Profiles of Used Oil/HHW  Projects

ESL Classes: Perfect Venue for Oil Recycling Education

In 2004 Sonoma County launched a program to teach immigrants about used oil recycling in English as a second language (ESL) classes. The county initiated this program in response to survey results¹  showing that California residents who have lived in the U.S. less than 5 years improperly dispose of used oil at a high rate (40 percent). Using CIWMB Block Grant funds, subcontractor C2 Alternative Services designed a used oil recycling lesson specifically for immigrants learning English and taught the lesson in ESL classes.

Student and teacher responses to the the "Family Car" oil recycling lesson have been very positive. DIY immigrants who have completed the lesson report that they are recycling their used oil and ESL teachers love the lesson as a practical and engaging English language acquisition tool.

ESL classes are ideal places to convey information about used oil recycling to immigrants because:

• Students are almost universally newcomers to the United States.
• Students are motivated to learn--most students attend voluntarily to learn a critical skill.
• ESL tends to stress cultural context--students are learning about living in the U.S. as well as learning the language, so the used oil recycling message gives them direction about "the right way to do things here" while also teaching them English words and phrases.
• Because all information is presented in English, no translation is necessary--often students in a single class speak several different native languages.
• Language instruction emphasizes repetition, so students hear the used oil message repeated several times in one class and read it again when doing homework.
• ESL classes are taught in a wide variety of venues, ranging from university classes and language institutes to volunteer tutoring and workplace sessions, and therefore reach immigrants throughout a jurisdiction.

Sonoma County's Family Car ESL lesson was jointly developed by C2 Alternative Services (the county's used oil outreach subcontractor), June Michaels, a certified ESL instructor, and professors in the ESL certification training program at Sonoma State University. The lesson includes a brief oil recycling story in three versions for beginning, intermediate and advanced students; cartoon illustrations; and several games that incorporate the vocabulary list including a crossword puzzle, true/false list, and bingo. Illustrations show how a storm drain empties directly to a creek and also demonstrate curbside collection. These graphics are reproduced on magnets that students receive in class along with a map of used oil collection centers located near their ESL class site.

Ms. Michaels usually presents the Family Car lesson as a guest lecturer in ESL classes, with varying amounts of co-teaching from the host instructor. The host instructor may ask the class to relate other things they have learned to the oil recycling lesson, such as grammar rules or the placement of accents on words. If host teachers would like to continue teaching the lesson themselves after observing Michaels teach a class, they are given their own lesson plan and teaching materials.

In at least two instances, host teachers scheduled the Family Car lesson in conjunction with topics they were currently addressing (the environment and cars). Another host teacher invited Michaels to speak to an advanced group of immigrants studying business English and she adapted the lesson to emphasize regulatory requirements for automotive businesses.

At each Family Car class, students are given free premiums and oil collection containers. Students also learn how to find used oil collection information (and other recycling information) in the Sonoma County Recycling Guide, which is located in the SBC phone book.

ESL classes vary not only in the students' level of English comprehension, but also in size of class, length of class period, native languages spoken, and relative numbers of men and women. Some classes contain students who are functionally illiterate (in any language) while others are highly educated. The variety of materials in the Family Car lesson, along with the instructor's skill and creativity in presenting the lesson, provide the flexibility needed to adapt the material to these various conditions.

Connie Cloak of C2 Alternative Services sets up teaching sessions of the Family Car by contacting various ESL programs in the region, attending the annual "California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages" conference and through word-of-mouth. This past spring C2 expanded its Family Car immigrant outreach to ESL classes in Marin County, the City of Napa and unincorporated Alameda County. Over the next 3 years, C2 will use a CIWMB Research, Testing and Demonstration Oil Grant to expand teaching of the Family Car to immigrants in 18 additional northern California counties. C2 will also evaluate the impact of this outreach on oil collection in all participating counties.

For more information about this program or to obtain copies of the Family Car lesson, contact Connie Cloak at (707) 568-3783 or connie@c2alts.net.

1. A survey commissioned by the CIWMB in 2001 was conducted by Rufus Browning and staff at the Public Research Institute of California State University, San Francisco. Two reports are available with details on the study.

• "To the Greatest Extent Possible": Do-It-Yourselfers and the Recovery of Used Oil and Filters. October 2005, 211 pages.

• Outreach Research--Survey and Focus Groups: DIYers and Used Oil Disposal, Initial Results and Recommendations. January 2002, 62 pages.

Last updated: December 02, 2007