Thread: In U.S., some immigrants take Spanish

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In U.S., some immigrants take Spanish
Mexico helps fund classes so illiterate can learn native tongue
BY GIL KLEIN AND SERGIO QUINTANA
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Sunday, October 1, 2006


DURHAM, N.C. The immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador crowded around their teacher at St. Paul Methodist Church as she taught some basics of how to read and write.
But the eight adults weren't learning English, the language of their adopted country. They were learning Spanish, the language of the countries they left behind.

And they were learning it with the help of the Mexican government, which supplied the textbooks, helped train the teacher and provided a $15,000 grant to support the program.

"We start with the alphabet, where we get students who don't know anything at all about how to read or write," said Francisca Fragoso, the teacher. "In many cases, they only know how to write their names because they know how to copy it from a piece of paper they carry around."

Though there frequently is a focus on foreigners learning English, many immigrants arriving in the United States are illiterate in their native language. They come from small villages without schools, said Alba Orofrio, director of El Centro Hispano, a public-service agency that helps immigrants in Durham. At best, they might get through fifth grade, but in Mexico and many Central American countries, attending school costs money, and schools often are far away.

"It's not that these people dropped out of school," Orofrio said. "There is no option for school unless they move to another city."

The Durham program is part of Plaza Comunitaria, developed by the Mexican government for its own citizens and now available in about 200 similar classes in the United States, said Guido Arochi of the Mexican consulate in Raleigh.

"They are Mexicans and we have a responsibility for them," he said. "These people have kids in Mexico or kids who might go back to Mexico. We think it is better to help their parents improve their skills so they can foster their kids' education."

Better language skills also help immigrants earn more. Mexico benefits from the money Mexicans in the United States send back to their families at home estimated at $13 billion in 2003.

Support from the Mexican government does not cover all the costs of the program, Orofrio said. With private grants and some state money, El Centro Hispano pays Fragoso's salary and provides child care. With more money, she said, she could easily fill another class.

The students, mostly in their 30s, make sacrifices to come, she said.

"It's a vicious cycle that they can't study because they work two jobs," she said, "but they can't get by on one job because they can't read or write."

While some immigrants start by improving their Spanish skills, many in the South embrace English as a Second Language classes -- through community colleges, churches, high schools, libraries and civic associations -- as a key to greater earning power.

Irving Avila arrived four years ago from Mexico. He works all day installing insulation, sometimes getting up at 4 a.m. But he still finds time to take English classes at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, N.C.

"My family is my life," Avila, 30, struggled to say in English. "I need English to talk to my boss. I need my job to make money. I need money to save my family." Avila supports his parents and sister in Mexico.

The Pew Hispanic Center reported that 57 percent of foreign-born Hispanics believe that speaking English is necessary to be part of American society. Virtually all of those surveyed -- 96 percent -- said it was very important that their children be taught English.

Proficiency in English is worth at least 15 percent more a year in a paycheck, said Barry Chiswick, an economist at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"They can work in a Spanish enclave and consume in Spanish-speaking stores, read Spanish-language newspapers and watch Spanish-language television," he said. "But this will limit their earnings."

With the latest studies showing adult literacy in the United States dropping, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says teaching immigrants English becomes more critical.

"The demand in the immigrant population is across the spectrum," she said recently, "from basic literacy all the way to advanced higher education."

In North Carolina's Piedmont region and in Northern Virginia, parts of South Carolina and northern Georgia, immigrants are establishing communities where they must communicate with English speakers to advance in jobs, help their children in school and interact in everyday life.

"For the past two years, the demand for English classes has grown dramatically nationwide," said Lynn Reed of ProLiteracy America, a nonprofit that runs English classes. "It is hitting everywhere, in places where you don't suspect there would be immigrants."

Stephanie Miller, who works for a clothing company, said there is some resentment among her fellow workers about the influx of immigrants. "You hear, 'They need to go back where they came from,'" she said. "Some people fear they are taking their jobs."

Miller never expected to use her high school Spanish, but now she drives immigrants to classes at Union Grove Methodist Church in rural Iredell County, about 20 miles north of Statesville.

"On family night we invite the children, too, so we all know who these people are if we see them in the grocery store," said Jana Vyhlidal, one of the teachers. "It tears down that 'who are these strange people?' attitude."


Gil Klein writes for the Washington bureau of Media General News Service. He can be reached at gklein@mediageneral.com. Sergio Quintana works for WNCN-TV in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at squintana@wncn.com.

If the Mexican government can pay for their citizens to learn Spanish in America, why can't they teach them to be literate in their own language IN MEXICO??? I feel as though I am living in the twilight zone.

Same BS going on in Raleigh.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ht=raleigh

In U.S., some immigrants take Spanish
Mexico helps fund classes so illiterate can learn native tongue

That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. We are not only importing an unskilled class but people that don't even know how to speak their own language. That's why these people don't have intentions to asimilate. The internet, the Spanish media, the press are all part of this game. Mexico should be ashamed and give these money to these people over there. When I came to the United States 4 years ago, I had to learn the language no matter what. I wanted to be an American. This is my new country, even though I still love mine, I live in America and I had to asimilate. This article made me sick to my stomach....If they don't want to become part of our country, they better get out of here.