Written by Cody Schindel, Refugee ESL Coordinator
If someone asked you, would you be able to tell them the year The Constitution was written? What if they asked you to name one territory of the United States? Would you be able to tell them one war the United States fought in the 1800s or give them the name of the current Speaker of the House of Representatives? Do you know one responsibility that a United States citizen has?
Those are five of the possible 100 questions that could be asked during an interview conducted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. During the interview, an applicant will have to correctly answer some of these questions, read and write sentences in English, and will have to answer questions about their background and the application they submitted. This is one major part of the long process for an individual to become a naturalized citizen of the United States of America.
Many of our neighbors in the Kansas City, Kansas community desire to become US Citizens. This Fall, we will be pressing further into our purpose to “love people from all places” by experimenting with a citizenship class open to all refugees and immigrants. The class will be open to those who are preparing to apply and those that have already applied to become a US citizen. We are hoping to be able to help our neighbors learn what it means to be a citizen of the US, as well as to share what it is to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. We believe that this program will further meet the needs of people within our community and continue to connect our immigrant and refugee neighbors together.
The Citizenship Class will be held on Tuesday evenings in addition to our English Club and Refugee Kids Club programming. Our goal will be to assist students in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the content through the use of instruction, group activities, and relational teaching, all presented in simple English. Registration for the class will be held on September 11, 2018 at 6:30pm.
We are presently recruiting volunteers to ensure we have enough help for the upcoming trimester and our Tuesday night programming. If you are interested in volunteering, please visit the ESL page on the Mission Adelante website and fill out an interest form, or contact me at CodyS@missionadelante.org.
CURRENT NEEDS:
- We need volunteers for the Fall Trimester! We will be launching our next trimester in September and are looking for volunteers for many of our programs. Please go to the link next to the program you are interested in to learn more and to sign up!
-Latino ESL: www.missionadelante.org/ESL
-Leaders in Training (LIT): www.missionadelante.org/kids
-Arts Community Guitar Class: www.missionadelante.org/arts
-Refugee Kids Club: www.missionadelante.org/kids
-Citizenship Class: www.missionadelante.org/ESL