Footprints is an open educational resource (OER) designed to support educators in integrating local environments, community knowledge, and spatial awareness into language education. Co-created by Liudmila Klimanova (University of Arizona) and Lara Lomicka Anderson (University of South Carolina), with contributions from graduate students, this resource draws on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of applied linguistics, human geography, and pedagogy.
The site offers a conceptual foundation for understanding and implementing place-based pedagogies and second language (L2) geoliteracies – practices of reading and writing the world through place and space – and provides practical tools for applying these approaches in both formal and informal language learning settings. The resource is organized into several interactive sections that include:
- adaptable classroom activities,
- guiding questions,
- curated digital tools for exploring place, and
- reflective exercises that center learners’ relationships with the environments they inhabit.
Activities such as “place writing,” local storytelling, identity-mapping, and multilingual landscape analysis invite learners to critically and creatively engage with language, space, and identity. By fostering such engagement, Footprints helps students deepen their linguistic proficiency while developing greater awareness of the cultural, social, and ecological dimensions of the places where their target languages are spoken. It is particularly valuable for educators committed to culturally responsive, inclusive, and experiential language teaching that connects meaningfully to learners’ lived experiences.
➣ Access the Footprints OER here:
https://oer.cercll.arizona.edu/footprints/
➣ To reach the activity materials on that site, visit:
This resource was developed through a CERCLL Faculty Research fellowship awarded in 2023.