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Civic Participation & Citizenship Collection
Finding Resources: Exploring the Phonebook
Michelle Faith Brown, Read/Write/Now, Springfield, MA
Connection to Civic
Participation and Community Action Sourcebook:
» Section Two: Holding Decision Makers Accountable
» "Finding Resources: Where to Get Help in Your Town,"
p. 42
Overall Objective and Connection to Civic Participation:
One of the building blocks of civic participation is knowing how to identify
and access the organizations and resources within a community. Recognizing
that many learners are not comfortable with using the telephone book,
particularly the yellow pages, this activity explores the different sections
of the local telephone book. Learners will then know what section to go
to if they need to look up a telephone number of a business, governmental
or social service agencies, etc. Furthermore, learners will begin to understand
the difference between local, state and federal government.
Learner Profile: Four diverse female learners.
Materials Needed: Sourcebook pages 42-44 and local telephone books
Time Required: 1 hour 30 minutes
Lesson Objectives: Problem solve using the telephone book and then plan the call.
Process:
1. Talk about how a telephone book is broken up into sections. Make
sure learners notice the similarity between the telephone book and a dictionary
regarding the way they are set up.
2. Hand out page 42. Work on it together as a group.
3. Have learners look for other telephone numbers they believe they need to know. Have them look up the numbers and add them to their lists.
4. Photocopy their sheets so they can bring the originals home. The copies will be used for the next lesson.
5. Hand out adapted "Find Resources: Public Services" sheet. Work on #1 together. Have learners work on the rest of the sheet independently.
6. Using the adapted "Making
a Phone Call" sheet, practice filling it out using page 41 from
the lesson before. Have the group work on getting a pothole fixed.
Student Reactions:
The students thought it was a good exercise for someone who did not know
how to use a telephone book and/or those who were nervous when calling
"officials." They loved the role-playing.
| Student
Comments • "This lesson was a good use of our time. If one of these situations came up in the future, you'll know how to handle it.” • "The sheets ("Making a Phone Call”) will be great to have around the house for any official calls I may have to make.” • "This was good because often people don't ask for names, or feel shy doing so.” • "I like this sheet because it will remind me to ask for a referral if I am not talking to the right person.” |
Making
a Phone Call
(Adapted from p. 44 in the Civic
Participation and Community Action Sourcebook).
You will be assigned a problem to try to get resolved from the issues
on page 43. Please prepare a script of what you might say if you really
were make the call.
Problem:____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Agency that you are calling and its telephone number:
__________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
1. Who are you? (State your name and go on to problem) _______________________________
2. What are you calling about? (One sentence to
state the problem)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Why are you calling? (A short statement about
the problem)
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4. What would you like done or what are you trying
to find out?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Name of person that you spoke with: ______________________________________________
(Don't be afraid to ask him/her to spell after his/her name)
Date: ______________________________________________________________________
If this was not the correct office to speak with,
ask if they could refer you to another office.
Ask if there is a certain person that you should speak to and note his/her
name.
Referral: ___________________________________________________________________
New
England Literacy Resource Center
World Education
Boston, MA
(617) 482-9485
