Long Waitlists for ESL Classes

[MissMillie]

Source: WBUR (Boston's NPR radio)

BOSTON, Mass. - August 02, 2007 - Teaching English to immigrants is one the most neglected public policy issues in the country, according to a study released this week by a Washington think tank.

Meanwhile, new poll says 62 percent of Americans think immigrants don't even try to learn English within a reasonable amount of time.

But the demand for English language classes in Massachusetts is so great that there's a three-year waiting list, and state spending to teach English to adults hasn't increased since 2000. More than 200,000 new immigrants have arrived here since then. WBUR's Bianca Vazquez Toness reports.



Read more: http://www.wbur.org/news/2007/69246_20070802.asp

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So.... the next time someone complains about immigrants not learning the language, let them know that even if immigrants were to sign up for classes, they'd be on a waiting list that is likely to be YEARS long.

[Bjornsdotter]

1. I've been having this arguement

..with people for 20 years. They just don't get it.

Cheers

[sybylla]

2. I just started as an ESL tutor for a literacy organization in my area

No pay. All volunteer. But very rewarding. I don't have to have any experience as a teacher. I just have to be willing to learn and to guide students through the materials they provide.

Very rewarding work. Wonderful people to work with.

[ninkasi]

4. I'd love to do that

I am probably not qualified, but do speak Spanish fairly fluently. I learned when my older brother married a woman whose mother was Mexican. I then married her cousin. Although our spouses were fluent in English, there were family members who spoke only Spanish, so I learned to speak it, too.

I've known my sister-in-law for over 50 years, and we sometimes speak Spanish around our daughters, when we're talking about private things, since neither of them speak Spanish. Yeah, I know, tacky, but it keeps me in practice. I'm retired, and wouldn't mind volunteering my time to help Spanish speakers learn English.

[Posteritatis]

7. What's that like? I'm considering doing it. (nt)

[sybylla]

8. Simple - for me

My organization teaches through immersion. You don't need to know Spanish - but it does help if you need to explain a word. All the materials are provided, though some tutors come up with flash cards and other amendments. We just sit and read through a picture dictionary, a coordinating workbook and an elementary reader. Easy peasy.

There may already be literacy organizations in your area. Make a few calls, ask a few questions. You might find a program or a place where you will fit in. If there is no program, contact a community service or government agency that deals with community issues like family services. They might know of a program you can get involved with.

[tanyev]

3. Yep. I thought our program had it bad.

We've only got a one year wait. We are an individual tutoring program, and the only thing holding us back from helping more students is that we need more volunteer tutors.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. And even if there are classes, the procedure for signing up for them may

be so complicated that you can't do it without the help of someone who already speaks English.

I know that because my church in Portland helped resettle refugees from Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, and the Congo.

The information about ESL classes was in English only (Catch-22, yes?), and the procedures for signing up were in bureaucratic English. That's why one "job" in the resettlement program was guiding the adults in the family through the sign-up procedure.

The children and teens attended the so-called "newcomers' classes" in the Portland public schools. Judging from the progress made by the teenagers in the Somali family I worked with, the newcomers' classes were pretty effective.

[NashVegas]

6. I Volunteered for a Little While

The difficulty was that the people I was working with kept switching jobs, always looking for something that paid better, and getting their hours moved around. Nothing wrong with wanting better, it's just that I'd work with someone for 3-4 weeks, and then suddenly not hear from them. Go to show up for the next appointment and get stood up. After the third time, I'd had enough.