by Beth Staats
Quick Summary
Do you have library patrons working to pass the U.S. Citizenship Exam? Or maybe they are seeking help and advice on getting a green card to become a permanent U.S. resident. LearningExpress Library offers resources in English and Spanish.
LearningExpress Library (LEL), one of the eLibrary Minnesota (ELM) resources, offers ebooks, a citizenship test tutorial, flashcards, and civics question sets to help immigrants become permanent U.S. residents or pass the Naturalization Test. For English Language Learners, all of this information is also available in Spanish at the Recursos Para Hispanohablantes center.
One nice feature of the ebooks in LearningExpress Library is that they are all downloadable in PDF format. Users can have multiple ebooks downloaded to their devices, and they can keep them indefinitely. The ebooks in LearningExpress Library are published by LearningExpress and are frequently updated. For example, "The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Green Card" was published in 2009, but LearningExpress clearly states on the Copyright page, "The content in this book has been reviewed and updated by the LearningExpress team in 2022".
The Citizenship Test Tutorial is interactive and contains 100 civics questions found on the official naturalization test. The tutorial, like most in LEL, offers a pre and post-test and divides the tutorial into three main sections : these are American Government, American History, and Integrated Civics, which are then further divided into specific categories. While in the tutorial , a user can bookmark any topics they might want to refer back to - and back to and offers a notepad for notetaking. New to LEL are articles that offer helpful hints for passing the speaking, reading, and writing tests, as well as information specific to the process and how and where to get help when needed.
One of the many benefits of the offerings in LearningExpress Library is that these ebooks and materials can't go missing, fall apart, or go out of date like their print counterparts. Each LEL user MUST create an account within it. It's as simple as creating a username and password. This way, anything that is accessed within LEL, is automatically saved for the user. If you're interrupted in the middle of the Citizenship tutorial, it will be saved to Your Center, where it can be returned to at any time.
