EL PASO

SOLVING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

-LET THE CITY FLOURISH

EL PASO

SOLVING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

-LET THE CITY FLOURISH

Team 3Luis Medina

Crystal FernandezRichard Olsson

Daniel Silva

COMMUNICATION IS EVERYTHING Imagine a world where you didn’t understand what anybody was trying to say to you, and where nobody understood what you were trying to say to them

I wouldn’t have time to rip my hair over the loss in efficiency,

I would cry over the loss of living. -Unknown

IT ISN’T A SECRETEl 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 is high (As of

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

be traced to lack of education and therefore to the lack of English speaking skills) -Science Daily Organization

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

- Economist

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 don’t have access to ESL programs in public schools.

Quality isn’t 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 Hill’s:”English Language Learners: A growing population”

athttp://www.mcrel.org/pdf/policybriefs/5052pi_pbenglishlanguagelearners.pdf

CONCLUSIONAs 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 they’re 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.

Let El Paso Be Modern

Efficient and Happy

REFERENCESScience 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_pbenglishlanguagelearners.pdf