Becoming part of a new community challenges any adult, but for nonnative-English-speaking adults this new community challenge can become an isolating barrier because the new community existence is more than just a new home; it’s what Larrotta (2009) suggests is the “new identity and a new understanding of the world that incorporates the new language” (p. 76). Becoming part of this new world for a nonnative speaker is more than just learning new neighbors or grocery stores; it’s learning the history, geography, physical locations, and directions of the new country. I found this challenge to be true with my adult English as another language (EAL) students in the community college. These were adults who took the same roads to and from school and kept their eyes focused on the way ahead, uncertain of what lay to the right or the left.

In my EAL Oral Communication II spring class, the male and female students ranged in ages from 19 to more than 50 years old and represented six continents. Several came from cities that numbered in the millions; others came from small rural farms or Central American villages. Having been in the United States anywhere from several years to several months, the students came to college in rural western Virginia for many reasons—F-1 international student studies, career plans, or language improvement. The one thing that all the students had in common was their total unfamiliarity with the community, the region, the state, and the country to which they had arrived. Another thing they all had in common: They had never really looked at the state map and had no idea where they were in connection to the rest of the state or the rest of the country. Being a traveler and a map lover, I was surprised into action.

I stopped at the state welcome center and loaded up. I took enough state maps for each person in my class to have one. I gathered at least one of every brochure or pamphlet that featured any aspect of the state—recreation, history, state parks, national forests, industry, or agriculture. This curriculum is totally free and abundant in welcome centers around the nation. I was ready for my spring semester project: using the state map to empower, liberate, and motivate nonnative-English-speaking adults.

Curriculum

For this project, students used a map of Virginia; a map of any state would work. First, they had to learn to read the map. Petersen and Nassaji (2016) describe the task part of a project as the classwork. As part of the task and introduction, my class and I discussed how to use the legend, how to find key points, how colors helped anchor locations, and how to determine direction on the map. We discussed directions—north, south, east, and west. We discussed mileage and time. We played team games based on the Jeopardy structure in search of cities, highways, directions, and landmarks—I gave the answer and my students needed to form the question. Classroom tasks varied according to student ability. Finally, I introduced the final project, which required several weeks of reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and presentation.

The students had to pick three locations in the state that they would like to visit, plan a vacation to these places using the brochures and pamphlets presented, and explain why they wanted to visit. They had to research the locations using the web addresses provided on materials, and they were required to comprehend and organize the information without using Google or copying materials. This part of the project builds in the motivation to use the language, what Gardner (1985; as cited by Ortega, 2009, p. 171) describes as necessary for language learning—students want to learn, there is enjoyment in learning, and attitudes toward learning are positive. Because the students were planning a vacation, they were invested in their own projects and motivated to share their discoveries with their peers.

During their final exam presentations, students used the maps to show how they would travel to these locations, but students were only allowed to use the interstate for 10 to 12 miles at a time. Students were directed to take other routes to notice towns and landmarks. They had to research these places via the Internet using town websites to discover what could be done there: coffee, museums, colleges, landmarks, or recreation. I admit it: Sometimes there was nothing. Students had to “stop” at a minimum of 15 locations on the way to their main destinations. Most importantly, students were not allowed to use GPS or their phones. If either was used, the immediate grade was zero. But, I did not have to worry about that as each student did their best to take their imaginary trip using their maps.

Rationale

Projects have long been a method of instruction and recently a hot topic in English as a second language curriculum/instruction; Petersen and Nassaji (2016) define project work as long term with a specific end and for which collected information requires the student to work independently using problem-solving, decision-making, and investigative skills (pp. 15–16). Though the task aspect of this project included the classwork, the students were given 3 weeks outside of class to complete their 10-minute final project presentation, which included their map, their power point of information, and their detailed itinerary around the state. Most projects were 15 minutes in length because of question/answer sessions after the individual presentations.

The state map project required the adults to develop metacognitive reading strategies that included gathering, discerning, and sorting information; students were required to read the brochures, find the locations, measure the distances, discover new information, and, ultimately, turn the information into English.

Another aspect of this project was the technology. Beckett et al. (2006) reinforce the idea that computer literacy is important in language learning because computer activities teach students to use technology tools professionally and prepare language learners for the 21st century. The use of the Internet in this project helped students to use official websites from each brochure and from each town/city along the route and retrieve pertinent information in English; at the same time, the project prevented the use of GPS and/or mobile phones, which students use in their own languages and so does not promote second language learning.

Even though map usage may be fading because of GPS, McDuffie and Cifelli (2006) offered several suggestions for using maps as an instructional tool, suggesting map-reading skills are more than just the ability to find locations and orient oneself; they are a means to develop vocabulary and perspective of place and location. Even though McDuffie’s and Cifelli’s (2006) use of maps was with English-speaking students, I found the state map a self-motivating and self-empowering tool to teach vocabulary and reading while building community within the classroom and liberating the adults from the boundaries of unfamiliarity. My students felt empowered because they had an idea of where they were and where they could go. And, because each student determined his or her own “vacation route,” each student was motivated to share where and why he or she was going to the destinations, thus motivating the student to use new vocabulary and new structures in presentation.

Outcome

Besides learning how roads connected in the state, the students learned about the United States as a whole because they learned how the states were connected. After one student presented her vacation route to the beach and back to her home, another student announced at the conclusion of her project that she was not going home but traveling south to a racetrack in Tennessee. Prior to the presentation, the student did not know south from west. Another student who taught middle school in her native Honduras discovered this nation’s birthplace in Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg, locations that she did not know were so close. A student from Vietnam who actually lived across the border in landlocked West Virginia discovered Virginia has beaches nearly as pretty as the beaches in Vietnam. An unintentional aspect of the project: Through their presentations, students learned additional information about the state and were curious enough to question their peers and take notes for future visits.

Conclusion

When this project started, it was a method to help adults learn how to read a map and become familiar with their new communities. Because the students were interested in their own projects, they were motivated; thus, language learning was the not the center of the project but a tool to accomplish the project. Students were empowered with new information. Overall, these adults did what Larrotta (2009) described: They defined themselves within their new language communities, developing a sense of ownership as well as understanding—not only of location but of language.

References

Beckett, E. C., Wetzel, K., Chisholm, I. M., Zambo, R., Buss, R., Padgett, H., Williams, M. A., & Odom, M. (2006). Staff development to provide intentional language teaching in technology-rich K-8 multicultural classrooms. Computers in Schools 23(3/4), 23–30. Retrieved from http://cits.haworthpress.com. doi: 10.1300/JO25v23n03_02.

Larrotta, C. (2009). Final thoughts on community in adult ESL. New Directions for Adults and Continuing Education, 121, 75–77. doi: 10.1002/ace.327

McDuffie, T., & Cifelli, J. (2006). State highway maps: A route to a learning adventure. Science Activities 43(1), 19–24. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezlfcc.vccs.edu/

Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London, England: Hodder Education.

Peterson, C., & Nassaji, H. (2016). Project-based learning through the eyes of teachers and students in adult ESL classrooms. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 72(1), 13–39. doi: 10.3138/cmlr.2096

Lisa G. Currie is an English as another language (EAL) and international student advisor and ESL professor working with a diverse student population. A former journalist and extensive traveler, she has worked with all ages of ESL learners since 2000 and hosted 15 international high school exchange students in her home with her husband and two sons.