Learning How to Incorporate Real Life Issues into the Curriculum as an Avenue to Advocacy

By Gina Johnson Wells

Haynes (2018) outlined four practices that teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) can employ in their classrooms to make learning more effective and to support their students to a greater degree. These practices include 1) establishing relationships with students that focus your students’ potential and abilities, 2) scaffolding content to make it accessible and to reduce the learning burden, 3) using a variety of groupings, and 4) championing diversity in your classroom (Haynes). I asseverate that there is an additional practice that can be utilized to support ELLs. That practice is advocacy for our students and ourselves.

As educators of multilingual learners, opportunities to advocate for our students frequently arise in and out of our classrooms. Norman and Eslami (2022) have noted that these opportunities to advocate can take different forms: in the way we teach, speaking up for students at the school, district, and state levels, and actively contacting our representatives in congress. When we do advocate for our students, it often occurs as a result of our observations, experiences, the knowledge that is the result of establishing relationships with our students, and an awareness of what they need in and out of the classroom. It is knowledge that allows those who are effective advocates to persist and to be successful in their advocacy.

However, though opportunities to advocate for our students (and ourselves) do arise, not every teacher of English Learners embraces the role of advocate (Norman & Eslami, 2022). In a review of literature focused on English Language teachers’ (ELT) propensity to be advocates, Norman and Eslami found that among the characteristics of ELTs who embrace advocacy, educational experiences (particularly additional coursework or professional development) had a positive impact on ELTs’ attitudes about advocacy and inclination to advocate for their students and themselves. It is with this in mind that I describe how a group of students (ELTs and future ELTs) increased their awareness and knowledge of the rights of language learners who have immigrated to the US, leading to greater inclination and desire to advocate for ELs.

In the fall of 2021, a group of students who are, or soon-will-be, teachers of ELLs, participated in a course at Northeastern Illinois University. The course was TESL 471: Evolution of Laws and Policies in Language Instruction. The content of this course facilitates the acquisition of and an understanding of the laws and policies that have governed/do govern and guided/guide language instruction, particularly English language and bilingual language instruction, in the United States. The language policies and language instruction policies in a number of other countries are also examined. After participating in the Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) Model online workshop, the instructor of the course revised the course so that all assignments were analyzed in relation to immigrant rights and the culminating project of the course would be a quality product that the teachers/future teachers could use for advocacy in their classrooms and in their communities. Thus, the participating students’ learning in the course was guided by the CIRLI model.

The CIRLI Model was and is an excellent way to gain essential knowledge in how to incorporate life issues into the curriculum. It is available to any teacher who is interested in learning how to increase their own and their students’ knowledge of issues that impact the everyday lives of our students (i.e. substance abuse, the coronavirus, bullying, immigration status, etc.). As noted on the CIRLI website, (http://www.cirli.org/cirli-model.html), real-life issues can easily be integrated into any curriculum and help teachers and students grow in understanding of what impacts and affects life and learning in and out of our classrooms on a daily basis. The main components of the CIRLI model are 1) social assessment, including diversity, identifying real-life issues, self-assessment; 2) integration of real-life issues into the content; and 3) service learning. Teachers who participate in CIRLI learn how to effectively and seamlessly introduce real-life issues into their curriculum.

The specific real-life issues which were infused into the TESL 471 curriculum were immigrants’ rights, in general, and immigrants’ rights to language and language instruction, in particular. After interacting with the content throughout the semester, completing in-depth research, evaluating the merits and disadvantages of a variety of language laws and policies, discussing how those laws and policies have impacted them and/or those they know, and presenting analyzations of readings to the class, the students created an interactive Google Site which can now be used to educate colleagues, students, and community members about the history of language laws in the U.S., current policies and laws relating to language and language laws in the U.S., federal resources, and so much more. Their final project can be found at this website: https://sites.google.com/view/immigrants-rights-to-language-/u-s-timeline-of-language-policies.

The students in this course have now become knowledgeable advocates for their students, themselves, and the broader community. As Kofi Annan (1997) stated, “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating.” This course has given students the power of knowledge and the information that liberates them to be strong advocates for their current and future students. In turn, their students can gain knowledge that they use to advocate for themselves and for others.

www.cirli.org .

The free online workshop can be found at the following link: http://homepages.neiu.edu/~rlglick/Cirli%20module%20060519/index.html

References

Annan, K. (2018) Address to the 1997 World Bank Conference ‘Global Knowledge ‘97’ https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/kofi-annan-knew-importance-education

Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) (N.D.). http://www.cirli.org

Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) (N.D.). Immigrant Rights. http://www.cirli.org/immigrant-rights-unit.html

Haynes, J. (2018, October 16). 4 ways teachers can support English Learners. TESOL International Blog. http://blog.tesol.org/4-ways-teachers-can-support-english-learners/#

Norman, L.N.M., Eslami, Z.R. (2022). English Learner teacher advocates: A systematic literature review. Teaching English as a Second Langauge Electronic JOurnal (TESL-EJ), 25(4). https://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej100/a8.pdf

Northeastern Illinois University, Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI). (N.D.) http://homepages.neiu.edu/~rlglick/Cirli%20module%20060519/index.html

Gina Johnson Wells, PhD, is the ITBE Advocacy Chair and a faculty member in the Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) TESOL Department.


Learning How to Incorporate Real Life Issues into the Curriculum as an Avenue to Advocacy By Gina Johnson Wells Haynes (2018) outlined four practices that teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) can employ in their classrooms to make learning more effective and to support their students to a greater degree. These practices include 1) establishing relationships with students that focus your students’ potential and abilities, 2) scaffolding content to make it accessible and to reduce the learning burden, 3) using a variety of groupings, and 4) championing diversity in your classroom (Haynes). I asseverate that there is an additional practice that can be utilized to support ELLs. That practice is advocacy for our students and ourselves. As educators of multilingual learners, opportunities to advocate for our students frequently arise in and out of our classrooms. Norman and Eslami (2022) have noted that these opportunities to advocate can take different forms: in the way we teach, speaking up for students at the school, district, and state levels, and actively contacting our representatives in congress. When we do advocate for our students, it often occurs as a result of our observations, experiences, the knowledge that is the result of establishing relationships with our students, and an awareness of what they need in and out of the classroom. It is knowledge that allows those who are effective advocates to persist and to be successful in their advocacy. However, though opportunities to advocate for our students (and ourselves) do arise, not every teacher of English Learners embraces the role of advocate (Norman & Eslami, 2022). In a review of literature focused on English Language teachers’ (ELT) propensity to be advocates, Norman and Eslami found that among the characteristics of ELTs who embrace advocacy, educational experiences (particularly additional coursework or professional development) had a positive impact on ELTs’ attitudes about advocacy and inclination to advocate for their students and themselves. It is with this in mind that I describe how a group of students (ELTs and future ELTs) increased their awareness and knowledge of the rights of language learners who have immigrated to the US, leading to greater inclination and desire to advocate for ELs. In the fall of 2021, a group of students who are, or soon-will-be, teachers of ELLs, participated in a course at Northeastern Illinois University. The course was TESL 471: Evolution of Laws and Policies in Language Instruction. The content of this course facilitates the acquisition of and an understanding of the laws and policies that have governed/do govern and guided/guide language instruction, particularly English language and bilingual language instruction, in the United States. The language policies and language instruction policies in a number of other countries are also examined. After participating in the Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) Model online workshop, the instructor of the course revised the course so that all assignments were analyzed in relation to immigrant rights and the culminating project of the course would be a quality product that the teachers/future teachers could use for advocacy in their classrooms and in their communities. Thus, the participating students’ learning in the course was guided by the CIRLI model. The CIRLI Model was and is an excellent way to gain essential knowledge in how to incorporate life issues into the curriculum. It is available to any teacher who is interested in learning how to increase their own and their students’ knowledge of issues that impact the everyday lives of our students (i.e. substance abuse, the coronavirus, bullying, immigration status, etc.). As noted on the CIRLI website, (http://www.cirli.org/cirli-model.html), real-life issues can easily be integrated into any curriculum and help teachers and students grow in understanding of what impacts and affects life and learning in and out of our classrooms on a daily basis. The main components of the CIRLI model are 1) social assessment, including diversity, identifying real-life issues, self-assessment; 2) integration of real-life issues into the content; and 3) service learning. Teachers who participate in CIRLI learn how to effectively and seamlessly introduce real-life issues into their curriculum. The specific real-life issues which were infused into the TESL 471 curriculum were immigrants’ rights, in general, and immigrants’ rights to language and language instruction, in particular. After interacting with the content throughout the semester, completing in-depth research, evaluating the merits and disadvantages of a variety of language laws and policies, discussing how those laws and policies have impacted them and/or those they know, and presenting analyzations of readings to the class, the students created an interactive Google Site which can now be used to educate colleagues, students, and community members about the history of language laws in the U.S., current policies and laws relating to language and language laws in the U.S., federal resources, and so much more. Their final project can be found at this website: https://sites.google.com/view/immigrants-rights-to-language-/u-s-timeline-of-language-policies. The students in this course have now become knowledgeable advocates for their students, themselves, and the broader community. As Kofi Annan (1997) stated, “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating.” This course has given students the power of knowledge and the information that liberates them to be strong advocates for their current and future students. In turn, their students can gain knowledge that they use to advocate for themselves and for others. If you are interested in learning more about the CIRLI Model, please go to the following link http://www.cirli.org . The free online workshop can be found at the following link: http://homepages.neiu.edu/~rlglick/Cirli%20module%20060519/index.html References Annan, K. (2018) Address to the 1997 World Bank Conference ‘Global Knowledge ‘97’ https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/kofi-annan-knew-importance-education Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) (N.D.). http://www.cirli.org Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI) (N.D.). Immigrant Rights. http://www.cirli.org/immigrant-rights-unit.html Haynes, J. (2018, October 16). 4 ways teachers can support English Learners. TESOL International Blog. http://blog.tesol.org/4-ways-teachers-can-support-english-learners/# Norman, L.N.M., Eslami, Z.R. (2022). English Learner teacher advocates: A systematic literature review. Teaching English as a Second Langauge Electronic JOurnal (TESL-EJ), 25(4). https://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej100/a8.pdf Northeastern Illinois University, Curriculum Infusion of Real Life Issues (CIRLI). (N.D.) http://homepages.neiu.edu/~rlglick/Cirli%20module%20060519/index.html Gina Johnson Wells, PhD, is the ITBE Advocacy Chair and a faculty member in the Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) TESOL Department.
Spring 2022 - Volume 50, Issue 1