Question:
Several times over the past year or two, I've seen complaints in the internet to the effect
that recent immigrants are not learning English; today, I happened to read
in the e-mail zine _Migration News_ a summary of a recent report(*) by the
California Policy Insitute that included the following paragraph:
Perhaps the single most important recommendation is to make Eng-
lish-language instruction far more widely accessible and afford-
able. English is a key to upward mobility, immigrants want to
learn English, there are state and local facilities in which Eng-
lish instruction could be provided in immigrant neighborhoods.
However, neighborhood schools often refuse to make their facil-
ities available for teaching adults English after working hours.
The state could do far more to make English-language instruction
widely and cheaply available to working adults.
This echos what I've always maintained: It's a lack of opportunity, not
desire, that prevents immigrants from developing English-language skills.
Mandating that they learn English (as some have suggested) without pro-
viding instructional support would simply add an additional burden to the
difficult lot of many of the lowest-paid workers in the country.
Answer:
IIRC, the complaints are mostly about second generation
immigrants or school age first generation immigrants. Adult
first generation immigrants ususally are not the focus.
As someone who has taught ESL to adult immigrants, here are a
couple of my observations:
- Immigrants typical have long and hard work schedules. The
amount of time and energy available for learning is very
limited. This, plus the fact that learning a second
language after a certain age is in general very difficult,
means that immigrants can actually acquire very little
English skills -- not enough to be an important "key to
upward mobility".
(This is not to say that learning English is not important.
For example, since English proficiency is a requirement
for naturalization, a lot of elderly immigrants have to
struggle through elementary English courses.)
- Availability of physical facility from neighborhood schools
is just one factor. Consider:
- Time. The group of immigrants that I work with are
mostly restaurant works. This means that their working
hours are typically 11:30am - 10:00pm. School time
for them is 8:30am - 10:00am.
- Transportation. These immigrants typically do not have
cars. They live in places where parking space is scarce.
They either walk, take public transportation, or are
shuttled by their employers. They usually do not live
near schools.
- Teachers. Teaching ESL to adult immigrants is usally
not a career option for those who are qualified. There
is not enough work and little pay. The schedule
and location constrains make it hard for volunteers
with careers of their own.
- General funding.
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