Workforce Language Services

With immigration reform on the horizon and a potential mandate that all immigrants speak English, a new dilemma arises: where can people learn English? ESL classes aren’t always available due to long waiting lists and state budget cuts.

Moreover, it’s been reported that only 39% of ESL students reach a proficiency that can advance them to the next level. Why? Because with work and family responsibilities, students rarely have the time to devote to a full course load.

The solution, Marisa Trevino proposes in a USA Today editorial, is teaching immigrants English at work, embracing a shared responsibility between employer and employees. Not only could the employer get a future tax break, they are training their employees in an essential skill necessary to perform their job. Case in point:

TV station WFAA found that hundreds of low-level commercial aircraft mechanics in Texas had the necessary skill set for the job, but they lacked the language skills to communicate with supervisors or to read repair manuals. The report prompted Congress to demand that by March, the Federal Aviation Administration require all mechanics to be proficient in English.

McDonald’s is also following suit. They’ve created a 22-week ESL program for entry level management workers. The classes combine onsite and virtual language learning. Trevino concludes:

McDonald’s has learned what many ESL programs already have confirmed: The will to learn English is there. Smart companies will follow suit. It’s a win-win-win situation for employer, employee — and country.

Click here to read the full editorial.

We can help! To find out about WLS’s onsite English and Spanish language classes, click here.

The best time to learn a new language is between birth and 7 years of age, reports Yahoo! News (AP). Some very interesting tests by international researchers delve into the how and why of this phenomenon, hoping to apply it to adult language learning.

Every language comes with a unique set of sounds, which babies are able to distinguish long before they begin talking. But this ability to distinguish actually decreases by the time they start talking.

[Dr. Patricia] Kuhl offers an example: Japanese doesn’t distinguish between the “L” and “R” sounds of English — “rake” and “lake” would sound the same. Her team proved that a 7-month-old in Tokyo and a 7-month-old in Seattle respond equally well to those different sounds. But by 11 months, the Japanese infant had lost a lot of that ability.

And if you’re wondering how researchers can decipher sounds a baby detects, the article explains (primarily through toys and eye-gaze).

Monolingual kids tend to tune out words that don’t fit into the sounds they recognize, thereby creating a one-language pathway in the brain. Apparently, bilingual babies can absorb both languages at once, which seems to make bilingual babies’ brains more flexible.

The researchers tested 44 12-month-olds to see how they recognized three-syllable patterns — nonsense words, just to test sound learning. Sure enough, gaze-tracking showed the bilingual babies learned two kinds of patterns at the same time — like lo-ba-lo or lo-lo-ba — while the one-language babies learned only one.

Unfortunately, the brain’s language circuitry is mostly set up by age 7, making it difficult for older children and adults to learn a second language at the native level. But that doesn’t mean the window is forever closed.

Click here to read the full article, and how researchers want to tap into this same brain circuitry to help adults learn.

A proposal for a public bilingual charter school failed to pass last week in Austin, Texas. The school was competing with five others for selection by the State Board of Education. Texas has capped charters in recent legislation due to some overspending since the first charter schools opened 10 years ago.

Austin Community School, the proposed school concept, would incorporate classes in both Spanish and English, with a stronger emphasis on Spanish in the earlier years, taught by instructors experienced in the International Baccalaureate program and dual-language education.

The goal of the Austin Community School is to offer a complete, well-implemented dual language program to all children of Austin, regardless of race or economic background, [Austin Community School board treasurer Lori] May said. There are no dual language programs in Austin outside of private schools, and many parents can’t afford to send their children to these schools.

The school would start with Spanish- and English-speaking children ages five to seven (kindergarten and first grade), and would add a grade each year. The school’s supporters cite research that children excel in school and have a lower drop-out rate when taught in a bilingual environment.

Supporters haven’t given up on the bilingual charter school proposal, and are looking for other opportunities and financing to push forward.

Read the full article in The Daily Texan here.

Early exposure to two languages gives bilingual speakers a huge advantage when learning a new language, a new study from Northwestern University shows.

The study used three groups of native English-speakers: English-Spanish bilinguals, English-Mandarin bilinguals, and English monolinguals. When each group was asked to master a set of words in an invented language that had no similarities to either Spanish or Mandarin, the two bilingual groups learned nearly twice as many words as the monolingual speakers.

Researchers think this adeptness translates to strengths in other types of language learning and verbal capacities.

The study has important implications for educators who are considering the appropriate age at which to introduce foreign language instruction as well as for parents who in increasing numbers have an option to enroll their children in dual language immersion programs.

“We’re seeing that exposure to two languages early in life carries far-reaching benefits,” said co-author Kaushanskaya. “Our research tells us that children who grow up with two languages wind up being better language learners later on.”

Despite the benefits of early childhood language instruction, some parents fear that a second language will distract or confuse their child. However, this article suggests that do bilingual children are actually better able to ignore irrelevant information than non-bilinguals when learning a second language.

This set of studies adds to comparable language acquisition research, some of which suggests that the onset of Alzheimer’s in bilinguals is delayed by four years compared to monolinguals.

Related article: Speaking more than one language may slow the aging process in the brain.

Even though Tom Zabkowski has lived in the United States for almost 20 years after immigrating from Poland, he struggles to lose his accent. What’s more, he believes it’s holding him back in job interviews.

Many people with foreign accents have recently been taking accent-reduction classes because they don’t feel that they are being understood, and are therefore less marketable. Accent-reduction coaches interviewed for the Tribune report say they’ve seen a recession-related increase in students.

Employment experts say it’s not just Zabkowski who’s putting in the effort to make himself clearer and more marketable — in this down economy, every advantage helps when applying for a job, and accent reduction is part of that.

Stephanie Bickel, who runs a speaking firm with six instructors in Chicago, says that some people are not coming in to reduce a foreign accent, but to change the tone of their voice to sound more professional. “There’s been a noticeable increase in [American] men and women seeking to lower the pitch of their voices,” Bickel said. “It’s a trend that seems to be recession-related.”

Read the full story here.

Latino teens and their parents benefit from biculturalism, a UNC Chapel Hill study shows. Young Latinos who embrace their heritage, and whose parents are more involved in U.S. culture, were shown to have higher self-esteem and experience less anxiety, depression and substance abuse.

The study’s co-author, Martica Bacallao, Ph.D., remarked:

“It is interesting that, in order to obtain these benefits of biculturalism, adolescents and parents often need to do the opposite of what their natural tendencies tell them. Parents who are strongly tied to their native cultures must reach out to learn skills in the new culture. Adolescents who quickly soak up new cultural behaviors should slow down and cultivate the richness in their native cultures.”

In other words, acculturation is not a black or white matter, either wholly rejecting the former Latino culture or accepting the new American one. A healthy balance of recognizing both can help Latino youth moderate the stress they feel trying to please both sides.

Read the full report here.

An article published by the Center for American Progress recommends that the United States invest more actively in the integration of its recent immigrant populations.

This goes far beyond English classes—government policy should also include civics instruction and incentives for businesses that educate their non-English speaking employees. The European Union, which has also seen unprecedented waves of immigration in the last decade, has established an integration forum, Web site, and an Integration Fund that will help each community help their newcomers.

Cities and counties in the United States who are seeing an influx of immigrants for the very first time will enjoy stronger economic growth, among other benefits, if they adapt to shifting populations.

Representative Honda eloquently explained this at the introduction of his legislation in 2008, stating, “As a country of immigrants we have always depended upon newcomers to fuel our progress…legislation that provides them educational tools is logical and good for our country…Their success is America’s success, and we should invest in it through sound education policies such as this.”

The U.S. lags behind the E.U. in terms of integration policy, but is starting to make a step forward. President Obama’s 2010 budget allocates $10 million for a new citizenship program, for example. Read more about what the U.S. is doing to integrate its newcomers here.

An online article suggests some reasons why a company would want to offer English classes to its employees:

Some companies that don’t provide English language skills training said they would do so if it would increase productivity (27%), increase employee engagement (17.7%), improve employees’ career opportunities—regardless of what their native language is (17.7%), improve workplace safety (12.5%), improve bilingual employees’ career opportunities (11.5%), reduce turnover (5.2%), and demonstrate the company’s commitment to immigrant communities (5.2%).

The article also recommends looking into community resources for employees to access English lessons as well as considering providing classes on site.  While onsite classes would obviously cost more for the company, one of the benefits would be the ability to target the lessons to what employees need to know to be successful and safe in that particular industry.

To read the entire article, click here.

A library exhibit in Kissimmee charting the history of Puerto Rican culture in Florida from the mid-20th century until the 80s provides a glimpse into one of the cultures that has had a strong influence on the state.  The exhibit seeks to educate about Puerto Ricans and their culture as well as dispel some stereotypes people have of those from this U.S. territory.

Language wasn’t the only challenge - stereotypes were a problem, too.

“Puerto Ricans in Central Florida have also repeatedly encountered in their new neighbors a lack of knowledge about Puerto Rico’s history and its relation to the U.S.,” the exhibit notes. “Light skinned Puerto Ricans were told that they don’t look Puerto Rican.” And even though Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, “Lawyer James Auffant was asked for his green card when he applied for a job with Orange County in 1977,” the liner notes state.

To read more details about the exhibit and snippets about the unique culture and contributions of Puerto Ricans, click here.

An older post on the LatinoLA website offers a humorous piece on relative levels of Spanish-speaking in the U.S.  Well-meaning first generation immigrants often don’t push their children to learn Spanish because they want them to succeed by speaking English, but in many cases this is to the detriment of people growing up with Hispanic looks and surnames.  Even I admit to being taken aback when I meet Latinos who speak very little Spanish. 

Al Carlos Hernandez ends his humorous editorial with the difficulties of taking Spanish study seriously as an adult:

I really wish I could converse in Spanish but there is too much pressure. If you take an adult class as a Latino they will expect straight A’s and think that you are there to pick up women. You can’t practice on native speakers because they will clown you and player hate you because you drive a German luxury car.

Recently, I’ve realized that I have reached a point in my social career where I can understand about 70% of what someone is saying to me in the mother tongue if I can watch their lips. Since many Latinos have big lips, this has made my job easier. I have been able to lay out several sentences together and have received in-kind reciprocal response.

To read the entire article, click here.