U.S. Citizenship and English Practice
Prepare for the U.S. Naturalization Interview with reading, writing, civics questions, and N-400 personal information practice.
Because of the Coronavirus, our spring classes are going to be online only. For more information, please email Eric at eric.d.dodson@gmail.com or call 971-361-6411.
Online classes will start March 31 and continue until we can meet in person safely once again.
Hello hello, and happy Tuesday!
Do you want to practice Citizenship and English with me using your phone or computer? Please call me, text me, or email me.
Sometimes we will practice on your phone or computer. You may read, listen, speak, or write to practice for your interview. Sometimes I’ll have videos. Sometimes, we can meet at the same time with youtube or another video chat.
Do you want to register? If you can, you can answer these questions:
Are you ready to practice? You can continue to the information for Week 1, Class 1. 🙂
Read the questions below. Can you remember the answer?
After you answer the question, think about the connection that question and answer has to history. What time is it from?
Drag and drop each question to the time period in history:
You can see the questions here:
Read the questions below. Can you remember the answer?
After you answer the question, think about the connection that question and answer has to history. What time is it from?
Drag and drop each question to the time period in history:
You can see the questions here:
When people take the oath of allegiance, they become new American citizens. We also call this naturalization.
What will you do after you become a citizen in this ceremony? I hope that you will celebrate! 🙂
Most people also do three more things:
New citizens should update their information with social security. This can open up benefits.
The best way is usually to visit the Social Security Office in person and bring this application, your certificate of citizenship, and another photo ID (drivers license).
In Portland, the office is at 1538 SW Yamhill St.
A US Passport and Passport Card can help new citizens travel around the world. They also show that they are citizens.
The Passport Card can only help you travel to Canada or Mexico. But, it can be helpful to have it in an emergency if you need another way to show you are a citizen.
You can find more information about this application online.
It is free to register to vote, and it is very fast and simple. In Oregon, you can register to vote at the Secretary of State’s website.
You can use your phone or computer to register to vote, but the election in Oregon uses paper mail. Please remember that registering to vote is only for citizens, and that you should wait until after you become a citizen.
The Secretary of State website asks for this information. If you don’t have an Oregon ID card, that is ok, but you may need to fill out a paper registration and send it by mail. You can find paper registration forms at the library, post office, or in your citizenship packet.
We practice a lot of information about civics and the N400. But, the reading test is much easier.
The reading test does not have many difficult words. The reading test usually is a question. You only have to read the question. You don’t have to answer it!
The reading test only has these words:
You can practice by reading English, learning words, and practicing a little bit every day. We always practice reading in class!
You can practice citizenship reading tests with these examples:
You can read more about Oregon news in easy English at ESOL News Oregon, by Tim Krause, a teacher at PCC. You can find a lot of old stories, too!
Each news story has practice with important vocabulary and ideas. Also, look for this symbol 🔊, and you can listen to the news story, too!
Many people worry about the writing test part of the citizenship interview. But, there is some good news.
In the writing test, the officer will say one sentence, and the applicant will write it. The applicant will write it on a computer tablet.
You can ask the officer to repeat the sentence. It’s no problem, really!
The officer will look at the sentence. If the officer can understand it, you will pass.
In the rules for USCIS officers, it explains that these things are not a problem:
You only need to write one sentence to pass the test. If you do not pass the first time, you have 3 chances to pass.
Also, the sentences will only have some specific words:
You can practice online, too!
The United States won the Revolutionary war in 1783. After that, the new United States needed new laws. George Washington and other leaders did not want to copy the laws of Great Britain.
In 1787, representatives from the 13 new United States came together for a special meeting. They came together to write a new constitution for the new country.
How can you remember this year? For example, can you remember something that happened in 1987?
They called this meeting the constitutional convention. In 1787, the constitution was written.
When was the Constitution written? –> 1787
George Washington was the leader of the Constitutional Convention in Pennsylvania. Representatives from the 13 states worked for almost 4 months to write the constitution.
They talked, wrote, argued, and voted. Small states wanted a Senate with 2 senators from every state. Large states wanted a House of Representatives based on the population.
Some leaders wanted to continue slavery. Some wanted to make it illegal. Unfortunately, the constitution made slavery a legal part of the United States.
In September 1787, the representatives made the final changes. In the end, the Constitution was written at the Constitutional Convention.
What happened at the Constitutional Convention? –>The founding fathers wrote the constitution / The Constitution was written.
After the constitution was written, every state voted to agree or disagree with it. Every state’s congress had a vote. But, many people didn’t want a new constitution.
Some leaders from the Constitutional Convention wrote to support the new constitution. This writing was called The Federalist Papers. They explained why the US needed this constitution.
John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers. They also used the name Publius. Alexander Hamilton wrote most of the papers: 51 out of 85.
There is only one question about the Federalist Papers. When you hear “Federalist Papers,” you can think about this song:
The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers. –> Alexander Hamilton / John Jay / James Madison
Why did the United States need a new constitution? Before the Constitution, the US didn’t have a clear system. States did not agree about important things like money, the military, or elections.
Also, many people wanted to protect Americans’ basic rights. For example, people wanted the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
The Constitution was a plan to set up the government. It explains the system of government. It also protects the basic rights of Americans.
What does the Constitution do? –> It sets up the government / It protects the basic rights of Americans.
The Constitution has the idea of self-government in the first three words: We the people. Self-government means a government by the people, of the people, and for the people.
It means we have a democracy, and we elect representatives. After the Constitutional Convention, the 13 states all agreed to use the new Constitution. It became the supreme law of the land.
In the laws of 1789, only men with property could vote. Washington became the first president in 1789, and the United States has continued to use the constitution since then.
The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words? –> We the people
The Revolutionary War between the new United States and Great Britain ended in 1783. The leaders of the new country came together and wrote the constitution in 1787.
George Washington was elected president twice, for 8 years. After him, John Adams became president. They both worked hard to help the new country stay together.
In 1800, Thomas Jefferson ran for president. Before that, he was a representative from Virginia, and helped write the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson was also the governor of Virginia and the first Secretary of State. He won the election of 1800 and became president in 1801.
One thing he wanted to do was to make the United States a bigger country. At this time, the United States had 16 states, but the Mississippi River was the western border.
The western side of the Mississippi river was called the Louisiana Territory. It was claimed by France. The name Louisiana comes from Louis (Luis), the name of the king of France.
This huge amount of land now includes Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and parts of New Mexico and Texas.
Thomas Jefferson made an offer to buy the rights to the Louisiana Territory from France. The United States bought the rights to the Louisiana territory from France in 1803 for $15 million.
The Louisiana Territory doubled the size of the new United States. But, this did not include any deal with the Native Americans who lived in the territory.
What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803? –> Louisiana
Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and believed that all people have the right to life and liberty. He believed that slavery was wrong, but he did not work to stop it.
And, he owned 600 slaves in his lifetime. One of his slaves, Sally Hemings, had several of his children. However, more and more people in the United States wanted to end slavery.
The United States stopped new slaves from coming into the country in 1821, but there were still millions of people without freedom. Some Americans wanted to free all the slaves.
Susan B. Anthony was one American who worked to end slavery. She organized meetings, spoke, wrote, and created a newspaper. She wanted all people to be free and have the same civil rights.
Unfortunately, women did not have the same rights as men in the 1800s. Women did not have the right to vote.
Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s rights, too, and she even voted illegally in 1872. She was arrested and ordered to pay $100, but she never paid the fine.
What did Susan B. Anthony do? –> Fought for women’s rights.
In 1812, there was more war with England. One man saw a terrible fight all night long. But in the morning, the US flag was still there.
He wrote a poem called The Star Spangled Banner. The Star Spangled Banner means “the flag with a lot of stars.”
The Star Spangled Banner became a very popular song. It became the national anthem for the United States. You can hear it before important events and sports games.
What is the name of the national anthem? –> The Star Spangled Banner
But what about the millions of slaves in the US in the 1800s? The evil problem of slavery was like a bomb waiting. And in 1861, the bomb went off.
We call this time The Civil War.
Every country has a special day to celebrate that country. Sometimes it is the country’s birthday. Sometimes it is for a revolution.
In the United States, we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th. We remember this day as the beginning of the United States.
When do we celebrate Independence Day?* –> July 4th (July fourth)
But why do we celebrate Independence Day? What does it mean to people in the United States?
We can find the answers in the history of the British colonies from 300 years ago. Colonists came to America for freedom. But, the colonies were still part of the British Government.
The British Government and the King of England chose the leaders of the colonies. Many colonists wanted to choose their own leaders.
The British Government and the King of England made taxes higher and higher. More and more colonists were unhappy with the government.
More and more American colonists made a new government. Each colony had representatives in this congress. Soon, they made an army.
They started a revolution to make changes in North America. They fought the British because of high taxes and because they wanted to choose their own leaders.
Why did the colonists fight the British? –> High taxes
The British did not want to make changes to the 13 colonies. The British military and government fought back.
More and more colonists wanted to make a new country. They wanted to be free from Great Britain and the king of England.
So, they wrote the Declaration of Independence. It said that the United States is free.
What did the Declaration of Independence do? –> It said the United States is free
The Declaration of Independence is a break-up letter with the British government and King of England. It has a list of all the problems with the British government.
It says that all people have the rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The American colonists said that the British did not give them life or liberty.
What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence? –> Life and Liberty
Many American colonists talked about the ideas in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson was one of the founding fathers of America. This means he was one of the men who helped start the United States. Later, Jefferson became the third president of the United States.
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? –> Thomas Jefferson
The new American congress had a vote to agree with the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4th, 1776.
Be careful: was adopted = in the past, in history, in 1776.
When was the Declaration of Independence adopted? –> July 4th, 1776
From Tuesday:
Americans have many special days. Some days are for religion, like Christmas. Some days are to celebrate, like New Years Day.
The Unites States Government has 11 national holidays. On those days, government offices and schools are usually closed.
The full list of national holidays is:
In 2021, President Biden signed a bill to make a new federal holiday. This holiday is called Juneteenth, and it is celebrated on June 19th.
On June 19th, 1865, the United States army freed the slaves in Galveston, Texas. Since then, Juneteenth is a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation and end of slavery in all of the United States.
Name two national U.S. holidays. –> Christmas Day and New Year’s Day
We also have special days for responsibilities. One important responsibility is to pay taxes.
People in the US usually have to send in federal income tax forms on April 15.
When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?* –> April 15th
The economic system of the United States is a market economy. This is another name for a capitalist economy.
This means that people and businesses are free to buy and sell things.
What is the economic system in the United States?* –> Market Economy / Capitalist Economy
When there is a war or emergency, the government can ask young men to join the military. This is called the draft or Selective Service.
All men must register for the Selective Service from age 18 to 26. Even immigrants and refugees need to register.
Registration is free and quick. And, from age 18 to 26 is only 8 years. After that, most people don’t worry about this registration.
When must all men register for the Selective Service? –> 18 to 26
In many schools, every class begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a promise of loyalty to the United States. Loyalty means love, and never leaving someone.
Here’s an example of the Pledge of Allegiance. Don’t worry! You don’t need to memorize the words.
When we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we show loyalty to the flag. This means we also show loyalty to the United States.
What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance? –> The flag / The United States
These people are taking the Oath of Allegiance. This is the promise to become a citizen.
One thing you promise is to follow the laws of the United States. The oath is long and difficult, but you don’t have to remember it 100%.
What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen? –> To follow the laws of the United States
How will these American citizens do on the Civics test questions?
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