TESOL, Immigration Reform, & Literacy Practice

TESOL Welcomes President's Call for Expanding Education, Immigration Reform Date: 13 February 2013 In his 2013 State of the Union Address, President Obama highlighted the vital role that education plays in supporting the U.S. economy. The initiatives outlined in his speech—advancing pre-K education and secondary schools—hold promise, but they will not be fully effective unless they take into account the needs of the fastest growing population of student in U.S. schools: English learners. As President Obama noted, pre-K education has been proven to benefit young learners, and it especially benefits English learners, who are often in need of such services. Expanding the benefit to millions of young learners is overdue. However, the proposed reforms for Pre-K and high school must include resources to support educators and meet the unique needs of English learners. Without expanding the number of trained ESL and bilingual educators and providing training for all educators who work with English learners, these reform efforts will fall short of serving many of the students who could most benefit from them. While most English learners in U.S. schools are born in this country, many of their parents are not, including many who are undocumented. TESOL International Association supports President Obama’s call for comprehensive immigration reform. Many of the reform proposals include learning English among the steps along the path to citizenship for immigrants, and TESOL International Association and its members stand ready to work with the President and Congress to provide these services to those adult English learners who wish to pursue them. The current system for providing English language and civics education, however, is at capacity, with waiting lists in many locations. Immigration reform will likely result in an increased demand for these services. Expanding the current system to meet this demand will be very difficult without additional resources. Immigrant integration is a critical component of comprehensive immigration reform. TESOL International Association therefore strongly urges the President and Congress to include resources for immigration integration, especially English language education, in their proposals. These efforts will help build strong communities that continue the long U.S. tradition of respect for cultural and linguistic diversity.

I found the President's SOTU speech very encouraging, especially on immigration reform!  I predict immigration and citizenship issues will be the TESOL trend for the foreseeable future.  Virginia DOE Office of Adult Education and Literacy published their 5 year strategic plan that specifically addressed English literacy and civics education.  Civics education has 4 components: history, government, citizenship-naturalization, and civic engagement.  The civic engagement component is a broader umbrella that accommodates the kind of critical pedagogy we have approached in ADLT 650.  There is a need for English language learners (ELLs) to use their voice on this issue.  To realize any kind of reform, people need to engage society on this issue.  This is an example of taking literacy into practice, why literacy is action.  This is why I was about to jump out of my seat last Tuesday night!  Anyway, my program just received it's EL/Civics grant, enough to take us through another 6 months.  We operate on the brink, one step at a time.  But, this is what we live for!  This is why, at least in my humble opinion, literacy doesn't belong in the classroom, it belongs out on the streets (Internet, TV, mass media).  If you have  non native speakers/ELLs in any of your programs or work environments, please engage them in conversation on this issue.  Ask for their opinions, what changes they want to see, or how important reform is to them.   I hope it's an important issue for you, too. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post.   Susan Wa

International Migrants Day, Civics, & Current Events

December 18th is International Migrants Day (IMD), declared so by the UN in 2000 when it adopted the  International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.  Wow, I have never heard of this day or its purpose.  But, my post is not about the (lack of) influence and relevancy of the UN, rather, it is about our US migrants, our newest citizens--legal or otherwise-- and how we adult educators integrate civics instruction in adult ESOL programs.  I include a link to an opinion article, written by Andy Nash in 2010, that came to my inbox with information about IMD.

Andy discusses how ESOL programs do a good job of educating migrants to be responsible citizens, to pay taxes and find employment.  Programs do a good job of preparing  migrants to be participatory citizens, to obtain citizenship, vote, participate in their children's school activities, and the like.  Programs fall short when it comes to preparing migrants to be action-oriented citizens.  An action-oriented citizen seeks to change the status quo, find justice, and analyze and criticize government.  Andy goes on to say how we need to report on measure of success that reflect civic engagement.  She provides a model for civics instruction that her organization has used successfully in MA.

One of Andy's points on how to motivate migrants to become action-oriented citizens is to use a current event.  She cited the example of 9/11 as an event that started dialogue and action.  It is a sad reality that we often need a horrific event to rekindle an action-orientation in ourselves.  In the wake of last week's tragedy in CT, perhaps another dialogue can begin.    Civics instruction needs to be raw, and it needs to be honest.  I feel we could all use some civics instruction right now.   In closing, I appreciate the information on IMD, and the reminder from Andy that our newest citizens are here to help change the status quo.

http://www.nelrc.org/publications/pdf/Civics%20and%20Adult%20ESOL.pdf

 

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

I'm passing along a link to a TESOL International brief on the topic.  Nothing new.   I  love how USCIS requires undocumented young people to provide documentation about their birth, arrival in the U.S, schooling, even a gov issued ID, to be processed for deferment.  This is not a path to citizenship, just a 2 year holding pattern, work permit, possible driver's license.  And oh yeah, it's $465.  Then the person is in our gov "system."  They must renew after 2 years.  Then what?  It's a tactic to post pone a decision on citizenship.  I'm sorry to rant, but it was just to get votes, too.  



We had a lot of stressed out ESOL students worried about getting into GED classes so they could apply for DACA and avoid deportment / perhaps find a path to residency.   Most of these folks had literacy levels that were too low even for ABE classes.  We  issue letters of enrollment for  ABE/GED and ESOL , as it seems PWCS AE should qualify as a state/fed funded literacy program for the purposes of this action. That is an issue for USCIS to determine, anyway.   

Has anyone else had experience with DACA?   Forgive my rantings.  This is one of my hot buttons.

http://www.tesol.org/docs/advocacy/tesol_policy-brief_august-2012_8-15_final-final.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Word Clouds

Would you like to learn how to make one of these word clouds?   You can tailor it to your needs by changing the text you use.  Think about your next presentation or lesson.  Wouldn't it be a beautiful logo or image to customize your work?  The word pattern and color choices are almost endless.

 I learned how to do this at a TESOL convention a few years ago.  It was part of a technology lesson for higher level ESOL learners.  The word cloud, or WORDLE, turns written text into art.  It's another way for our learners to see what they are capable of doing.  I loved this idea and wanted to share it with you.  Try it with your students and let us know what happens.

The website with all the information is    http://www.wordle.net/