by Gustavo Orduz
One of the issues driving the debate over immigration reform is whether or not immigrants should speak English as one of the many requirements they have to fulfill in order to become legal aliens. This growing controversy is dividing immigrants and communities because of the need and the obligation illegal aliens have for learning English.
Policymakers, community and civic leaders, and social scientists — and especially non-English speakers themselves — agree that knowledge of English is the gateway to full participation in U.S. society and its many rewards.
Nevertheless learning a new language is not as easy as many may think it is and learning English is no exception to the rule.
A study shows that the federal government is not distributing sufficient resources for English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, showing waiting lists ranging from weeks to up to three years or even more.
“English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction—is in crisis. ESL courses are few, overbooked, and often overcrowded, and students can face long waits for spots on the class roster,” reports a study released by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational fund.
The demand for ESL rises every year, and overall it is the fastest growing area of education.
According to a census conducted by NALEO in the year 2000, 21.3 million people in the United States, speak English badly. About 4.4 million households, or 11.9 million people, are linguistically isolated from the rest of the populace.
On the other hand, the debate on whether or not immigrants want to learn English is heating things up.
Some maintain that immigrants do not want to learn English, and thus they become a threat to the American culture. They also suggest that providing signs in other languages discourage many from speaking English.
Anne Kornfield, an American citizen from Riverdale, says she has opted to learn other languages so she can communicate with non-English speakers.
“I understand them because it is pretty hard to learn a new language,” says Kornfield. “I have found myself in that same situation of not knowing how to express myself in other languages and it is not a good feeling, trust me. However, while some of them try to speak, some others would rather make Americans speak their language instead of them understanding that the official language in America is English. They just do not want to learn.”
Others think the opposite, that, although there are some that do not want to assimilate, most are really eager about learning and speaking Englsih, because they comprehend it is the key to the American dream, the key to the path of a better living in America.
“I have never heard non-English speakers say they do not want to learn English” said Martha Flores, 25, a Venezuelan who lives by Kings Bridge, and is trying to register to take ESL classes at Monroe College. “Even the Asian boy who delivers my food tells me his desire to learn English. I do not speak Chinese and he does not speak Spanish, but in our broken English we understand each other.”
Nevertheless, Carmen Rosa Monsalve, a Puerto Rican from Gun Hill, says she has met many Latinos that refuse to learn English.
“They come to a country that is not theirs, break the rules, and don’t even want to speak English,” Monsalve said. “They want us to accommodate their language and their customs, instead of them adapting to this country, starting by understanding that the first step for success in this country is learning the language, speaking English.
Even though politicians talk about the need for immigrants to learn English, they do not provide the enough money to make that a reality.
Some of the ESL classes offered by the government require students to have at least a social security number, and most of them do not meet that requirement. Most of them have to pay private courses so they can learn English.
Eduardo Jimenez, 21, a Puerto Rican who is taking ESL classes at Lehman College, believes it is not a lack of will and enthusiasm from some of the students but their work schedule that makes them miss class.
“Some people cannot learn English, but it is because they have surviving priorities to meet before learning a new language. They have to work, they have to feed their family, they have to pay bills and it gets difficult keeping up with all the obligation,” Jimenez said. “I have seen many students sleeping in class because they have to work and they just come to class very tired”
People say Latinos have a bad attitude when it comes down to learning English, and they just want to speak nothing else but Spanish, forcing others to learn it. Jimenez explains that if there is a bad attitude from the Latino immigrant population, it is because a feeling of frustration when they cannot explain themselves.
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