserve more attention.

However I do feel this is an invaluable site for practitioners.

Summary of Technology Review Comments:

This resource is highly recommended for new or inexperienced ESL teachers who are beginning to teach the civics component.  The emphasis is primarily on learning how to teach the content related to becoming a US citizen using good instructional ESL pedagogy.  The resource thus serves as a review of ESL pedagogy, adult learning, and lesson planning as well as teaching the content related to naturalization (in the module reviewed). It provides a common background for teachers who need additional training.  Although the instruction is based on solid principles of learning, it does not cite supporting research.  The major concern is that the online system issued the reviewer a Certificate of Completion (including name and date) without evaluating the quality of the responses (or even if the independent lesson plan had been completed).

The most useful features of the resource are:

• modeling the students’ process of learning;
• five-step lesson planning that includes purpose and goals, engagement, presentation, practice, and application;
• Lesson Plan Checklist that allows the teacher to self-evaluate his/her lesson plans;
• guided and independent practice in lesson planning;
• extensive resources including related web sites that enable the teacher learner to continue learning as well as provide essential resources (e.g., NRS, 100 Civic Questions);
• online teaching techniques including interviews with teachers (about their pedagogy) and students (primarily from the Chicago area), mock interview questions for the citizenship exam, interactive activities, journal entries, self-check questions in several formats (e.g., connecting two related statements, providing feedback by completing a picture puzzle with each correct answer);
• a Classroom Usage button that provides the lesson plan for the instruction;
• logical organization that structures learning and provides navigational tools in a small box on the right of the screen;
• reproduction of parts of the N-400 Application encouraging students to fill in their forms (although it is hard to read online);
• My Information Center that stores the journal entries and lesson plans that the teacher learner created (and is password protected for future use).