The Adult Literacy League adjusted how it conducts its citizenship classes.

The nonprofit provides 20 Zoom classes as well as one-on-one sessions to help legal permanent residents improve their English speaking and comprehension, and to help them do better on their citizenship exam.

Vince Scalise, a citizenship class instructor, advised his students to continue to develop their skills during any citizenship process delay. USCIS announced there would be a bigger citizenship backlog after it made budget cuts to cancel planned furloughs.

In May, backlog was more than 700,000. 

Adult Literacy League provided some tips to help legal residents better navigate through the citizenship process.

1. Check and double check your eligibility for naturalization. You can do so by visiting the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

2. Make sure your personal information is 100% correct on your N400. Remember that you are responsible for the information, and it must be correct. Use your friends and family as resources!

3. Understand all the vocabulary on the N400. Use the current processing delay to your advantage and get to studying! You have 100 civic questions to familiarize yourself with, so aim to learn a couple per week.

4. Be prepared for "small talk" when you arrive, it’s actually part of the English comprehension test. Practicing with native English speakers will prepare you for this portion. Whether it’s over the phone, or at the grocery store, just keep the conversation flowing.

5. Have a native English speaker read the Civics test questions out loud. If you aren’t being quizzed by a native English speaker, it may be tough to understand the questions once you arrive for the final test. You can find test materials to reference on the USCIS website.

Last year, the nonprofit helped about 1,500 people.