English Innovations: Pathway to Power

Internal Report & Program Update

January 1— September 30, 2020

Contributors: Heide Spruck Wrigley, Elisabeth Vasquez Hein, Marisa Parshotam

Introduction & Overview

This report covers the continued development of OneAmerica’s English Innovations (EI) program in 2020 as we

have made a major shift to integrating EI with OA’s organizing work. The report highlights changes in our model,

curriculum, implementation and strategy. It also details key outcomes and data, successes, challenges, and

projected next steps in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

We are committed to building power among immigrant and refugee English learners in Washington State. Since

EI’s inception in 2011, we have recognized the many barriers faced by those with limited English in the United

States and how these barriers impact one’s ability to participate fully in civic life. According to the Seattle Votes

2016 Survey Report on Immigrant Civic Engagement, “When asked, ‘How much of a difference do you think you

can have in making your neighborhood a better place to live?’ proficiency in the English language reduced feelings

of powerlessness.”

Nearly a decade later, our integrated model continues to innovate based on student and community needs. While

our experience has shown that EI learners are each at a unique point on their path to political awareness and civic

participation, we know that EI can play an important part in building the foundation for a path to power and

leadership. As 2020 comes to a close, we are pleased to report on program progress in the following areas:

EI as an Integral Part of OA and Its Mission: We continue to bring EI more in line with OA’s overall mission to

build power in immigrant and refugee communities of color. Our focus is offering leadership opportunities

and encouraging students to participate in OA workshops and base group meetings.

A New Model (EI 2020): We made some significant changes in 2020, including transitioning to remote

learning and putting a focus on important issues of concern in the community (e.g., racial equity, the

education system; COVID-19). An emerging curriculum now focuses on topics that matter to individuals and

their families through a participatory approach designed to lift student voices.

English as a Vehicle for Community Engagement and Pathway to Participation: We will continue to build the

program around the 3 pillars of English Innovations: English language acquisition (now also including

literacy), digital literacy (extended to online learning), and community

engagement. The community engagement component now includes

discussions on the importance of advocating for your family, your

children, and your community and offers examples of individual

leadership and collective action to make change.

As we give examples and discuss options and possibilities with

students, we help them build their English language and literacy

skills. At the same time, we offer students the chance to express and

share their ideas in the native language, choosing whatever language

they are most comfortable with. (See also Auerbach, Elsa, 1994,

From the Community to the Community, A Guide Book for Training

Community Literacy Instructors, Boston.)

“This program is different because conversations are had outside of pure rote

language acquisition. It integrates culture as part of that, which is highly

involved in the language experience… It allows [students] to exist as who they

are. It provides all of the tools, and not just one aspect of what is necessary.”

— Sulijah, EI volunteer

EI as an Integral Part of OA and Its Mission

In 2020, English Innovations was integrated with OneAmerica’s organizing work in earnest. Rather than

operate as a previously siloed, service-delivery program, EI has become integral to OA’s Theory of Change. EI

serves as an entry point for directly impacted community members to join OA’s base communities and to

identify issues that are important for them.

A key shift in EI’s capacity to integrate with OA’s organizing model was the hand-off of the nationwide

coordination of the EI model to the National Partnership for New Americans. While OA continues to guide

NPNA and its member organizations implementing EI, we are no longer directly coordinating the program

across multiple states, which has freed up capacity for us to focus on base building through EI in Washington

State.

Using the logic model created for EI in 2019, we reassessed our program vision and strategy to align with OA’s

organizing approach. EI is currently leveraged to build OA’s base across Washington State, with a focus on

transformational and relational organizing. EI builds power through targeted outreach to participants from

OA’s core constituency; implementation of curriculum that focuses on OA’s key issue areas (immigration,

education, and reflective democracy) and leadership development; relational organizing practices such as one

-on-one conversations to identify self-interest; connection to OA community organizers and base groups; and

propositions for leadership opportunities within and beyond the EI program.

A student project about self-interest. Students made power point presentations

answering the questions: “Who are you?” and “What made you?”

“The class inspired us to talk and learn about what’s going on in our society.

The topics varied, but had the same meaning - To better the community and

find solutions, and think we are not alone and can work together.” — Mirella

“In this class, I acquainted with other people and learned about their culture. I

learned how to start a conversation. For example, our teacher assigned us to

send our family picture, and then we have to introduce all of the people in the

picture and talk about them. I can introduce myself and my family now, which I

couldn’t introduce properly before.” — Madina

Demographics and Data

Since the launch of our remote classes in Spring of 2020, we have worked with participants from all corners of

Washington State, including those residing in our base communities (South King County, Yakima, Vancouver,

Mount Vernon) who previously could not access our program. In this way the pandemic presented us with a unique

opportunity to expand our geographic reach to connect both with current OneAmerica leaders as well as to

introduce new leaders to the organization.

In our commitment to achieving our team’s racial equity goals we are continually adapting our outreach and

teaching strategies to engage community members from multiple levels of English, literacy, and/or technology

skills, so that our program offers pathways to power and leadership for communities from a variety of lived

experiences, knowledge, and backgrounds.

• This Spring and Summer, 84 students participated and 49 students completed at least one cycle of our remote

program, “English @ Home.”

• Currently our participants are speakers of Spanish, Dari, Amharic, Tigrinya, Hindi, Thai, Mandarin, Telugu,

Korean, and Pushto.

• Students’ educational backgrounds vary; across all classes this Spring and Summer, 22 students had a

college-level education, 14 completed high school, 3 attended elementary school, and 1 did not attend any

schooling (9 were unknown).

• 15 English Innovations participants attended OneAmerica’s virtual Power Building Institute.

• 11 EI participants attended our virtual Public Meeting.

• 8 participated in technology workshops through OA’s Digital Equity pilot project

• We propositioned English Innovations student Isaac Alvarez to join our digital equity team as one of our

facilitators of the technology workshops in Spanish.

• 19 volunteers supported the English @ Home classes in Spring and Summer Cycles.

Maps detailing the cities that students who participated in our Spring and Summer 2020 class cycles live in.

A New Model: EI 2020

Digital Equity in Action. We are keenly aware that many community members are shut out of opportunities to use

technology for learning, living, and advancing at work and that access to technology remains a growing concern.

We created our remote EI classes to provide access to technology to help our students learn and use the power of

the internet to increase their understanding of issues that concern them and their communities. In addition, EI

has absorbed the cross-departmental digital equity efforts that emerged to support leaders’ development of

digital literacy skills in both OneAmerica’s organizing work and their personal lives.

• Technology Access: We now have classes that take advantage of students’ familiarity with different

devices as a starting point. Students can now participate via smartphone, tablets, or computers, and students

who do not have the device they need for “smart learning” have the opportunity to borrow a tablet.

• Media for Learning: We use a combination of online learning tools (Burlington English, Duolingo, We

Speak NYC, YouTube) that build on students’ knowledge of communication technologies. To communicate

with students and keep them engaged, we use phone calls and texts, connect with students via email, and

employ check-ins and reminders via WhatsApp groups. Currently, Zoom classes are the major vehicle for

teaching, while other media is used for support and communication.

• Student Tech Support: While some of our current students have used Zoom and WhatsApp in

communicating with friends and families, others are new to these technologies. We offer training in using

Zoom and WhatsApp both before and during class, providing support for students who previously had been

shut out from online learning. Coaches and volunteers help students with onboarding and provide ongoing

one-on-one assistance. Tutors are available for “just in time” support when students have trouble accessing

Zoom or using different features (such as chat) during the class.

EI student and leader Isaac at his computer

with his daughter’s pet guinea pig, Toffee.

Leader Spotlight: Isaac

Isaac participated in our Spring and Summer 2020

English@Home classes from Skagit County, and has joined

OneAmerica’s Digital Equity Team to facilitate technology

workshops for leaders in Spanish. He is passionate about

technology and currently shares his experience by teaching

computer skill classes in the non-profit sector. A creative

and visionary leader, Isaac says:

In college classes we just repeat the sentence, and this is

not the real world. There are too many expressions. The

face and nonverbal communication are important... [In

this class] I learn English, I learn about issues, education,

and real life. All are important to be part of my

community…. When you are conscious, you are able to

move in the right way.

“I’m helping my son using Zoom now. I feel comfortable because for him it’s

the first time, but not for me. I’ve already done it before in class.” — Blanca

EI Curriculum as a Pathway. We see EI as an important starting point to build power through offering

opportunities to learn and use English in discussion and conversation. Through story (stories of self and

community, and listening to the stories of others), students find common ground and identify common interests

and concerns.

• Focus on Social Learning and Multiple Levels of

Engagement: The EI approach has emphasized social

learning from the first classes (now almost ten years

ago). Our learning tasks reflect models of engaged

learning, integrating social, emotional, and cognitive

engagement, and we plan to move toward a model of

participatory education that allows for greater student

decision making in what’s to be learned and how it will

be learned. Our new lesson flow, developed for the

virtual classroom, bolsters this approach.

• Opportunities for Learning: One of the hallmarks of

EI is a curriculum that moves from the “personal to the political” as students tell their stories, and then as a

group reflect on common experiences. We invite students to connect these experiences to larger concerns

about social justice for immigrants and refugees as well as for other disenfranchised groups. In all of the

classes, we seek to link the classroom to the community by drawing on students’ strengths and experiences.

We will increasingly support student inquiry into topics that matter to them and to the community, including

topics such as Black Lives Matter and controversy around the safety of a COVID-19 vaccine.

• Explicit Focus on Anti-racist Teaching: We have started creating units that speak directly not just to

integration, but to social and racial equity. The curriculum in the summer classes included an explicit focus on

race and racism (as opposed to a conventional multi-cultural approach that avoids discussing sensitive topics).

We will continue to ask students to explore their own views, experiences, and perspectives and are introducing

videos and articles that speak to the history of discrimination in the U.S. Students also have the opportunity to

discuss structures of racism in their own countries. We explore how personal change happens as part of

immigrant integration and through collective action on both the community and societal level.

An activity where students drew

and discussed their education

story. Drawing by Norma.

EI student Guillermo gave a presentation on Angela Davis on the last day of

Summer cycle 2020 classes (one of the slides is above). The assignment was to

research an important civil rights leader and teach their classmates about them.

Guillermo says the thing we can learn from Angela Davis is that she was never

quiet about her situation, and she always defends the people.

“Most English classes are

more routine, like you go to

the supermarket, doctor’s

appointment, job… this class

is different because it’s

related more to social studies,

news, immigration, racism.

You don’t talk about these

things in other English

classes.” — Mirella

“It’s how we can integrate to

our community, help each

other, and learn from past

history… it’s like taking two

classes at once!” — Blanca

My Bio Poem, by Karine

Originally From Tanhuato, Michoacán, Mexico

Who loves to cook and dance

Who feels happy and loved

Who gives love and attention

Who needs to learn English

Who fears Solitude

Who wants to be a better person with my family

In Kent, Washington

Loving, protective, and kind

Karine.

Top: A typical lesson flow template for an English@Home conversation class over Zoom.

Bottom: An example of an EI storytelling project: a Bio Poem by student Karine.

English as a Vehicle for Community Engagement and Pathway to Participation

As community engagement is one of the three main pillars of EI, built into the curriculum is a community

engagement continuum that includes varying depths of involvement for learners: 1) awareness of community

resources; 2) engagement in community discussions; 3) involvement in community groups; 4) sharing one’s story;

5) organizing; and 6) advocating for self and others.

In 2020, we have incorporated definitive paths and opportunities for EI students to grow in their leadership beyond

being a learner in the class itself. With the program serving as an entry point to leadership within the OneAmerica

family, EI students identified as prospective leaders may be propositioned into the following opportunities:

Moving into 2021, we foresee further pathways as a result of students’ long-

term engagement with OA, and hope to support students in additional

leadership opportunities, such as recruiting others to join an OA base group,

leading an issue campaign, serving on the Grassroots Leadership Council, and

running for office.

Currently, EI students identified as prospective leaders are considered part of

the newly forming EI “base community” and their leadership growth is

measured via OA’s leadership tiers and an assessment tracker that is

completed by the EI organizer on a quarterly basis. Acknowledging the fluidity

and uniqueness of each person’s path to power, we include our EI tutors (who

can be English learners or former students themselves) as part of the EI base

community. There is growth and opportunity at any level of involvement with the

program and we are continuously strengthening our relationships with each

participant.

“My biggest change is confidence. I never talked in my work meetings before.

Now I have a lot of confidence.” — Guillermo

• Volunteer in class to support lower-level students

• Serve as an EI Coach

• Site Coordinator (assisting the EI Coach with class

logistics)

• Kids Activities Coordinator

• Lead discussions in class

• Facilitate a digital literacy workshop

• Participate in focus groups and listening sessions

to give input on program and identify issues

• Share testimony and speak to legislators at

Lobby Day

• Act as WNA volunteers (assist with Citizenship Day)

• Participate in text/phone banks during civic

engagement season

• Speak with school boards, principals, etc., as part

of Education Advocacy

• Participate in power building trainings and other

OA leadership development events

Right: OA leader and EI student Norma used these photos in a virtual presentation to

her classmates on her 6-years of organizing experience with OneAmerica.

Volunteer Spotlight: Shi Ya

What do you enjoy about volunteering in the English Innovations

English@Home class?

Volunteering with E@H provides a sense of reward unlike any other

volunteer opportunity. English language acquisition is very personal to me,

as I learned English as a second language. To add to more personal history,

my mom has always struggled with learning English and summoning the

confidence to converse with others in English. I enjoy the depth and breadth

of conversations we have as a class and the 1:1 conversations during

tutoring.

How is English Innovations different from other ESOL programs?

E@H stands out from other ESOL programs in that it doesn't focus on

correcting grammatical errors or the teaching of grammar. E@H values the

student's home language. In addition to working with the students' current

language skills, this program fosters deeper connections with the class.

What impact does volunteering in the class have on you? What motivates you to volunteer? Have you grown or

learned anything new through participating?

Through E@H, I've developed meaningful connections to the staff at OA, other tutors, and students. I deeply value

genuine connections, so doing this type of work is highly meaningful to me. The time shared with everyone

enriches my life experience as a volunteer. I can empathize with others, and their lived experiences inspire me to

hold the same level of positivity as they do as we navigate this inequitable world together, as immigrants. I'm

motivated because I feel valued by the class and vice versa. The topics align with my passions in social advocacy

and civic engagement, so any opportunity to work with my passions is a highly valued one, especially during the

pandemic. I've learned that having deep conversations on social issues motivates more people to participate

(that's why we're always running out of time!). Lastly, I've learned that people are much more adaptable than they

think.

How does English@Home build power in immigrant and refugee communities?

E@H builds power through conversations about power. In a holistic approach, the class was shown multiple

expressions of power, where they are centralized, and how to recognize good and bad sources of power. I love that

the class empowers its students through student-led discussions and highlighting people in positions of power who

are immigrants themselves. I see the class as grounds for organizing, through educational materials and learning

about the resources that are available to the immigrant and refugee community.

“The more knowledge we have, the more we are able to understand what’s

going on. Some people don’t know their rights and are afraid to say something

and express what they want. This program helps us see we aren’t alone.”

— Mirella

Next Steps: Vision, Direction, and Challenges

Moving into 2021, there are several unknowns around when we will be able to implement in-person EI classes

again. We are viewing the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to innovate further through new

approaches, diversifying outreach, being an active voice in the field of digital equity, and supporting virtual

organizing efforts at OneAmerica.

Participatory Approach: This fall, we will expand our focus on community engagement and become more

intentional in integrating the elements and principles of participatory education. We will do so by situating

topics and themes that reflect learners’ experiences as well as the socio-political realities of their lives.

We will invite students to work as a group to select a topic they want to discuss and explore, include them

in discussing the goals for the class and ask them to be part of the evaluation so they can identify the

learning experiences that were most useful to them. Topics that the class could select will range from

concerns about schooling and parenting, to the stories of immigrants and refugees who made a difference

and became leaders, to discussions of individual rights in the context of social justice for all.

Opportunities to understand power, develop leadership skills, and participate in OA workshops will be

woven into each subject area. We will invite guest speakers to help students understand who works on

what issues in the community and give them a chance to ask decision makers questions related to a

theme. Coaches and tutors (and possibly students) will continue to engage learners in one-on-one

conversations that allow self-interest to emerge.

As part of our efforts to emphasize participatory education, we will create a Lesson Flow for Social

Learning to serve as a guide to inquiry and discussion. We will continue to offer students opportunities to

increase their literacy skills and English proficiency. To that end, we will invite students to dig deeper into

issues of their choice, create a presentation, and share their findings with the group. Students will discuss

what is on their minds and share experiences and perspectives via Zoom with fellow students, coaches,

and tutors. Specific learning tasks will emerge out of discussions with members of the class and draw

from our 2019 curriculum and the work by students and coaches in the summer. We will also include

articles and activities from The Change Agent, an Adult Education magazine focused on social justice

published by World Education.

“We are not following the book or doing sentences. We are learning in a new

environment and communication style, talking about important subjects like

equity, voting, the census, the education system, Black Lives Matter - all those

subjects we need because we are here. For me I love this philosophy because

we are learning English but we are doing it in a different platform.” — Isaac

Expansion of Outreach: Since beginning virtual classes in Spring of 2020, we have seen increased

participation by students with higher levels of English (correlated with higher education levels and

socioeconomic status and therefore more access to technology to participate in online classes). We have

begun to intentionally assess the demographic composition of the classes in order to conduct outreach to

a core constituency of lower-level English learners, and those groups who are furthest from power and

privilege. Expansion of outreach will require more capacity to meaningfully build relationships with key

community partners such as refugee resettlement groups.

Digital Equity: COVID-19 has brought to light the already-existing digital divide in the U.S., and its

disproportionate effect on immigrants and refugees. As we move forward in delivering online EI classes,

we face the challenge of reaching the most vulnerable and impacted by the pandemic. While offering

virtual classes expands accessibility across a broader geography, it limits accessibility across levels of

digital skills and technology infrastructure. We are committed to addressing these inequities through

intentional outreach, program assessment and improvement, and partnership with other organizations

working to close the digital divide.

Virtual Organizing at OneAmerica: English Innovations has the potential to contribute significantly to base

building at OneAmerica. The foundation of integrated digital literacy as part of the EI model serves as a

framework for connecting participants virtually, and some of the long-held practices of EI can be

leveraged by OA’s organizing team as we shift into virtual organizing as a result of the pandemic. However,

there is still a gap to bridge between political engagement and English proficiency. Based on the following

findings from the Seattle Votes 2016 Survey Report on Immigrant Civic Engagement, we hope to mitigate

this gap through our program design, strategy, and alignment.

“Variations in levels of political interest and political engagement are driven by the degree to

which respondents are proficient in the English language, as measured by their ability to speak

English. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents who speak English ‘very well’ said they were

very interested in the 2016 Presidential Election. As English proficiency dropped, levels of political

interest also dropped by about 14 points. Over half (57%) of respondents who either speak

English ‘not well’ or ‘not at all’ noted that registering to vote was too complicated. By comparison,

among respondents who speak English ‘very well’, only 38% said that registering to vote was too

complicated.”

Left: Data from our

English@Home end-of-class

evaluations in Spring 2020,

asking students about their

understanding of power.