EL PASO SOLVING THE LANGUAGE

BARRIER
Team 3 Luis Medina Crystal Fernandez Richard Olsson Daniel Silva

-LET THE CITY FLOURISH

COMMUNICATION IS EVERYTHING
Imagine a world where you didnt understand what anybody was trying to say to you, and where nobody understood what you were trying to say to them I wouldnt have time to rip my hair over the loss in efficiency,

I would cry over the loss of living. -Unknown

IT ISNT A SECRET
El Paso is, as we know, the home for a numerous amount of Spanish speaking families, among many not speaking English. Those people face obstacles that are difficult to overcome without help.

HUMANITY, SPECIFICALLY IN CITIES, LIVE AND PROGRESS THROUGH COMMUNICATION, WHICH OF

COURSE IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR OUR EFFICIENCY- WE ARE ONLY A UNIT WITH FUNCTIONING COOPERATION

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

In El Paso, there is a lack of training and growth opportunities for non-English speaking citizens
The bilingual education programs for children are not effective enough Racial profiling and discrimination occurs in the workplace because of the language barrier

WELL, IS IT REALLY A PROBLEM?

Yes, because:
Unemployment Poverty
(can be traced to lack of education and therefore to the lack of English speaking skills) -Science Daily Organization

is high

(As of

May of 2012 the El Paso rate is 9.4%, )

..not only unfair, but resulting city of unfulfilled potential

- Economist

in a

Take advantage of the culture instead of letting it become a burden Employers are looking for people who can speak both English and Spanish. A good example is the Medical Field.

SOLUTIONS

ESL
- PROGRAMS

The city of El Paso does provide for English as a Second Language course work for school-aged children

Those can become much better

Adults and parents should be included too

ESL

Those who get to the city after completing their high school education dont have access to ESL programs in public schools.
Quality isnt where it should be, the programs have failed those eligible and neglects to give a chance to those who cannot be reached. "A number of studies have shown that bilingual education is effective, with children in well-designed programs acquiring academic English as well and often better than children in all-English programs" - P. Eisen, M. Seltzer,
(2006).

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Research also by Stephen Krashen shows that bilingual education is simply the most effective method for fostering the acquisition of English. The immersion approach, in which children who are not proficient in English are placed in the same classroom as native English-speaking children, is not effective by itself, Krashen and other linguistics researchers maintain. Based on their research, they assert that the quality -- not the quantity -- of English-language exposure is the primary factor in language acquisition

We need to address the need for more ESL programs and evaluate and improve the ones that are already being provided. The research on bilingual education points out that it is far more effective for the language skills than media makes it look like. Maybe the bad reputation has lowered the enthusiasm for good quality

EMPLOYERS PROVIDING ESL PROGRAMS

The government should also offer incentives to employers to encourage them to provide ESL programs for employees.
The city council can fund those incentives for employers.

THERE ARE INSTRUCTIONS

A whole science of the teaching strategies can be found in Kathleen Flynn and Jane Hills: English Language Learners: A growing population
at http://www.mcrel.org/pdf/policybriefs/5052pi_pbenglis hlanguagelearners.pdf

CONCLUSION
As you now have seen, El Paso has a high percentage of non-English speakers. This affects individuals not only in their personal life, but also in their professional. It is certainly so, that employment opportunities drops enormously with the inability to properly communicate with others. The current efforts with the ESL programs can be immensely improve. Not only are they not as effective as they can be, but there is also the problem that theyre mainly available for students in public schools and not for parents and other adults. To solve this, they should be focused on, most importantly to increase the quality according to research. The programs should increase availability to non-students. Employers should be supported in offering ESL programs to employees, which is an easy thing with funding.

REFERENCES
Science Daily Organization P. Eisen, M. Seltzer, (2006). Improving Workplace Opportunities for Limited English-Speaking Workers. .. http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/ImprovWplaceELL.pdf S. Krashen (Education world) http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr049.shtml

K. Flynn, J. Hill English Language Learners: A growing population http://www.mcrel.org/pdf/policybriefs/5052pi_pbenglishlanguagelear ners.pdf