This year the Norwood Adult ESL Program was fortunate to be able to meet the requests of many students for a citizenship class. We received a mini-grant from SABES Southeast to develop student leaders. We did that by being partners and tutors during citizenship classes and by going out into the community.

From the beginning to the end, the citizenship class has been a wonderful experience for all of us, the student leaders of the Advanced ESL class at the Norwood Adult ESL Program, and the students from the Intermediate and Advanced Beginning ESL classes.

First, we had direct contact with many students from other levels. We got to know them better. During the class, we tried to help them to read, write, and understand the lesson. We learned important information about American history, about the US government, and the holidays celebrated in the US. We also practiced the 100 questions required for the citizenship interview. We made ourselves familiar with the vocabulary of the N-400 form, the form need to be filled out and sent to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before getting an appointment for the interview. For these purposes, the teacher used many resources, for example, books, CDs, video and audiotapes, and the Web.

Secondly, we prepared two poster boards: one for the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, another one for Norwood Town Hall. Some students met with Norma Logan, assistant literacy volunteer coordinator, Literacy Volunteers of America, at the library, and Eleanor McGonagle, human resources director for the Town of Norwood.

Thirdly, we had the chance to live a wonderful day and a very exciting experience on Friday, the 21st of May, at Devens, Massachusetts. This day, we had to present a workshop about the leadership project to other students from different programs for adult education. It was called the "Hear Me Roar!" Student Leadership Celebration and was sponsored by Massachusetts Alliance for Adult Literacy (MassAAL) and SABES and supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, Adult and Community Learning Services.

We were very well prepared and a little nervous before the workshop, but when we began to explain what we had done in the citizenship class, we felt very comfortable and for one hour gave useful information to the students who joined our workshop. After lunch, we stood by our poster board and answered questions about citizenship. We met new people, shared our experiences, and made new friends. On our way back home, we were ecstatic!

Noha Barbara came to the United States eleven months ago. In Lebanon she was a French teacher and middle school principal. She can be reached through Mary Ann Sliwa at: masilwa@comcast.ne