So when I was reading chapter 8 in Brown this week I wondered where some communities fall into the ESL/EFL category. There are several small towns in this area where a full third of the town is hispanic/latino. In these communities the students speak Spanish at home, because that is was their families and neighbors speak. However, at school they have to speak English...but they don't typically "hang out" with the English speaking students, they hang with the Spanish speaking students. This means these students are not utilizing the tools/resources they have available to them. They have the opportunity to use English through most of their school day, but they isolate themselves and choose to not practice their social English. Are these students still learning ESL...they've virtually created an EFL situation for themselves. The students I'm thinking of mostly came to the US in late elementary school or later.
The kids who came in early elementary school straddle the gap. They have friends who are NSs of English as well as Spanish. They hang out in both groups fairly comfortably and enjoy the benefits of bilingualism.
The adults in these families often do not need to learn English either because they have their children's (limited or proficient) English to count on. Schools hire professional interpreters, children interpret when necessary, and numbers are the same in the grocery stores. Small towns are isolated.
The chapter talked about various situations in elementary/secondary classes as well as colleges. But I just wondered about the isolated communities.
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4 comments:
I guess the whole ESL/EFL distinction is very unclear, and "more guidelines than actual rules". It is interesting how people feel more comfortable isolating themselves from wider array of opportunities.
Germany was in the process of industrialization and the country needed qualify people to develop the industry in 1960. They invite lots of Turkish workers to come to the country and work there and the offer was so attractive for lots of Turkish workers. There were a noticeable amount of Turkish people in Germany soon. The first generation didn’t care about being socializing they just wanted to make money. The second generation’s adaptation was good. The third generation which is current generation has the same problem of isolation with some of Hispanic population here in US as you mentioned about. I think the most important issue of integration is language and for sure it is so difficult to learn a language. I think still there are lots of things to be done in the field of language learning to help people to learn it easily and help them in terms of integration.
The context is still ESL because the resources are available, if they choose to avail themselves to them.
The isolation is not limited to small towns, I think. But you raise a fascinating topic.
I don't think anyone should feel compelled to learn English unless they NEED to. If a Spanish speaking person is getting along just fine speaking Spanish then good for them. If their situation changes and it benefits them to learn English I hope they are able to. But why fix something that isn't broken.
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