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Civic Participation & Citizenship Collection

NELRC

Mapping Your Own Community
Identity and Roles
Feelings Using English
Julie Winberg, Lutheran Social Services, Springfield, MA

Overall Objective and Connection to Civic Participation
In using the Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook, I realized immediately I would have to adapt the lessons to make them work with my high-beginner ESOL students. I saw two issues: one was language, the other was that I was working with a new class, and did not feel it was "ready" or stable enough to become engaged in a large project such as those described in the Sourcebook. Moreover, the classes I teach are based on a six-week cycle, not nearly enough time to engage students in an involved project.

I was then faced with finding a way that would help my students become aware of participating in their communities, and decided that my goal for the project would be to broaden their awareness, to create the building blocks of successful civic participation through introductory lessons.

Three lessons were the core of my planning. The first was based on the Community Mapping unit, particularly p. 13. I did this in several ways, with a couple of different classes and always found it successful. First I brainstormed about what community is, wrote it on the board, talked about how their own community (mainly various Russian republics) was different from American communities, and asked who they thought paid for what services. In subsequent lessons, I had them draw a map of their communities, the places they go every day. Some people understood this, other's didn't. Again, their level of English is very low, and I got them to help each other. I then used the map as an assessment tool, asking them the following week to tell me where they had used English the previous week. It made them (and me) think specifically about places in their lives where they need help.

Although I was not able to work this into a larger "project," I feel that I was doing something almost as important: I was making them aware of the differences in American and their native country's community. This, along with the other lessons I used form a basis of awareness that can be extended when they reach a higher level of language proficiency and are able to go out and be active.

A second highly effective lesson was based on "Prejudice in a Small Town" and the activity "Who are you" from page 91 of the Sourcebook. I didn't use this to explore prejudice, but rather to explore identities, to help students reflect on their many roles in life (beyond being a student), and again to broaden their awareness of having a role in their community to participate and be active. Again, because of their language level, I intended this lesson to serve as a "building block", to form a basis for future participation and involvement.

A third lesson which was not part of the Sourcebook was my "Feel Good" lesson, where I asked them to think about where they felt good using English and where they felt bad. This subjective approach resulted in a lot of discussion and expression of feelings which surprised me, and made me realize that feelings are often left out of needs assessment, but indeed can become either a significant barrier or provide support to the students as they become able to identify these reactions.

Before students can become active they must have the tools to be active: these tools are obviously language and confidence, followed by a familiarity with how community works in the USA. By developing this awareness, it will open their minds to the possibility of participating when they are ready to make the leap to becoming active in their communities.

I believe the Sourcebook provided excellent resources for us, and I only regret I didn't have time to try more activities. Although the project has ended, I expect to continue to use the Sourcebook as a resource. One happy result is that by talking about it with my colleagues, some of them are now thinking about incorporating some of the activities in their work.

Learner Profile:
DOE class, Level 2, 12-15 students, mainly adult Russian immigrants, slightly more women than men. The enrollment in this class has continually changed since it began in January, but there has been a core group of about 8 students who have been the same throughout. Some of the women are housewives but would like work while others have basic factory jobs which they would like to improve.

Mapping Your Own Community

Materials Needed: Graphic organizer in form of a web (optional), colored pencils
Time Required: Half an hour to an hour, depending on student involvement

Objectives of Lesson: Teacher can assess where they need English.
   • Elicit students' understanding of community and enhance their understanding of      community
   • Increase students' confidence in using the English language
   • Have students draw map of individual community: places they go to, places that      impact their lives
   • Students obtain a better understanding of which community services are paid for      by public and which ones are paid for by government and taxes

Connection to Sourcebook:
» Section One: Finding Connections to Communities and Issues
» Adapted from "Community Mapping Activities," p. 13

Introduction / Pre-teaching Activity: Brainstorm about what community is: teacher puts responses on board, in form of web.

Process:
1. After brainstorming, students draw a map of their own community, working with partner if necessary to discuss different places they frequent.

2. Students share their individual maps with the group.

3. Students and teacher discuss which community services are paid for by private citizens and which are supported by public funds.

4. Through the discussion, students develop awareness of how community functions in this country.

Teacher Reflections:
This worked well because it broadened students' awareness of their community as well as helped them to understand differences between our countries. This was an excellent lesson in terms of my learning about the students, what their needs are, what parts of the community they actually use, and where they need English. It was very useful as an assessment tool, and in helping me develop further lessons. It was also useful for the students to learn more about different parts of the community and how they are supported.

Student Reactions:
The class discussion was very lively, with all students seeming interested and actively participating. They seemed to like talking about who pays for what, and learning that the US government didn't support the same services their former governments support (such as theaters). The students were not overly enthusiastic about the actual drawing of the map. Another way to have students "draw" a map would be to have them create it on the floor or a table, using objects in the room that represent places in their communities. This could be done as an individual or in small groups if people are from the same community.

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Identity and Roles

Materials Needed: "Who are you" template from Sourcebook, enough copies for all students.
Time Required: Half an hour to an hour, depending on student involvement

Lesson Objectives:
   • Explore identities
   • Help students reflect on their many roles in life (beyond being a student)
   • Broaden their awareness of having a role in their community to participate and be      active

Connection to Sourcebook:
» Section Three: Building Community By Helping Others
» "Who Are You?," p. 91-92

Introduction / Pre-teaching Activity: Because my students are at a fairly low speaking level, I first brainstormed with them about who they are, prompting them at first to get the activity rolling: when you go to the doctor, who are you? (patient); when you come to English class, who are you? (student), etc.

Process:
1. After brainstorming, hand out page 91 from the Sourcebook. Discuss with students. We did a major brainstorm on the board as they called out all the different roles they could think of. We talked about Felicia, the example on page 21 and her various roles.

2. The next stage was to hand out a copy of page 92 and have the students fill in their own personal roles.

3. Next, review questions, "Who are you?" and the answer, "I am a.....". Students practice in pairs, then stand up and walk around the room practicing the questions with different students. This can also be done with students standing in rows facing each other, asking one question, while the other student picks one answer. They then take one step to the right and ask the next person in front of them.

4. Student feedback: how did they feel, did they like the exercise, what did they learn?
Anything surprising or new?

Teacher Reflections:
This worked well because it broadened students' awareness of who they are and made them think about themselves in a new way. I think they felt a sense of power at realizing they had so many different roles. In a future lesson they talked about where they felt good and bad with English, and that too was empowering for them. As an English lesson it worked well because it generated a lot of language.

Things to keep in mind for doing this lesson: Start at the beginning of the class so you can really get into it and have time to develop the issues of where students feel powerful. Possibly add some activities around the power issue like having them ask each other where they feel powerful using English and why.

Student Reactions:
Students seemed to like talking about the various roles they have in the community and thinking of themselves as a whole, rather than in the various parts that make up their lives.

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Feelings Using English

Time Required: Half an hour to an hour, depending on student involvement

Objectives of Lesson:
   • To assess the English level of students
   • To identify where students need/use English
   • To determine students' level of comfort in using English in different situations

Connection to Sourcebook:
» Section One: Finding Connections to Communities and Issues

Introduction / Pre-teaching Activity: Brainstorming about where they use English.

Process:
1. Divide the board into two sections, labeling one "Good" and one "Bad."

2. Ask the students to talk with a partner about where they feel good or bad using English.

3. After a few minutes, open up the discussion to whole class: ask where the students feel good or bad and put the replies in the appropriate section of the board.

4. I followed this up by asking why they felt bad (with police, you might get a ticket, for instance).

Teacher Reflections:
This was an excellent lesson in terms of my learning about the students, what their needs are, and I believe more valuable than earlier "needs assessment" brainstorming I had carried out with them. By actually being able to talk about their feelings, I felt the reaction from them was much more interactive, and they were more involved with the procedure. Their gestures and mannerisms as they described their feelings were telling: they said, "police" and shuddered as if to indicate fear. They smiled when talking about restaurants, etc. It was very revealing and helped me understand their needs far more than other activities.

I plan to extend this lesson in later sessions to develop students' language skills in the situations they mentioned where they felt bad using the language.

This lesson worked well because it tapped into the subjective feelings of the students, and I believe they were much more able to answer the question "where do you feel good and bad" than they were able to think about where they need English: after all, maybe they don't know until they are actually in a difficult situation. A common response is "everywhere."

Student Reactions:
Students seemed to like talking about the places in the community where they use English, and as they expressed their feelings, they opened up more and were laughing and joking with each other.

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