A Free Website to Learn English and Prepare for U.S. Citizenship - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A Free Website to Learn English and Prepare for U.S. Citizenship usalearns.org Andrea Willis Sacramento County Office of Education

What is USA Learns? • A free website created by the Sacramento County Office of Education • Teaches ESL and U.S. citizenship to adults • Uses high quality multimedia, videos and interactive lessons • Target audience: adult ESL, ABE and U.S. Citizenship learners • Built for classroom, library, workplace and home use 2

English Courses • 1 st English Course • Low to High Beginner ESL • 192 lessons and 639 activities • 2 nd English Course • Low to High Intermediate ESL • 141 lessons, 848 activities • Practice English & Reading • Real news stories and activities • Builds vocabulary, speaking and comprehension skills 3

Website Statistics • Web pages viewed since 2008: 1.6 Billion • Number of website users: 10 Million • Average amount of time per visit: 25 minutes • Number of users per day: 9,000 • Accessed by every country in the world 4

New U.S. Citizenship Course Launched November 1, 2017! 5

Quality Content and Resources Content developed in partnership with… • Expert ESL and U.S. Civics Teachers • Immigration attorneys at Immigrant Legal Resource Center • USCIS program specialists Utilized high- quality resources… • Align with USCIS Adult Ed Citizenship education content standards and foundation skills • Use USA Learns best practices 6

Praise From Experts “I’m not aware of another free resource that is this in-depth and prepares applicants for ALL aspects of the naturalization interview. The combination of reading, writing, listening and speaking practice makes this course ideal for many levels of citizenship students.” - Jennifer Gagliardi, U.S. Citizenship Teacher 7

A Tour of… USA Learns Citizenship [ the most exciting part of my presentation! ] 8

New Course Has 4 Units • Steps to become a U.S. Citizen • N-400 Application • Civics & Reading and Writing Practice • Prepare for Naturalization Interview and U.S. Citizenship 9

Steps to Become a U.S. Citizen • Eligibility • The N-400 Form and Application Costs • Overview of the Interview Process • Exceptions and Accommodations • Explanation of “Red Flags” on the N -400 • How to protect yourself and avoid fraud 10 Click to play video

N-400 Application & Interview Questions • Explains how to answer interview questions about info provided in N-400 application • Covers 150 key words and concepts with images, definitions and practice sentences • N-400 Interview most difficult part of naturalization process • Few online resources help immigrants practice for the N-400 Interview 11

U.S. Civics • Covers the 100 Civics Questions • 120 key words and concepts are presented in multimedia videos Sample Civics Topics: • Constitution • Bill of Rights • U.S. Geography • Our Government • Rights and Responsibilities 12

Civics Multimedia Example • Professional quality animations and voice-overs • Students can pause and re-watch videos Click image to play video 13

Prepare for the Naturalization Interview • What to expect at the USCIS office • Practice conversational English (“small talk”) • Practice answering online “officers” in videos • Includes listening and speaking activities to fully prepare applicant • Practice for Reading and Writing tests 14

Completing Your Naturalization Click image to play video 15

Creative Implementation • Mobile Library serves 70 Gridley migrant farm worker families • 40 adults study with USA Learns “I liked seeing the interview videos best. Every part of the application is here, but I didn’t know what the interview would be like. Practicing makes me feel better.” - Josefina (Migrant Worker) 16

Teacher Side • Enables adult educators to easily create online courses • Provides tools to monitor learners’ progress as they complete activities and lessons • Easily enrolls students into classes using a “class key” • Includes basic communication tools 17

Teacher Quick Start: 3 Easy Steps! • Set up a Teacher account by registering at usalearns.org/teacher • Create classes based on one of the 4 courses • Invite students to register at usalearns.org. Give them your class key. 18

Thank You! usalearns.org Andrea Willis Sacramento County Office of Education awillis@scoe.net 19