A federal judge’s ruling that Texas has failed its students with limited English skills is suddenly the most eagerly awaited document in educational circles.

U.S. Senior District Judge William Wayne Justice’s ruling, released Friday, tossed out his own judgment last summer that Texas was doing an adequate job of providing students with the education they need to function in English.

School administrators don’t know the details of the latest ruling. But they know it will significantly change the way they teach the ever-increasing number of students who arrive at school speaking something other than English. (more…)

Fareed Hamraqul and his family left Afghanistan, fleeing the Taliban for Uzbekistan in 1992. Then, five months ago, they left home amid more unrest, this time ending up in Philadelphia. Hamraqul, who will be a junior at Northeast High School in September, now spends sweltering summer mornings soaking up his fifth language. The bright teen’s English is halting, but his message is clear.

“Every day, students help me, teachers help me,” Hamraqul said yesterday through a translator. “Thank God I am here.” Here is the Philadelphia School District’s summer refugee program at Northeast, one of four around the city. It’s a free, intense summer class designed for high school students who are new to the country or who want extra help with English.

For the last six years, many new immigrants have spent their summers learning English, making up credits, and working to feel more comfortable in an American classroom. The school district uses the word refugee loosely, and most often it is not referring to those who seek political asylum in the United States. (more…)

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…)

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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…)

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