Thread: English fluency a necessary step to immigration

English fluency a necessary step to immigration
July 12, 2010

BY ESTHER CEPEDA
Now that President Obama has given his definitive immigration law reform speech -- he said we need it but he didn't task anyone with making it happen -- and the Justice Department has filed its legal challenge to Arizona's law on grounds that state law should not preempt federal law, let's take a look at another, related topic: English language fluency.

It's one necessary ingredient in garnering popular support for any immigration reform.

The issue of not being able to easily communicate with newcomers to our neighborhoods, schools and businesses is one bone of contention people love to chew on, and it transcends any particular ethnicity or language.

The following comments from a widely circulated chain e-mail I received are representative of a popular opinion: "Today's American is not willing to accept today's new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 . . . people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture."

Concerns that newcomers don't want to become "real Americans" who will fully commit to our language -- much less our culture or values -- underlie the battle to reform our ineffective immigration system. Any reasonable reform plan must make English language fluency a required stepping stone on the path to legal residency.

Surrounding this touchy subject are two myths to be busted: that immigrants don't want to learn the language and that there aren't enough people to teach them. The truths are, of course, more complicated.

It's no secret that it's tough for immigrants of diverse nationalities to take classes to improve their English skills. Each day is a struggle for survival before adding impossible class times, money for books or supplies, child care issues or other barriers.

It's up to us as a nation to take a long honest look at how we -- merchants, marketers, customers, employers, neighbors -- can break down those barriers and encourage English-language fluency for all our residents. This effort would create both a sense of shared community and a multi- language bilingual work force that will help the U.S. compete in an increasingly global economy.

Then, we need to find ways to help organizations who already provide these resources to scale up for the massive task of helping those learning our ridiculously difficult language and find the skilled teachers and eager volunteers who can make it happen.

Mano a Mano Family Resource Center -- a tiny organization in Round Lake -- has hundreds of people on its waiting lists for all levels of English-as-a-second-language classes.

Carolina Duque, the center's executive director, says that in her neck of the woods -- a small town where in the last 10 years Latino immigrants have flooded once-exclusively middle-class, Caucasian neighborhoods -- there's also a waiting list of people ready to volunteer to help sharpen English skills.

"Both community leaders and residents get frustrated by feeling they can't talk to their neighbors, but we're really lucky that the community is working together to overcome those frustrations," Duque told me. "We mostly work with volunteers who don't speak Spanish -- they get so much joy from being able to help others learn English and they want to do more. Unfortunately, we just don't have the capacity to train more volunteers, hold more classes or service all the people who need the help or want to give it."

Round Lake is just one little town where the swirling torrents of immigration, language and culture are coming together with little rage or angst.

If the bipartisan immigration law reform architects can learn from this town's ability to address this critical cultural issue -- and put some muscular incentives behind uniting the country via the English language -- we'll be on a pathway to true reform.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/...ther12.article

(Edited to add source URL)

I'm still waiting to hear who is going to process the 35 +million applicants? Who is going to ensure that they learn English? Who is going to ensure that they pay the paltry fine that Obama keeps talking about?

Our country can't keep up with the annual billions in waste fraud and abuse being doled out like candy. This year the IRS sent 13 MILLION DOLLARS to mexican nationals that fictiously filed taxes in the US. By the time the IRS got around to discovering they had been shammed it was too late.

BTW foreigners bilk the IRS for millions annually every time tax season rolls around. Does anyone believe that our incompetent, out of control government is up to any of the aforementioned tasks?

Their so called path to citizenship is a joke at best. They need to call it what it is, an Open Borders free for all . . . . . come one come all US citizenship is free to anyone who can make it in time for the shamnesty

"Today's American is not willing to accept today's new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 . . . people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture."

Interesting that Esther concentrates on English fluency as the main bone of contention. Wrong, Esther.

WE the people are not willing to accept those who flagrantly violate our laws by entering and/or staying illegally! Millons of immigrants have assimilate and learned English in the 100+ years, but then again they came here legally, unlike today's illegal aliens.

Originally Posted by miguelina

"Today's American is not willing to accept today's new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 . . . people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture."

Interesting that Esther concentrates on English fluency as the main bone of contention. Wrong, Esther.

WE the people are not willing to accept those who flagrantly violate our laws by entering and/or staying illegally! Millons of immigrants have assimilate and learned English in the 100+ years, but then again they came here legally, unlike today's illegal aliens.

It has gotten to the point that I hate to go into any store or mall. Everywhere I go I hear several foreign languages and encounter the perpetual state of pregnant women. There is no where left in America to escape the illegal alien 3rd world tower of babble and birthers.

My daughter home from college has a summer job at Abercrombies, she came home complaining because a Mexican woman got mad because my daughter doesn't speak Spanish. She said the woman kept following her around the store screaming "You don't speak Spanish?".

Originally Posted by MontereySherry

My daughter home from college has a summer job at Abercrombies, she came home complaining because a Mexican woman got mad because my daughter doesn't speak Spanish. She said the woman kept following her around the store screaming "You don't speak Spanish?".

MonterySherry,
I absolutely believe your daughter’s story and feel bad that it happened to her. It’s a symptom, in my opinion, of a real problem in the US. Spanish speaking people, primarily, come here and expect us to accommodate them. In other countries, that doesn’t fly. It appears to happen here for votes and money.

If the on-duty manager had witnessed it, they should have yelled at her for not speaking English and booted the woman out of the store. With her employee discount, your daughter would probably spend more money than the Mexican woman. The customer is NOT always right.

Of course, that makes sense to me so probably doesn’t to most. Read my tag-line and you’ll see where I’m coming from.

Please let us know what the management does, if anything.

I find it quite shocking that illegals/legals who have been here in the United States for 30-40 years.....still do not know English. But then on the other hand, this country makes it too easy for them not to since EVERYTHING is in Spanish. I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why everything is in Spanish but not other foreign languages.

We should not accommodate the people who will not learn
English . Let's protest to stores , etc when we see signs or
brochures printed in Spanish.

Originally Posted by MontereySherry

My daughter home from college has a summer job at Abercrombies, she came home complaining because a Mexican woman got mad because my daughter doesn't speak Spanish. She said the woman kept following her around the store screaming "You don't speak Spanish?".

1st of all the first thing I would have done would be to go directly to customer service where the cameras are. Once on video get the manager in, she didn't stop it, I'd have called the cops and filed harassment charges!...

I'd have made it extremely clear I was being harassed. If she had a cell phone she should have done a short video of her shouting at her and used it for evidence!

Originally Posted by miguelina

"Today's American is not willing to accept today's new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 . . . people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture."

Interesting that Esther concentrates on English fluency as the main bone of contention. Wrong, Esther.

WE the people are not willing to accept those who flagrantly violate our laws by entering and/or staying illegally! Millons of immigrants have assimilate and learned English in the 100+ years, but then again they came here legally, unlike today's illegal aliens.

CO-SIGN 100%

This is an invasion of the country plain and simple and these people are wrong period.