Materials Available to All Teachers

One of the key goals of our EL-Civics project is to create and test materials that can be used by the field. This is an ongoing process. The materials you find below will likely be further modified during the course of the project. Please feel free to contact us with your reactions and suggestions. Heide Spruck Wrigley leads the research team that is developing the materials. She can be reached at hwrigley@aiweb.com.

Lesson Plans
The following lesson plans were developed by teachers in the EL-Civics on the Border Project. Click on the name of the activity to open a Web page describing it. Links to examples of teaching materials and student projects are included on those pages. Click on (Word) to open the file in Microsoft Word.

Artifact Project: A Special Meaning (Word)
Students are asked to bring in an artifact or picture that has special meaning to them or that represents their culture. They present their artifact to the class in English.

Poetry and Multimedia Project: Border Poems (Word)
Students write poems about what it means to live in their community, find graphics and photos to illustrate them, and videotape themselves reading the poems. Text, pictures, and video are incorporated into a PowerPoint presentation.

Community Mapping Project: Socorro Community Services (Word)
Students access a variety of resources to develop a map of community services and present the information on poster board, overhead transparencies, and the Web.

Field Trip Project: Community College Visit (Word)
Students visit community college to learn about educational opportunities. They interview college personnel, requesting information, make presentations to class, and create map of college.

Inquiry Map Project: Domestic Violence (Word)
Students develop and research questions about domestic violence to develop a Web-based question and answer site.

Timeline Activity: My Life Map (Word)
Students create a map or timeline including significant events of their lives.

Live Skit Project: Problem Solving Scenario (Word)
Students write, edit and perform a live skit in English about a problem.

Creative Visualization: Dream Homes (Word)
Students construct model cardboard homes, take digital pictures of them, and write about the values that characterize the ideal home and community.

Video Project: Socorro News (Word)
Students produce a local newscast including news stories, weather, sports, commercials, and public service announcements.

Storyboard Project: How to Make Mexican Corn Tortillas (Word)
Students generate a step-by-step guide or storyboard using photos and text to provide instructions on how to use a traditional Mexican kitchen tool, the tortilla press.

Survey Activity: My Community (Word)
Students generate a list of survey questions related to their community to ask individuals outside of the classroom. They gather the responses and report back in English to their classmates. The activity helps students know more about their community, increases a sense of community in the classroom, and promotes vocabulary and oral language development.

Video Project: What A Mess! (Word)
Students work in a group and identify a common problem. They prepare basic storyboard of problem and solution, then shoot and edit a video.

Brochure Project: Sharing Information (Word)
Students create brochures to share inportant information with the community.

Music Video Project (Word)
Students produce a music video. Songs are translated and language building activities are used for understanding.

PowerPoint Project: Our Community (Word)
Students learn about people and places in their community. They gather information, conduct interviews, and take pictures to incorporate into a PowerPoint presentation.

Life Stories Project: Why I Came to the U.S. (Word)
Students interview each other, write their stories, and add pictures and sketches to personalize their presentation.

Incorporating Video Into the ESL Classroom (Word)
Teacher uses ESL video programming to generate lessons for instruction and to stimulate student interest.

How to Make a Craft Project (Word)
Students demonstrate how to make a craft, learn the structures in English necessary to speak and then write sentences describing materials needed and steps followed. They take digital pictures of each step, incorporate their written steps and pictures into a PowerPoint presentation.

I Have a Dream Project (Word)
Students write sentences describing their dreams for a better community. They then find graphics or photos on the Internet to illustrate their favorite sentences. Then the students combine their sentences and images in a PowerPoint presentation. The students read their sentences as part of a public presentation.

PowerPoint Presentations

EL-Civics on the Border
Overview EL-Civics project

Field Trip Overview
Overview of strategies and activities for engaging students on civics-oriented field trips

Creating a Simple Web Quest
Basic guidelines for creating simple Web Quests or treasure hunts for students

TESOL 2003 Presentation: From Classroom to Community
Principles and programs in demonstration EL Civics projects

Tools for Teachers

Can Do List for Language Learners
Self-assessment matrix for ability to do common activities in English

Focus Group Guide
Guide and forms to use in conducting a focus group with students to determine where they now use English and where they feel a need to do so

People and Places
Resources for building a sense of community through questions, grids and surveys

Somebody Ought to do Something Scenarios
Four problem-solving scenarios to engage students in English and stimulate language practice

Comparing Web Pages
A sample grid that allows students to compare similar kinds of Web pages and evaluate their usefulness for a particular project or task

Deportees and a Bit of History
A set of activities that introduces students to the Bracero program via a series of Web sites that deal with U.S.-Mexico border history. Listening and reading comprehension are reinforced through the song "Deportees: Train Wreck at Los Gatos" by Woodie Guthrie.

Texas GREAT Center Training Materials
The following materials are made available as part of GREAT Center training in the Far West region of Texas. Funding for GREAT Center training is provided by Texas LEARNS. These materials were designed to be used by workshop participants but may also be useful to others.

Introduction to Project Based Learning
PowerPoint presentation outlining the whys and wherefors of PBL.

Tips for Enhancing Documents in MS Word
Some basic ways to enhance documents using tables and graphics.

People and Places (Grids and Surveys)
Introduction to Project Based Learning using grids and surveys in exercises with students.

Poetry Lessons for Intermediate and Advanced Students
A series of lessons that introduce students to poetry (includes ideas for personal poems and list poems.

Picture with description Word template
Word file with simple table to create picture with blank description lines.

Picture with description example
Complete file with picture inserted.

Storyboard Word template
Word file with tables that can be used as a storyboard template.

Fotonovella Example
Page with screen captures from online fotonovella.

Fotonovella Practice Images
Two pictures to use in exercise to create fotonovella using MS Word.