Civics resources
and related links
image: Dowua Abed, Greater Lawn Community Youth Network
Gelatin silver print , copyright Dawoud Bey 1999.
From Indivisible: Introduction to interpreting photographs
| English Language/
Civics resources and related links
image: Dowua Abed, Greater Lawn Community Youth Network |
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Some of the resources on this page also appear on LR/RI's advocacy and ESOL pages. They are gathered here to facilitate locating resources related to EL Civics learning and teaching.
< href =" http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/01/16/the-best-websites-for-learning-about-civic-participation-citizenship/ ">Larry Ferzallos: The Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship
Resources for Adult Educators from The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) U.S. Civics and Citizenship Online: Resource Center for Instructors
Baha Sadr's online citizenship site; originally designed through International Institute of RI, with updates to come and much useful information already there.
Office of Vocational and Adult Education EL Civics homepage - archived information
English Literacy/Civics resources from Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
The Learning Page - Immigration; archival source material documenting numerous immigrant groups
English Literacy and Civics Education for Adult Learners Special Policy Update, National Institute for Literacy, August, 2001
Writings by Teachers from the New England Citizenship Project (NECP) -
"The work of the teachers who participated in the New England Citizenship Project [includes] ... descriptions of lessons from citizenship classes around the region. The goal of the project was to help teachers expand citizenship instruction beyond the 100 questions on the INS test. However, many of these lesson ideas would work in other teaching contexts that cover civics and civic participation. Many thanks to Andy Nash for leading this project, and to Kristin Salsberry, who put these writings on the web." - Silja Kallenbach
Colorado Department of Education English Literacy and Civics Education; compendium of many resources listed here, as well as instructional activities and resource packets.
RI Secretary of State's civics resources.
Heide Spruck Wrigley facilitated an all day workshop in Providence on March 19, 2002, and has generously made the following articles and materials available, as HTML, powerpoint or word files to download.
EL CIVICS: Making the case for Just-in-Time Teaching, article by Heide Spruck Wrigley addressing ways of incorporating civics into ongoing language and literacy work, with thanks to Dr. Wrigley for sharing her article here.
Culture and Communications: Handling sticky situations
PEOPLE AND PLACES Building A Sense Of Community through Questions, Grids And Surveys
If you have difficulty downloading these files, please contact LR/RI and receive them as attachments via email.
The Coalition of Limited English Speaking Elderly (CLESE) a unique coalition of over forty agencies representing many immigrant groups and seniors. Rich collection of resources and immigrants' statements.
Just in Time Civics From Classroom to Community on the Border "A three-year demonstration project of The Socorro Independent School District integrating EL-Civics learning activities into ongoing Even Start family literacy. Targeting beginning level ESL students, the project builds on contemporary research into how adults with lowliteracy skills best learn English."
Writing a letter of complaint from TV411.
Community Planning Resource Guide - a guide for people interested in learning more about creating and sustaining partnerships under the Massachusetts Adult Basic Education (ABE) Community Planning Initiative. Includes book reviews, references to print and online resources, and lessons learned and advice from community planning practitioners working in ABE Community Planning Partnerships across the state. This guide was prepared in collaboration between SABES West and SABES Central community planning staff, and provides valuable models for others working beyond the state.
Asset-Based Community Development Institute ; "Challenging the traditional approach to solving urban problems, which focuses service providers and funding agencies on the needs and deficiencies of neighborhoods, [ABCD] demonstrate[s] that community assets are key building blocks in sustainable urban and rural community revitalization efforts."
Constitutional Rights Foundation "seeks to instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and educate them to become active and responsible participants in our society." What do you think? A good site for critical analysis.
National Issues Forums - site providing background information, thoughtful analysis of and questions about issues of civic engagement and participation in a multiracial, multiethnic country. Valuable resource for learning about and framing issues for discussion, further understanding and classroom/staffroom interaction. Thanks to Andy Nash for this reference.
The Equal Rights Amendment, first proposed in 1923, is still not part of the U.S. Constitution. Should it be?
How a bill becomes law - interactive quia quiz
Know your rights, information explaining an individual's legal rights, provided by the National Lawyer's Guild; additional / supplementary information is also available at American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
NIFL grants and funding resources (if this long link doesn't work, click here, then to the site map, to FAQs, and it'll take you back to grants and funding
New Internationalist's Global Issues for Learners of English - UK-based site examining global issues of concern. [6/05 - off line:
People and Politics A Civic Literacy Curriculum by Ashley Hager
VALUE - National learner leadership organization /
Civic Participation sourcebook
Civic Participation special collection
Civic Practices Network - collaborative and nonpartisan project bringing together organizations and perspectives within the new citizenship movement.
Voter Education, Registration, and Action (VERA), article in Focus on Basicsby Andrea Nash, describing programs' capacity building work to integrate ivic literacy and community participation into basic education and ESOL teaching; information about the 2004 VERA campaign
CIVNET - online resource and service for civic education practitioners, as well as scholars, policymakers, civic-minded journalists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) promoting civic education all over the world
Pick your candidate - voting 101.
Vote for America - site devoted to voter registration drives in Rhode Island and across the US
Involving English Language Learners in Community Connected Learning (2000), a resource from Jobs for the Future
How to Vote, an election tutorial, and Easy Reader Voter guide, a California model for making voting accessible.
resources on voting, from LR/RI's advocacy page
Voter Education, Registration, and Action campaign 2004: a non-partisan effort aimed at adult literacy learners and program staff in New England. Its goal is to educate adult learners about voting and topical electoral issues, and mobilize them to vote in the 2004 elections.
Activities for Integrating Civics in Adult English Language Learning, from the National Center for ESL Literacy Education
Advanced EL Civics Curriculum of Fairfax County, Virginia, Adult & Community Education
Let's Participate: A Course in Australian Citizenship
EL-Civics Lesson Plans from Northwest LINCS
ESL/Civics Link, a new project (under development) of PBS LiteracyLink. PBS and its partners are creating interactive, web-based professional development training modules in ESL and civics instruction for teachers of adults learning English. ESL/CivicsLink will provide teachers with access to quality training materials, electronic networking opportunities, and ESL and civics-related resources. The modules will focus on teaching methods, instructional strategies, assessment, and classroom management.
How to buy a home in the United States- developed by Susan Gaer and other teachers working with learners on home buying curricula.
Ben's guide to government for kids - while not intended for adult learners, the site could be used with learners wishing to learn more about government with their children, or introduced explicitly as a children's site (up to high school) - as a means of practicing language use and gaining information as part of an ongoing EL/Civics curriculum.
Joan on Government, a site developed by a Minnesota woman wanting to compile information about and for her community. While many references are particular to Minnesota, other pieces are relevant to US/EL Civics; as well, the process by which she developed her site may be of interest to others wishing to do the same.
Putting the Movement back into Civil Rights Teaching
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University
These sites provide both content information (that needed to prepare for citizenship exams) and well as general information about immigration prcoesses and procedures.
A word about citizenship and immigration for ESOL educators -- please remember that we are not lawyers; we're teachers. While much of the information on line may be of great use to adults preparing for the citizenship exam, we need to not make recommendations about immigration processes, but rather assist learners in connecting to whichever legal/immigration resources will best assist them in answering questions about immigration status.
from Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
Northern California Citizenship Project - curriculum and supporting resources, to download.
Citizenship Educators Page - The Adult Learning Resource Center (ALRC) provides citizenship technical assistance to educators. Services include staff development workshops; educator interest groups; on-site electronic and phone consultation; customized training; and materials development in English and Spanish.
Immigration: A practical guide to immigrating to the US (law firm's site).
Study for the US citizenship test Metro North Adult Education Program; free to Minnesota residents, $20 fee for out of state users. with some free resources available to all.
The New Americans, a seven-hour PBS miniseries premiering April 2004, and focusing on the search for the American Dream through the eyes of immigrants and refugees; as well as guide, activity book and additional resources
Ellis Island - historic photos, information about the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and related resources
Guidance on inquiries to immigration and citizenship status - US Office of Civil Rights
immigration links to primary sources from the Library of Congress' online collections.
Immigration History Research Center - University of Minnesota
USCIS INSUSnews Citizenship and Immigration Services
My History is America's History - "Look around your community for ways to share your family stories and to see how they fit in the larger history of the community, region, or the nation;" site designed to teach about, facilitate, elict, encode and share community histories. Sadly, this site has closed, but a message links to the national Endowment for the Humanities. Tell them to bring the site back.
MCI immigration tips; from Carl Shusterman, with translations available in multiple languages. While I'm not sure of the accuracy of these resources, they bear checking out. Shusterman has had an immigration law site (proprietary, it seems) for years.
the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
Intelecom - distributors of Crossroads Cafe and other EL civics video resources
The Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History; online resources, including a timeline with links to specific events, numerous resources and articles.
Pomegranate Communications, publishers of Knowledge Cards - sets of packets of 48 cards that include photos (in some instances) and facts about the Civil Rights Movement, American Civics and Politics and the 50 United States -- among many other topics. At $10/each, they're wonderful tools for teacher learning, adapting for learners at different levels and inspiration to create your own sets of cards tailored to your learners' interests and needs.
We the people, a website developed "to promote civic competence and responsibility among the nation's elementary and secondary students. " Although the primary audience is K-12 students, much of the material could be useful for and adaptable to adult learning.
Community Engagement Resources ; materials connected to the PBS series, "The New Americans."
Focus on Educating Citizens from the Canadian Education Association, including stories of citizenship, research and practice
also seeLR/RI's advocacy page - focus on healthaccess/equity
EthnoMed- contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues and other related issues pertinent to the health care of recent immigrants to Seattle, many of whom are refugees fleeing war-torn parts of the world.
Health and Literacy Practice application brief by Sandra Kerka, 2000
U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Pictograms - clear, simple, graphic images to use in dealing with medicine and taking medicine. USP, a nonprofit organization working to promote safety and standards related to medicines, offers 81 pictograms that deal with common instructions, precautions, and warnings about medications.
Indivisible - "This resource focuses on the documentary tradition and the power of images and personal statements to reveal aspects of place, identity, community, and civic engagement. There are strategies and lessons that enable teachers to integrate the project's photographs, narratives, and themes into their own curricula. Activities are suggested that teachers may use to engage their students with looking at, discussing, and writing about the exhibition. They may approach the project as a study of documentary expression, an overall look at grass-roots democracy and community action in the United States, or they may focus on individual community sites because of subject content or geographic location."
Learning to state things clearly and succinctly is a vital skill for learners and practitioners. Clear Language and Design , the plain language editing and consulting service of East End Literacy in Toronto, Canada, provides useful resources for developing clear written and visual messages.
As learners become more aware of, and involved in advocacy and/or civic participation efforts, these sites may be of use in developing a critical understanding of the role of media as a tool (or weapon) in shaping public thought. These questions, [also online at the Change Agent in the classroom], may be useful to discuss:
Now, see if you and your partner know about any news sites. (If you need help, there are some news sites listed below).
Are there differences between the stories? What are the differences? Why are the stories different?
New York TImes Learning Network
Public Broadcasting Newshour online
Newshour extra, student news page
Yahooligans - site for kids on the internet. What newslinks can you find there?
Civics Lessons Related to Iraq War; resources compiled for the New England Literacy Resource Center's Civic Participation collection.
September 11, 2002: The Sonic Memorial
Project, an online sound capsule and audio documentary of the life and times of the World Trade Center and its neighborhood, before, during, and after September 11,2001. Thousands have contributed voicemails, audio memories, home videos, interviews, and more to this evolving historic archive initiated by NPR and the public broadcasting community.
Loss of freedom feared since attacks - Providence Journal article documenting high school debaters' views on immigration rights, featuring a response from a Providence-based adult educator. September 11 Special Collection compiled by Lenore Balliro, editor of
Field Notes, a quarterly newsletter that provides a place to share innovative practices, new resources, information and hot topics with the field of adult education. Resources for Adult Educators in Response to the World Trade Center Crisis and Its Aftermath from the Literacy Assistance Center, NYC.; and student writing in response to the attacks. Rethinking Schools teaching in the shadow of September 11 Changing Immigration Policy, PBS Online Newshour Extra, special feature, December 12, 2001 from the New York Times - selected articles from the week of September 11 for teacher and student use . The site includes geopolitical analyses as well as discussions about balancing civil liberties and security. While these resources may be difficult for English language learners, the background information is critical to those who teach and facilitate language and citizenship classes at this time. Thanks to Kerri Heffernan for bringing this article to light. Repercussions from the Public Eye. Links to news, analysis and background information. Workable Peace; background and context information, explication of various points of view and suggestions for taking on discussions about peace in classrooms. education and dialogue resources, including resources for talking to children about September 11 and its effects. from Sojourners' (thanks to Judy Titzel for sharing this) May 5, 2008
The Middle East Institute's Web site , organized by former Foreign Service officers
Middle East Research and Information Project, founded 30 years ago by returned Peace Corps volunteers.