Introduction
The driving curriculum was collaboratively created by a research team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the staff and students of the International Language Institute of Massachusetts. The driving curriculum’s ten lessons, free and available online below, teach learners the language and literacy skills necessary to navigate the RMV process of applying for a driver’s license in Massachusetts. The curriculum covers everything from how to navigate necessary documentation, what to do at the RMV, and how to study for the RMV written and road test. Importantly, the curriculum treats “language and literacy skills” not just as vocabulary or terms to be learned but also the social practices and insights that drivers, particularly those who experience heightened discrimination and danger on U.S. roads, need to know. In this way, the UMass/ILI driving curriculum is in conversation with Pioneer Valley Workers Center’s (PVWC) expressed goals to enact justice for multilingual and migrant people in our community. Our hope is that once (or perhaps even before) the Work and Family Mobility Act is passed, our team is ready to support anyone who would like to begin the driver’s license application process.
Read the full white paper here.