Teachers of English as a Second Language use curricula offered to them for their classroom instruction. Although there are many good materials to be used in the classroom, and many opportunities to develop themselves professionally, research shows that including students' backgrounds into the curriculum will engage the students and benefit them. In this study, I look at four adult ESL students who came to Chicago from Poland without any English language skills. They learned English in the classroom and from out-of-school. I look at how these participants made sense of their experiences as they learned English from their environment. I used qualitative methods to get their life stories, first through interviews and then through a focus group. Results show that language learners are constantly engaging in meaning making and involve their identities while learning the language and engaging socially. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]