Last week, a campaign called ICE-Free NYC commenced. Its goal is to have City Hall no longer work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or at least not work with it so firmly. This agency looks for people to deport, such as by searching jails, and issues detainers which have local law enforcement keep immigrants in jail past their scheduled release date under the possibility that they will be deported. This is a troubling issue, as detainment often results in paranoia for the immigrants—some of whom have not even done an act deserving deportation. They may grow a lack of trust in the police, and may constantly live in fear of being held again—and this time deported. Other states, cities, and counties have suspected similar worries may arise among immigrants and have thus weakened their following of the ICE and its requests. If these other places that don’t even have as much contact with immigrants as NYC are making such considerations, why isn’t NYC? Well in fact, the New York City Council did pass legislation twice to follow suit, but still, a vast majority of ICE requests were fulfilled and over 3,000 immigrants were brought to federal immigration authorities. Mayor de Blasio denies that there is an issue with NYC’s relationship with the ICE however, and claims that the number of immigrants brought to federal immigration authorities has actually been curtailed. If the mayor does not believe there is even an issue for the ICE-Free NYC to worry about, how far can this campaign go?
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/advocates-city-freeze-ice-article-1.1776442
Kenneth Kowald’s editorial, “People in America need to learn how to speak English,” brings up immigrants’ levels of English and how their ability to be a part of society is affected by it. Long story short, their proficiencies aren’t very high. As citizens, they have all passed an English examination, yet, like the man in the editorial who claimed he wouldn’t be able to understand a court case, many can’t have a voice in the general society. But why is this? Are there not enough immigrants taking ESL classes? Are they not trying hard enough? Perhaps, they feel that learning English isn’t actually necessary to live in America?
Being born in the United States, I’ve never seen the citizenship test, but I have heard about it from others. I particularly remember one story my fifth grade history teacher shared about her family, and how they had to write a sentence in English to prove their proficiency. What sentence did they write? “I love America!” What sentence did everyone else in the room write? “I love America!” And with that, these people all passed the English portion. But let’s be honest. I doubt I could make my way around Paris only knowing how to say, “I love France!” and just the same way, many of these people really couldn’t communicate in English. This remains the case for many new immigrants today, who “prove” their “English know-how,” and then situate themselves in an ethnic neighborhood where everyone speaks their native language—never once needing to voice their, “I love America.” However, many of these people are forced to look for jobs outside of their familiar neighborhoods, places where English is the spoken language. What can these immigrants do to learn the language? Take ESL classes on the weekends and then return to their exclusively Polish-speaking neighborhood for the other 98% of the week?
Sadly, attempting to learn English this way will probably not increase any immigrant’s language proficiency very much or very time efficiently. Let’s look at one typical type of adult English learner, such as the hypothetical Polish speaker I brought up before. They will spend a few hours a week memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary, only having these few class hours to test out their spoken English. But for the rest of the time, they are only using Polish, and not exercising their English language knowledge. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to language learning, with daily practice being the only way to efficiently learn a new language. This is why the children of these immigrants always learn English fluently: They go to an English speaking school five days a week where everything is taught in English, and where many of their classmates speak English as well. This is great practice that many adult learners don’t get, simply because they have no one to talk to, especially like our Polish friend who lives in an immigrant Polish neighborhood. Being surrounded by people who share in your culture may feel comforting, and it is understandable why someone would want to live there, but it will only hinder language goals.
Kowald brought up the question of why the inability to read, write, and speak an advanced level of English is such a “handicap” in America. This is true even for immigrants “lucky” enough to find jobs in their ethnic neighborhoods. At some point in their lives, they will have to venture out of their neighborhood and interact with the large English speaking portion America, such as the man called for jury duty, who definitely wouldn’t be able to understand a court case, full of legal jargon, if all he knew were basic English phrases. There may be no official language in America, but English is the national Language, and a common lingua franca, or chosen language among people who do not speak the same native language. If immigrants decided to “pack their bags” and move into ethnically diverse towns, where they could experience constant interaction among English speakers, their language proficiencies would skyrocket (which is why that “lucky” man who found a job in his ethnic neighborhood may not be so lucky). In this way, immigrants would be headed to operating not in a small ethnic neighborhood, but in their diverse new home country. However, are we willing to sacrifice major hubs where people can experience other cultures, listen to other languages, and eat authentic ethnic cuisines, for the sake of spreading English and intermixing America? Would such things not be possible without those places, or with smaller-scale ones?
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2013/15/kowald_we_2013_04_12_q.html
Hi! My name is Odette Colangeli and I am 18 years old. I plan to major in Communication Science and Disorders and minor in Linguistics so that I can become a Speech-Language Pathologist. I’ve been interested in language for a while and right now am teaching myself Korean and plan to learn French. I dream of studying abroad and even teaching English in a few countries to help familiarize myself with the language, culture, and cuisines of each. “Home body” definitely describes me, and I enjoy spending time at home listening to foreign, mostly Korean pop music; reading manga and teen fantasy novels; watching dramas, Asian variety shows, and horror-thriller movies; and finding healthy—but tasty!—meals to make.
I was born and raised in Queens, NY. My mom was born in Haiti but left when she was four to travel to many countries such as Morocco, France, and Chile until she finally settled in Queens when she was 16—her dad worked with the United Nations so they had to often move to countries in need. Because of this, my mom speaks English, French, and Spanish fluently. My dad on the other hand grew up in Brooklyn and is a 3rd generation American. His dad was born in Queens while his mom was born in Connecticut. Aside from my dad’s paternal grandfather who left Italy after an earthquake destroyed his land, all of my dad’s grandparents left Italy because of poverty, unemployment, and hunger. My dad doesn’t speak any Italian, so I unfortunately did not learn it, and my mom didn’t teach me any of the languages she knows, so English is the only language spoken at home with my two brothers.
