The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) is announcing the launch of a new interactive online course designed to help immigrants prepare for the U.S. citizenship test, which is an important part of the application process for becoming a naturalized citizen. The course is called USA Learns Citizenship and it is free.
USA Learns Citizenship is an easy to navigate course, providing learners with the information, English language practice, and resources that they will need to prepare for U.S. citizenship. It utilizes a multimedia approach, including videos, audio, and images. Learners get in-depth practice with the vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening, and speaking that they will need to feel confident during their naturalization interview.
The course is part of USA Learns, an award-winning interactive English language learning website created by SCOE. Since its inception in 2008, the free USA Learns site has been used by nearly 10 million visitors worldwide, both students and teachers alike. USA Learns received the Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association in 2012 and the 2011 Literacy Leadership Award from the National Coalition for Literacy.
“We believe that the USA Learns Citizenship course will be a valuable tool in helping immigrants prepare to become U.S. citizens,” said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there are nearly 740,000 applications for naturalization pending, a 16 percent increase over 2016.
“Many citizenship courses only prepare students for the civics test, which represents just a small portion of the questions asked during the naturalization interview,” said Andrea Willis, Director of the SCOE Internet & Media Services Department. “USA Learns Citizenship prepares learners for all aspects of the interview: questions about the N-400 application, the reading/writing test, AND the civics test.”
The USA Learns Citizenship course was supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Content was developed in partnership with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the New Americans Campaign, with support from the Grove Foundation. The core content development, programming, and multimedia work was completed by SCOE’s Internet and Media Services department.