Recently, nine women come together to learn English at the Immokalee Public Library. Much like all the women, Lucy Gutierrez and Ana Sierra, both 30 and natives of Mexico, know the importance of understanding and speaking English now that they live in the United States.

Today, the Immokalee mothers are attending an English for speakers of another language class so they can communicate with others at local businesses, their children’s doctor and also help their children with homework once they start school. “It’s important to learn English,” Sierra, who has taken the class two years, said in Spanish.

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Kalamazoo Central High School English as a Second Language instructor Cesar Gonzalez knows first-hand how tough chasing the American dream can be for immigrant parents.

With Erin Fleming, an English-as-a-Second Language instructor at Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts, Gonzalez is currently teaching six weeks of basic computer classes to bilingual parents of Kalamazoo Public Schools students.

The computer classes, started in 2007 by KPS Bilingual, Migrant & World Languages coordinator Manual Brenes, started last week and attracted 56 people –16 more than Brenes could accommodate. (more…)

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At the Shenandoah Valley School District, Eileen Marchetti teaches 62 students English as a Second Language in two rooms that used to be the staff lounge. “The number of students changes from year to year, but it’s growing steadily. We’re at a premium for space here,” she said.

The program provides specialized instruction to non-English speaking students in pre-K through 12th grade in reading, writing, speaking and understanding English. Since Marchetti started the program in 2002 with 26 students, the district’s ESL staff has expanded. Two full-time certified ESL assistant teachers now work with Marchetti, who is the program’s full-time coordinator. (more…)

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Troy School District will send two administrators to Spain next month to recruit two bilingual teachers to teach its growing number of students who speak Spanish as a first language.

“We were not able to find a certified teacher. We had a couple of failed attempts,” said Don White, superintendent of Troy School District.

The need is huge. The number of ELL students is on the rise and there is a shortage of people who can teach them.

In one year, the state saw an increase of 26,000 ELL students. In 2006, there were 166,000 ELL students compared to 192,000 ELL students in 2007, said Robin Lisboa, division administrator for ELL for the state board of education.

The state board estimates that in the next three years 1,226 bilingual teachers will be needed statewide. (more…)

The Rayon City campus of Hermitage Hills Baptist Church, which expanded there in 2006, is adding new English as a Second Language classes for the community. The free English classes are an extension of the ESL program at Hermitage Hills’ main campus at 3475 Lebanon Pike in Hermitage that began in September 2006.

The Rayon City campus of Hermitage Hills Baptist Church, which expanded there in 2006, is adding new English as a Second Language classes for the community. The free English classes are an extension of the ESL program at Hermitage Hills’ main campus at 3475 Lebanon Pike in Hermitage that began in September 2006. (more…)

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According to the 2000 census, 2,341 of Rock Island’s 39,684 residents are Hispanic. says Roberto Medina, who gets calls or visits from Spanish-speaking residents all the time. “I help at least two customers a day in Spanish,” he said. Not only does he answer questions about city bills, he often is asked by departments such as public works, inspections, and community and economic development to help translate.

“It’s important to have a human in there, rather than just have a copy of our building code in Spanish and point from one to the other,” building official Tom Ayers said. “You need the intelligent human who speaks both languages”, so Roberto, in this case, is really critical.

Previously, when inspectors had to discuss a problem building or routine inspection with a Hispanic owner, they would ask for an English-speaking relative — often a child — to help translate, he said. (more…)

Unlike other countries, the United States has never made English its official language, although 30 states, including Florida in 1988, have done so. But those laws haven’t stopped foreign-language speakers in Central Florida from keeping their native tongue.

As the population grows, more immigrants teeter between two worlds: They want to keep their own language and ties to their culture and homeland. They also want their children — some American born — to speak their mother tongue and keep their traditions alive for generations to come.

On the other hand, most immigrants want to blend into the English-speaking community. (more…)

Q: Why don’t immigrants want to learn English?

A: Many do, but they don’t have time. Also, acquiring a new language becomes more difficult with age. Immigrants pack local English classes several nights a week. A national study, while not differentiating legal status, found that Latinos born outside the U.S. were more likely to value learning English than U.S.-born Latinos. Ninety-six percent of foreign-born respondents said teaching English to immigrants’ children was “very important,” compared with 88 percent of U.S.-born Latinos. (more…)

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