Volunteers to teach asylum seekers English

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM–A campaign aimed at embarrassing the government into revoking its ban on free English lessons for asylum seekers by mobilising volunteers to teach them is being launched today. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) full story

ELL numbers balloon

GRAND FORKS, ND–Amera Issa excitedly raises her hand to answer almost every question her teacher asks. Amazing, considering the 8-year-old second-grader at Century Elementary in Grand Forks is new to the English language. Issa is a Somali English Language Learner full story

Asylum seekers need free English classes, urges campaign

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM–Asylum seekers should be entitled to free English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and not have to wait until their claims for asylum have been approved. This is the principle aim of A Right to a Voice – a campaign being launched in London today, full story

Study rebuts perceptions of migrants’ English use

PHOENIX, AZ–Phoenix resident Guadalupe Garcia has lived in the United States for nearly 35 years, but she still doesn’t speak English well. The 65-year-old seamstress from Mexico spoke only Spanish at home to her children and held jobs where she didn’t need much English. full story  related story

Integrating immigrants into the workplace takes time

CALGARY, CANADA–Thousands of studies and practical experience have demonstrated that culture-sensitive HR management practices improve performance in the modern, diverse workplace. Due to cultural differences, management methods that work well in Calgary will not full story

Despite testimony, immigration bill looks to pass session intact

SALT LAKE CITY, UT–After more than two dozen hours of testimony about illegal immigration from Utahns across the state, it looks as if a comprehensive immigration reform bill will survive with only a couple of minor tweaks. SB81 attempts to tighten immigration full story

Course breaks barriers to language for non-English speakers

DESOTO, MS–Since 2002, the number of non-English speakers in the DeSoto County School system has multiplied 10-fold, from 70 to more than 800. And the trend is likely to continue. As a result, the district is embarking on a bold pilot program to integrate these children full story

English learners increase

DUNCAN, OK–The number of students who are classified as English language learners is increasing, and while officials say they don’t know what’s causing the growth, testing shows the students are having success with the district’s support programs. Duncan Public Schools reports that the number of English language learners (ELL) has full story

Star student not allowed back into U.S. because of illegal past

MESA, AZ–Daniella Aguado wanted to be an english teacher ever since high school, and at 21 years old, she has succeeded. Success was never a foreign concept for Daniella – especially at Mountain View High School in Mesa. “I had a wonderful experience in high school. I love studying,” says Daniella “I had good grades.” “Good” is putting it politely. full story

English is the second language at some schools

SOUTHEND, UNITED KINGDOM–More than a third of pupils at some Southend primary schools do not speak English as their first language, a new report has revealed. The study by Southend Council showed 39 per cent of pupils at Porters Grange Primary School are learning English as an additional language. Visitors to the school, which has 450 pupils, will hear 34 different full story