Summer Field Trips with the ELC

For immigrants and refugees, it can often be difficult to form a connection to a new home. Some ELC students share that their lives are often limited to a handful of places they go to on a regular basis, such as work or to the grocery store.

For the past three years, a planned break from the English Learning Center’s typical curriculum in August has given our team the opportunity to bring learning out of the classroom. Through a series of special classes and field trips that bring students to culturally significant places in the Twin Cities, summer programming provides not only new opportunities to learn English, but also to expand students’ connections to the Twin Cities and each other.

Learning Outside of the Classroom

Special August programming started at the ELC in 2022 with a three-day fishing class with the University of Minnesota Extension’s Nature for New Minnesotans program. The success of this class led to the expansion of summer programming into several weeks of classes and field trips in 2023.

This year, the ELC adjusted summer programming to two weeks with five planned field trips. Students returned to popular sites from last summer such as Minnehaha Falls and the Walker Sculpture Garden, along with venturing to a new field trip location: the Minnesota History Center. This field trip – the ELC’s first to St. Paul – was made possible by a grant from the American Swedish Institute’s Community Fund, which helped cover transportation and museum admission costs for several field trips.

Classroom lessons surrounding each field trip covered topics to help students prepare for and reflect on the outings. A lesson on Dakota and Ojibwe people in Minnesota led to learning about Native American history and communities at the Minnesota History Center. A sunny day out at Minnehaha Falls led to a word search activity in class the next day reviewing words learned from the trip. Field trips also provided unique opportunities for students to practice English through reading museum and art labels or talking with museum staff and volunteers.

Even moments such as taking the public bus to and from field trips is a learning experience, says Habiba Sheikh, one of the ELC’s senior program assistants. “You know, some people are new, so they’ve never seen it before.”

An Integral Part of the ELC Experience

This year, 149 students participated in at least one summer class or activity, almost double the number of students that participated in 2023. Habiba shares that students have thanked ELC staff for showing them new places, and that some students have returned to these locations even two or three times since.

Our summer programming is quickly becoming a highlight for students, and another way our students can build community in the Twin Cities, and within the English Learning Center.