Thread: English tests for immigrant spouses

If it can work in the UK.........why not here?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main. ... ish121.xml


English tests for immigrant spouses

By Tim Hall and PA
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 21/02/2007
Spouses hoping to move to the UK could face English tests before being allowed to join their husbands and wives, under plans proposed today by a Government body.
Workers hoping to come to Britain could also face language tests, and translation services could be cut back to prevent new immigrants using them as a “crutch” excusing them from ever learning English.
The proposals have been put forward by the Commission on Integration and Social Cohesion, which was set up last year in the wake of the July 7 bombings.
In its interim report, published today, the Commission says that language barriers within the UK are the single biggest impediment to a cohesive British society.
The Commission says that if immigrants do not learn English very shortly after arriving, it can be too late.
Foreign-speaking spouses joining husbands and wives can lead to households where English is never spoken - isolating the family from the wider British society.
Commission chairman Darra Singh said the Government should perhaps consider testing spouses and workers before they come to Britain, to check they have at least a working knowledge of the language.
Mr Singh said: “Learning English is clearly the responsibility of the individual, but local authorities, central government and employers have a key role in supporting migrants to improve their language skills. Translation should never be a substitute for learning English in the first place.”
He added: “Just as mastering reading and writing for school children opens up the rest of the curriculum, mastering English opens up participation in British society and accessing employment.
“If you can’t speak English - whether you are a new migrant or someone who has lived here for years - you are on a path to isolation and separation.
“Those who can’t speak English find other ways of getting by and if English is not learnt quickly then the chance of ever learning the language diminishes rapidly. I want to see what innovative schemes across the country are doing to combat this.
“I also want to see how communities themselves are taking action. It is amongst first generation immigrants and newly arrived economic migrants that the issue seems most acute - it is less of a problem for second, third, fourth generations.
“Language support offered to spouses from abroad is therefore of real interest to me - should we be asking whether they should speak English before they get here?”
The Commission stressed that the overall picture of racial and cultural integration in the UK was “not bleak”.
“While they are hearing about problems with cohesion in some areas, one of the key and very positive messages so far is that people believe that they are living together with a good level of tolerance and that tension is overstated as far as their own neighbourhoods are concerned,” said a spokesman.
The Commission will present its final conclusions to Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly in June.
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'Learn English or lose benefits'

By George Jones, Political Editor
Last Updated: 2:58am GMT 13/02/2007

Unemployed immigrants will have to show they are learning English or risk losing benefits from April, Jim Murphy, the welfare minister, announced yesterday.
About 40,000 jobless people from ethnic minorities say their poor English is a barrier to finding employment – and £4.5m is spent on translators in job centres.
The Government believes that this money would be better spent on teaching them English so they could get jobs rather than claim benefit. Mr Murphy told a Work Foundation seminar that it was "unacceptable" that ethnic minorities in Britain earned on average a third less than their white counterparts.

While 15 per cent of members of ethnic minorities cited language difficulties as a barrier to work, not enough of the language-learning opportunities at job centres were being taken up.
"This is a social injustice in our society which is not only bad for individuals, families and their communities, but is a barrier against social cohesion and is bad for Britain," Mr Murphy said. "People will be able and expected to look for work while they undertake any training."
From April, guidelines will require job centres in England to focus on encouraging the take-up of English courses.
Those signing on for jobseeker's allowance will be under an obligation to take part in the language-learning opportunities wherever possible or face "benefit sanctions".


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Muslim mums told to speak English at home

Julie Henry, Education Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:30am GMT 14/01/2007

Muslim mothers who do not speak English at home are stunting their children's literacy levels, one of the Government's most influential education advisers said last night.
Sir Cyril Taylor, the chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, said that the failure of parents to speak English at home was a key reason why some schools were at the bottom of newly-published-league tables.
The problem, described by Sir Cyril as a "major issue", should be addressed by a national campaign to encourage the mothers of ethnic minority children to attend English classes, he said. "A very high proportion of the mothers come from Bangladesh and Pakistan, not speaking English when they arrive through arranged marriages," he added.

"If the child does not speak English at home, if it is not the language of conversation with their mother or father, that clearly has an influence. It is a major cause of lower results in English."
Official figures show that at least half the children in more than 1,000 primary schools in England do not have English as their first language. Six per cent of primaries and more than a third of secondary schools are heading for, or already have, a majority of children with English as a second language. In London, English is a foreign language for the majority of children in more than half of primary schools.
Sir Cyril cited the example of the Grange School in Oldham, Greater Manchester, where results have plummeted under the Government's GCSE benchmark, which requires five good GCSE passes to include maths and English.
"The Grange – where 70 per cent of pupils achieved five good GCSEs but the figure falls to 15 per cent with maths and English – has an intake which is predominantly Bangladeshi, so there is going to be an issue with literacy," he said. Teaching English to ethnic minority parents, as well as children, had wider implications for community cohesion, he added.
"It is unfair just to pick out Muslims, but there is a strategic defence issue here. If they can't speak English, these young people are less likely to have a good relationship with the police or get a job. The issue is wider than just the lack of English in the family, it is about the lack of integration in the community.
"Schools need to be at the forefront of social integration of ethnic communities. They should be community centres, teaching mothers English as well as pupils."
Concerns about Muslim women's lack of English were expressed earlier this month by Ann Cryer, the MP for Keighley in West Yorkshire, who has been raising the issue since the 2001 riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford.
She claimed that many young Asian women who were brought to the Bradford district as wives were deliberately discouraged from learning English by their in-laws. Children were then starting school with no awareness of English.
The comments come as changes in government funding for adult English classes threaten to reduce the availability of free lessons for immigrants.
Almost 100 MPs have signed a motion complaining about proposals, which restrict who is eligible for the lessons. Under the new rules, which are due to come in to force later this year, courses will only be free for the unemployed and those on income support.
Boris Johnson, the shadow higher education minister, said immigrants were "baffled" at the logic of a Government which cuts classes at the same time as underlining the importance of understanding English, which is a requirement of citizenship tests.
Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, said last year that she would launch a review of language services after figures suggested public bodies were spending at least £100 million on translation and interpretation services for UK residents.

Good ideas from other countries.

Canada - deport children of illegals with their parents.
England - immigrants must speak english before entering the country.

Appears that they're scared out of their pants over their islamic invasion.

Dollar short and a penny wise, euro dimwits.

How ya gonna play catch up? Call in the United Nations of Theft & Genocide? After all, they're the ones that helped get you into this pickle in the first place --- not to mention the USA's CFR.