The Wallet Citizenship Interview

by Jennifer Gagliardi, OTAN Subject Matter Expert

What's in Your Wallet?

What do you grab before you leave the house? Keys, glasses, phone, and a wallet. These essential tools not only unlock doors, start cars, and enable us to see the road ahead, they mark civic rights, obligations, and responsibilities. A driver's license signifies that I have the right to drive, that I am obligated to follow traffic laws, and I am responsible for picking up my kids from day care on time. But look deeper in your wallet, both your leather and cellular "wallets," and you find plenty of material that can help your students prepare for their new identity as new U.S. citizens.

The Leather Wallet Interview

It occurred to me very early in my career as a ESL/Citizenship teacher that using realia was critical to connecting with students. I would model the use of an object, and the student quickly copied the movements, picked up the vocabulary, and connected with the concepts. They would scrutinize their driver licenses as they filled out applications at job sites just as they had done in class. Why? Because information was near at hand, organized, and answered most of the questions that office assistant, service rep, or some sort of government worker would ask them. I was quite surprised when my fellow MATESOL absolutely balked when I told them to open their wallets, take out their driver licenses, and follow along as demonstrated in a naturalization interview. (Not only was it violation of privacy, using realia and speaking without notes or a slide deck were major breaches of academic etiquette.) But, in this case, the content scaffolding for interview questions could be found within their own wallets.