Literacy Volunteers of Westchester County, Inc.

About the Curriculum

There are two versions of the Civics for Immigrants Curriculum:

· Bi-lingual version, meant to be presented by a bi-lingual teacher (or team of teacher and bi-lingual teaching assistant) to a class of students who all speak the same language

· English-Only version, meant to be presented by a non-bi-lingual teacher to a higher level class of mixed-language students.

Each version of the Civics for Immigrants Curriculum is a 12 module curriculum that may be presented in 12 or 24 week formats.  

Each Module is designed to be presented in  two 3 hour sessions and focuses on a specific aspect of living in the United States.

If students are at a very low-level of English Language Learning, it is possible to spend two 3-hour sessions on each half of the module, but learners at mid- to high-levels should be able to move through the materials in one 3-hour session.

Each lesson includes activities and materials that provide instruction in reading, speaking, listening and writing. 

Structure:

Each lesson contains an Introduction, to be presented in the students’ native language in the bi-lingual version, a step-by-step lesson plan, handouts or poster ideas and worksheets.

Page Numbering:

All page numbers are formatted with three digits, the first digit is the Module number, the second is the lesson number and the third is either a numeric page number, or an alphabetic designation for handouts (upper-case letters) and worksheets (lower-case letters). 

For example:  the third module, second part, first page is numbered: 3.2.1;  the Third module, second part, first HANDOUT is numbered: 3.2.A; and the third module, second part, first WORKSHEET is numbered: 3.2.a . English-Only versions of lesson follow the same numbering format, prefixed by “EO.”

U.S. Civics for Immigrants:

From Native Language to English Literacy