Efforts to make English the official language of the United States received a boost this week when three members of Congress added their support as co-sponsors of H.R. 997, the English Language Unity Act. The affirmations by Rep. Henry Brown, Jr., Rep. Jack Kingston and Rep. Jon Porter push the total number of bi-partisan co-sponsors of the measure to 152.

“I want to thank Representatives Porter, Kingston and Brown, along with the many co-sponsors of H.R. 997 for their efforts to focus on assimilation within our diverse society,” said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc. “At a time when some would have us believe that Americans need to learn the language of the immigrants, I am pleased to see that a large contingent of Congressional leaders remain focused on English, the language of opportunity and unity in our nation.” (more…)

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s recent comment that Americans should get their children to study Spanish or another second language has drawn an avalanche of criticism from English-only advocates and cable television anti-immigration zealots.

But Obama couldn’t have been more right. Whether it’s Spanish, or other languages, Americans are way behind the rest of the industrialized world when it comes to mastering other languages.

Speaking in Georgia on July 8, Obama said in response to a question on bilingualism, ‘We live in a global economy. And, you know, I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, `We need to have English-only.’ They want to pass a law, ‘We want English-only.’ ‘’ (more…)

search for : Barack Obama

Did you hear the one about the guy who wrote a book of jokes to help Chinese learn English?

That would be Gerry Haukebo.

Haukebo, a Pelican Lake resident, has written jokes for the book Did You Hear the One About…Classic American Jokes that was then translated into Chinese. The book is for Chinese people learning the English language. (more…)

Maybe Barack Obama’s feints to the right will benefit him politically, maybe they’ll offend liberals who believed he really was a different kind of politician. Maybe the swing voters Obama is wooing with his less-liberal rhetoric are no longer paying attention by the time he lurches back to the left.

But one thing is clear: Obama isn’t as deep a policy thinker as his admirers pretend. Many of his issue positions, evolving and otherwise, scarcely make sense.

Take for example his recent pronouncements on official English initiatives. Plenty of voters, including sensible moderate swing voters and culturally conservative Democrats, think bilingual education is an ineffectual boondoggle and that the government should conduct its business in English. Many La Raza-style interest groups and multicultural liberals feel differently. Rather than alienate either constituency, Obama spewed incoherent mush:

You know, I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, “We need to have English- only.” They want to pass a law, “We want English-only.”

Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.

You know, it’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say (more…)

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Bilingual education has been for 30 years a mainstay of California public schools–the pedagogical equivalent of Ellis Island for immigrant kids. But on June 2–if recent polls are correct–voters may end that tradition by passing Proposition 227, which gives kids just a year to learn English before they enter regular classes.

The vote is being watched around the country as a survival test of bilingual instruction. Last month Chicago imposed a strict limit on its bilingual classes; a similar proposal has spawned a fierce debate in Denver. But California is critical not only because it is the nation’s largest school system but also because it has the most kids for whom English is a second language. About 1.4 million students are in bilingual classes this year; some educators think millions more–mostly Spanish speakers–need extra help. (more…)

search for : Bilingual education

Learning centers in both Naperville and Schaumburg are planning a unique way to introduce area children to China’s Mandarin language at a very young age this fall. Beginning Sept. 8, a KinderCare Learning Center in Schaumburg and a Knowledge Beginnings center in Naperville will offer an immersion program in Mandarin for 3- to 5-year-olds.

Their parent company, Knowledge Learning Corp., has selected only five locations across the nation to host this program. Patricia Koh created the Mandarin bilingual immersion program 20 years ago in Singapore, and is now bringing it to these limited locations in the United States.

She was at an open house Tuesday evening at the Schaumburg KinderCare for parents curious about the program. In Singapore, Mandarin is a second language after English, but Koh said she’s seen kids benefit from such early immersion in a second language for two decades. (more…)

Shortly after arriving here from the Phillipines, Maria Nelinda Walmsley signed up for English classes. Now, four months later, she gave a moving speech at a special “celebration of achievement” Wednesday at the Loyola Community Learning Centre.

The 50-year-old Walmsley addressed about 40 immigrant adults who were celebrating a year of academic success in the English as a Second Language and Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada programs offered through the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board.

Walmsley came to Canada in February — almost a year after marrying Belleville businessman Ramon Walmsley. She entered Loyola, located in Community Resource Centre Quinte on Isabel Street, a month later. (more…)

When asked what was behind her motivation to teach the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at the Bulverde/Spring Branch Library, Tammy Anderson said it was her way of giving back what was given to her mother.

Her Japanese mother came to the United States in 1961 and has maintained a life-long relationship with her ESL teacher because of her gratitude and the strong bond they formed during the classes. Anderson is the driving force that’s kept the ESL classes going at the Bulverde/Spring Branch Library for several years.

A basic ESL class is available to non-English speaking students and is taught by Patricia Harris in Spanish since that meets the needs of most people in this area. Anderson teaches an intermediate class entirely in English since she is not bi-lingual. (more…)

search for : English as a Second Language, ESL teacher