Increasing Emergency Awareness Among ESOL Students

The aim of this Honors project is to provide information to increase the knowledge of disaster preparedness among immigrants for whom English is a second language and who are English language learners. Natural disasters are defined as temporary events triggered by natural hazards that overwhelm local response capacity and seriously affect the social and economic development of a region (Charvériat, 2000). Hurricanes, flooding, sinkholes, and wildfires are major natural disasters that affect Leon County (Florida Department of Community Affairs, 2005). Specifically, my project entailed creating an emergency awareness intervention course for students in an ESOL program and evaluating whether participation in the course increased ESOL students’ awareness of natural disasters that may occur in Leon County and their knowledge of how to respond in emergency situations. Disaster preparedness is defined as measures taken to prepare for and reduce the effects of disasters (Preparing for Disasters, 2014). This intervention course focused on being prepared for hurricane season, other natural disasters, and creating a basic supply list. With the support of the ESOL program coordinator, I created a curriculum focused on emergency situations that affect Floridians. My goal was to inform ESOL students in Tallahassee of emergency situations that they may encounter in Florida and to provide information to prepare them if an emergency were to occur.