NEW PODCAST: A Quick Interview Based on the N-400r plus 10qs about Voting and Elections featuring Yesica Sanchez (Oaxaca, Mexico)

NEW PODCAST: A Quick Interview Based on the N-400r plus 10qs about Voting and Elections featuring Yesica Sanchez (Oaxaca, Mexico)

• mp3: goo.gl/gsLrnn
• pdf: goo.gl/i7o4JD

This is a 21-question quiz (plus USCIS 10 civics questions) based on our "Common" Citizenship Interview script (53qs, 2pgs) 

• pdf: http://goo.gl/cPTyRL

Special thanks to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters (sccvote.org) for their tireless work to make every vote count!

Also a special thanks to Isabel who is the MUSD.org liaison to the Latino community.

For more Citizenship Resources for Hispanic Heritage Month, go to goo.gl/bUw1nn

USCIS 96:41-50

New Citizen, Tam Lam, came to the US in 1979.

First he lived in a refuge camp in Arkansas,

then he was re-united with his family in Milpitas, CA.

USCIS 41-50x.mp3

For the next ten days, we will present 10 of the 96 questions plus two dictation sentences and handout. Today's questions are 96:41-50. Direct download: 41-50x.mp3

4: Countdown to Constitution Day

Rock the Vote @ Sundance, 2008

26th Amendment: US citizens who are 18 years old or older have the right to vote. 1971.

VOANews: Nixon Promises to 'Bring the American People Together' After '68 Win
Richard Nixon lost the 1960 election to John Kennedy, but he was known for his ability to fight, to lose, and to keep trying. Those skills would soon be tested. Transcript

• MP3 - Download Audio
• Listen to MP3
• Listen in RealAudio
  

Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote’s mission is to engage and build the political power of young people.
Rock the Vote2008: YouTube

6: Countdown to Constitution Day

Today's Topic:
The 24th Amendment

24th Amendment made it illegal to make a citizen pay a voting fee. It is illegal to make a citizen take a reading test to vote. The 24th Amendment (1964) and the Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. crushed Jim Crow laws which discriminated against African Americans.


Library of Congress: Poll Tax Abolished I
Library of Congress: Poll Tax Abolished II
Breaking News English - Rosa Parks (Oct 26, 2005)
Oct 26, 2005 ... He said she was a symbol of the civil rights movement. He also said: “Just by a simple act of sitting down she stood up for so many people.” ...

VOANEWS: Civil Rights Movement: In the '60s, a Struggle for Equality in US: Activists marched, held sit-in protests and led "freedom rides" to demand better treatment of black Americans. Martin Luther King Junior lived by the idea of nonviolence, but his murder led to riots in more than 100 cities.

9: Countdown to Constitution Day

Today's Topic: The Nineteenth Amendment.

The Nineteenth Amendment gave suffrage (the right to vote) to women.

VOANews: Susan B. Anthony, 1820-1906: She Led the Fight to Gain Equal Rights for Women, Including the Right to Vote
The nineteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution won final approval in 1920 but she did not live to see it. Transcript of radio broadcast: 14 June 2008

• MP3 - Download (MP3)
• MP3 - Listen to (MP3)
• RealAudio - Download

VOANews: Betty Friedan: A Leader in the Modern Women’s Rights Movement

The life story of the woman who helped start the National Organization for Women. Her 1963 work "The Feminine Mystique" has been called one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

• People In America - Download MP3
• People In America - Download RealAudio
• Listen to People In America

Other Interesting Websites

• LWV: League of Women Voters
• Wikipedia: Timeline of women's suffrage
• ESL Discussions: Women
• Simple English News: European Leaders Speak Out for Women
• Breaking English News: Japanese women to have more equality
• Breaking English News: UN boss not doing enough for women

13: Countdown to Constitution Day

Today's Topic: The 15th Amendment

After the Civil War, the 15th Amendment gave the right to vote to all male US Citizens.

However, some communities refused to allow certain minorities to vote.

Women could not vote until the 19th Amendment (1920).

The Chinese Exclusion Act which took away the right to vote from US native-born citizens of Asian ancestry was repealed in 1943.

Jim Crow laws in the Southern United States which strongly discouraged African-Americans to vote was repealed by the 24th Amendment, 1964 & the Voting Rights Act 1965.

Here is a pdf of Voting Rights.

Here is a pdf of Voting Cloze Essay.

To read, listen, and watch more about the presidential election, go to VOANews USA Votes 2008.

The Oath Ceremony Part 3: Voter Registration

In March 2008, the USCIS changed their policy about giving voter registration forms to citizens-to-be before the Oath Ceremony.

The USCIS said that the county voting officials must wait until the very end of the Oath Ceremony to give voter registration forms to new citizens.

Why? Before the Oath Ceremony, the citizens-to-be are not legally citizens yet and only US citizens can register to vote.

After the change in March 2008, voter registration dropped by about 80 percent. After the Oath Ceremony, many new citizens didn't take the time to register to vote because they were in a hurry to return to work or to celebrate with friends and families.

The San Jose Mercury News (07/19/08) reported the huge drop in voter registration. The USCIS decided to change its policy to allow county voting officials to give voter registration forms to citizens-to-be. They can now fill-out the voter registration cards while waiting for the Oath Ceremony to begin.

Why? Because voting is the most important right and responsibility of a US citizen. The USCIS wants to help new citizens to vote in the upcoming presidential election and all following elections.

So, at the Thursday August 14 Oath Ceremony, citizens-to-be found voter registration cards in their seats. Some citizen-to-be filled the cards out immediately.


Before the actual Oath Ceremony began, officials from the Santa Clara County of Voters spoke in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog--the official "ballot languages" of Santa Clara County. The speakers gave brief instructions about how to fill out the registration card.

Polling places in Santa Clara county are identified in five languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

A voter can fill-out a Preferred Language Survey at the polling place to receive voting info in his or her chosen language.

After the ceremony, the new citizens mobbed the voting officials to hand in their voter registration forms--it was so inspiring!


Kudos to the SJ Mercury News for reporting this story and to the USCIS and Santa Clara County Registar of Voters for immediately addressing and fixing this problem.

To be continued!