Latest news with #SpeakersofOtherLanguages
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Immigrants Keep Lining Up to Learn English as City Hall Cuts Support
This article was originally published in THE CITY. Inside a classroom at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park on a recent Monday morning, teacher Julian Colón was busy setting out notebooks, folders, pens and crayons on a table. Outside in the hallway, a sign taped to a wall reads 'CLASES DE INGLÉS POR ESTE CAMINO' — English classes this way. It was the first day of the spring semester in this predominantly Latino corner of the Brooklyn neighborhood, where Colón was expecting about 30 students in class. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter But not everyone who wanted a seat at the table was there. More than 400 students are now on the center's waitlist, according to Maria Ferreira, its adult employment program director. 'I sit right by the reception, and every single day we get inquiries about ESOL,' Ferreira told THE CITY, using the acronym for English for Speakers of Other Languages. 'Every day we're adding people to the waiting list.' Demand for English classes has increased with the influx of migrants that began in 2022, according to a new report by United Neighborhood Houses, which represents 46 settlement houses that help serve immigrant populations, even as City Hall has slashed funding. At Flatbush-based social services giant CAMBA, program manager Jude Pierre said more than 700 prospective students are now waiting to get into one of its 10 city-funded ESL classes, which collectively accommodate about 200 students. Related 'With the migrant crisis…we ended up getting a lot of individuals coming here to register for classes to the point where we basically had to stop taking registrations,' Pierre told THE CITY. 'We got to the point where it didn't make any more sense to have thousands of people on a waiting list, knowing we would never get to most of them. We started saying, 'Sorry, we can't do this, because it's not fair to you,' and trying to refer them to other places.' Last year, the Department of Youth and Community Development reduced funding for literacy classes by nearly 30% to $11.9 million from $16.8 million, the report noted. Many long-time providers in areas where migrant shelters were clustered also lost out on DYCD dollars after the agency adjusted its funding eligibility formula,' as THE CITY previously reported. According to the report, many classes now depend entirely on discretionary dollars from the City Council, which increased its funding to $16.5 million in fiscal year 2025 from roughly $6.5 million in recent years to back organizations DYCD left behind. Several providers, however, told THE CITY that compared to DYCD's multi-year contracts, Council funding, which requires annual reconsideration, makes it difficult to plan ahead and maximize offerings. And for some, like CAMBA, Council funding was not enough to cover the losses from DYCD with the group reducing the number of students it serves by 174 and closing its waitlist, Pierre said. So far, providers say, demand among new arrivals has remained steady even as the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts have led many new arrivals fearful of working or sending kids to school or even walking the streets. 'Ideally, these programs would be supported by a robust, baselined program managed by DYCD that offered students and providers stability with year-over-year funding,' the report says. 'However, until DYCD revisits its unnecessarily restrictive stance…it is crucial that the City Council continue this support to make sure that adult learners continue to have access to quality classes.' While fewer than 3% of the 1.7 million immigrants in need of English classes are able to access it through city-funded programs, according to the report, students who were able to find their way into a class told THE CITY improved English has helped with their daily lives — and their job prospects. Currently, two-thirds of New Yorkers with limited English proficiency earn less than $25,000 a year, according to American Community Survey data cited in the report. Rosanie Andre, 42, came to New York City from Haiti in 2023, and said she started taking English classes at CAMBA last year after three months on a waitlist. Since then, she's been able to get a job serving food at Speedway while also delivering packages for Amazon per diem. 'When I did my interviews, you have to speak in English with the manager. And it helped me a lot because I understand people now,' Andre, a native Haitian Creole and French speaker, said in English. Learning English has also helped Andre communicate with her 6-year-old — who only started speaking after their move to New York City. 'And she started to speak English — English only. She knows nothing in Creole,' Andre said. 'I try to listen to my daughter and speak to her English-only.' With her English improving, Andre said she is better able to help her daughter with her homework. 'I try to explain her how to do it in English,' Andre said. 'If no CAMBA, I have difficulty to understand. Cuz when I come here, I don't understand nothing. When people speak, I smile because I understand nothing.' Roodleir Victor, 29, saw English classes as an essential stepping stone in furthering his education. He had completed his college coursework for an economics degree in his native Haiti, he said, though he ultimately fell just short of obtaining a degree because it would have required him to stay in the country's capital, which has been embroiled in political turmoil and gang violence. He started taking English classes when he moved to the city in 2023, he said, in hopes of continuing his studies here. For four days a week, he attended English classes in Flatbush from 1 to 4 p.m. before heading to Long Island to work at a pasta factory on a 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. overnight shift. Victor is now enrolled in a GED class, he said, and hopes to study computer programming after that. 'I would like to study at a university which I can learn technology. But it's difficult for me, because I don't have the support I need to go there,' Victor said in English. 'But for me personally, I believe in my capacity to adapt.' Back in Sunset Park, a 55 year-old asylum seeker was patiently waiting to enter the room half an hour before class started at 9 a.m. 'I'm just eager to learn,' the native of Ecuador said in Spanish. 'It's important because I want to communicate with others for a job.' The mother of five arrived in New York City three months ago, she said, after seeking asylum at the Mexico-California border then being detained there for three months. She's cleaning homes to help make ends meet, but hopes to land a job with steadier income soon. 'Whatever I can get I pick up, but those jobs come and go,' she said. 'I was in a workforce development program but the curriculum was in English so I started looking for classes.' Oscar Lima rolled into English class with his e-scooter just after class started at 9:30 a.m. The 34-year-old is now in his second semester of classes, he said, which he makes time for in between catering gigs, food deliveries and a third job as a barback. 'My bosses told me, 'You're a good worker, but you need to learn English,'' Lima said. 'And I decided that I didn't want to learn English myself.' Lima and other students now settled into their seats, turning their attention to Colón. 'Everybody, are we ready? Listos?' Colón asked. 'Yes,' the class responded timidly. Colón then began presenting ground rules on a digital whiteboard: Try to arrive within the five-minute grace period after the class start time, and come prepared with books, papers and pencils. 'The most important rule,' Colón continued, before repeating himself in Spanish. 'Please don't be afraid to participate and make mistakes.' At break time, Lima shared how he, his wife and his two sons had arrived in the city from Colombia about three years ago. While the family had started off at a shelter, Lima said, they're now able to afford an apartment of their own. His two kids — seven and ten years old — quiz him about names of objects around the house, he said, and often encourages him to learn English alongside with them. 'New York, it poses many challenges. It's difficult at the beginning, but it's not impossible,' Lima said in Spanish. 'My American Dream is my sons…I want my children to perhaps have what I didn't have, but at the same time I want to show them how to earn it, and how to work like good people.' The story was originally published on THE CITY.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bradford College scoops award for Shakespeare-inspired ESOL provision
Bradford College has won a national award for its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision, which the college has developed in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The college was named the winner of the Bell Foundation Award for Excellence in ESOL at the 2025 Association of Colleges' Beacon Awards. ESOL at Bradford College is structured around Shakespeare's works, and around 235 learners engaged with the project last year. Students learn about plays, performance, and language to develop their English skills. According to a spokesperson, "students learn about themselves, their new community, and English heritage in a positive and engaging way that instils pride." Sarah Towan, vice principal for recruitment and communications at Bradford College, said: "We are delighted that staff and students' hard work, and outstanding innovation in learning, has been recognised. "The Beacon awards showcase the very best education has to offer in the UK, so this is testament to our college's fierce ambition to do the very best for our community. "It was incredible that two Bradford College initiatives were selected as finalists, but to have one win and be recognised as being at the forefront of education excellence is exceptional. "Well done to all involved." More information is available at
New European
06-03-2025
- Politics
- New European
Can a million people in Britain really not speak English?
It's a huge figure all right – or would be, were it, er, true. As it is, chief political correspondent Jack Elsom rowed back as soon as the very first paragraph, caveating that almost one million people in England (not Britain, as per the headline) speak 'little to no English', which is not quite the same. 'LOST FOR WORDS,' roared a headline on the Sun's website last night, reporting the shocking news that 'Nearly 1 MILLION people in Britain can't speak English, raising concerns over migrant integration'. What the figures actually say is that 794,332 people 'cannot speak English well' and just a tiny fragment – 137,876, or 1.4% of migrants – cannot speak it at all. That compares with the 51.6% of migrants aged over 16 who speak it as their main language and a further 38.4% who speak it well. The 'concerns over migrant integration' inevitably come from Tory rentagob and shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who fumed that: 'It beggars belief that so many people in the country can't speak English. It shows Labour needs to get a grip on immigration, and fast.' The figures come from the 2021 census, taken at a time when the Conservatives had been in power for 11 years, though Philip did not mention this. Also weighing in, unsurprisingly, was academic turned right wing rabble-rouser Matthew Goodwin, who took to X to declare: 'It should be a basic requirement that everybody who works and settles in Britain learns English. We should stop translation services in public sector institutions and start prioritising our unifying language, identity, and shared values.' Which might be an entirely fair point – had successive Tory governments not slashed budgets for teaching English to migrants, reducing the amount available for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses by 60% by 2019.
