Page 3 - ELG1601 May Issue 436

ELlanguage news
May 2016 Page 3

New York targets New visa

bilingual education pathway

A NEW ‘Pathway’ student visa
ANDREA PÉREZ makes all the difference and covering three consecutive courses
writes these new bilingual programmes and valid for five years was
will give students the foundation launched by Immigration New
THE NEW York City (NYC) to success in the classroom and Zealand (INZ) in December. In a
Department of Education plans to beyond,’ Fariña said. pilot scheme to run for eighteen
double bilingual programmes in ‘We are expanding bilin- months, INZ will be monitoring
the city. In total 38 new bilingual gual programmes for English the transition from one course to
courses, including 29 dual lan- language learners and English- another and coordination between
guage programmes, will start this proficient students in the fall of the various providers.
September, with nearly $1 million 2016 to ensure students achieve Some 500 ‘higher quality’ insti-
in investment in planning grants equal educational opportuni- tutions are listed on INZ’s website
for schools, libraries and training ties,’ said Milady Baez, deputy as being in the scheme. An insti-
for teachers and administrators, chancellor for the Division of tution needs 90 per cent approval
the department announced. English Language Learners and rates for their student visa appli-
Carmen Fariña, NYC school Students Supports in the Edu- cations to qualify, and must sign
cation Department. Apart from
B Mathur / Reuters ing literacy through bilingual English, there will be also pro- providers they work with. Partici-
formal agreements with the other
chancellor, says that ‘expand-
grammes in Chinese, French,
programmes is common sense
pating students need a firm offer
Creole, Spanish, Arabic, Haitian
from the provider of the first course
for New York City. We serve
English
language
140,000
learners (ELLs) who speak Creole and Polish. they’ve applied for under Pathway,
The NYC Department of Edu-
with conditional offers from the
160 languages,’ Staten Island cation reported that 51 per cent providers of the second and third
UK reviews student deportations Advance reported. The new pro- of its ELLs are born in the US, courses they intend to take.
grammes will include courses in a controversial statistic because Work rights will only be granted
The UK Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee announced in April that there primary and secondary schools. it does not make a distinction as part of the Pathway visa if the stu-
will be an inquiry into the mass deportations of international students who’d taken Currently the Department of between second generation and dent’s first programme is the type of
the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Toeic test of English as part of their visa Education offers English lan- third generation children. The course that qualifies for work rights
applications. (See April Gazette, page 4.) The Hindu newspaper gave a figure of guage programmes to 12 per most prevalent ELL home lan- – usually full-time tertiary adult edu-
48,000 international student deportations, with the Hindustan Times estimating that cent of New York’s students, El guage is Spanish, with 61.8 per cation courses. Pathway also allows
70 per cent of these were Indian nationals. They were accused of obtaining their Diario NY reported. ‘As a for- cent of the total, followed by international students to study at
student visas ‘by deception’ after a cheating scam at a single college led to ETS’s mer English language learner, Chinese at 14 per cent and Ben- primary or secondary schools and
removal from the Home Office’s Secure English Language Tests list. I know that a strong education gali at 4.2 per cent. n transition to tertiary education. n
The inquiry follows a damning verdict by the UK Upper Tribunal (Immigration and
Asylum Chamber) in March in favour of deported Pakistani student Qadir Ishan.
The National Union of Students (NUS) called for the government to open an inquiry,
posting online its evidence of ‘mistreatment of international students’. NUS
international students officer Mostafa Rajaai said, ‘The time has come for the Home
Office to explain why international students have faced such shocking treatment.’
Committee chair Keith Vaz MP (pictured) has taken a keen interest in the ETS
test-takers debacle. He was waiting on the Upper Tribunal’s steps for the recent
verdict. Vaz, who is of Indian origin, represents the constituency of Leicester
East, estimated to have the UK’s largest Indian-origin population outside London.
As we went to press the Gazette was awaiting a statement from the Committee’s
press office, who told us the inquiry was likely to take the form of a single ‘evidence
session’ as part of its regular remit of holding the Home Office to account.

UK prisons focus

of EL uni studies

ANDREA PÉREZ oners have no qualifications at for UK prisons to tackle this
writes all, which limits their chances issue because not being able to
of finding a job when released. speak English is a determin-
DE MONTFORT University Prisoners will learn English plus ing factor in how prisoners face
Leicester (DMU) is carrying maths, financial skills, health, day-to-day life in jail and their
out one of the first studies into ‘digital and civic capabilities’. life after release. ‘This is a very
English language learning in Three prisons and three com- under-researched area and we
United Kingdom prisons. The munity rehabilitation projects will be looking to see what can
university aims to find out what will be approached to be part of be done to improve the quality of
resources and opportunities are the pilot phase of the project in provision,’ said Ross Little, lead
available for those prisoners the first year, DMU reported. The researcher on this project.
who do not speak English, and study follows two reports – The ‘Many people in prisons in
to improve strategies and provi- Prison within Prison study on this country are unable to com-
sion, its website reported. the provision of Esol education municate well in English, and
DMU is collaborating with and training for prisoners and this impacts significantly on
the Learning and Work Institute, ex-prisoners, and The Language their lives inside and outside of
which is planning to introduce a Barrier to Rehabilitation – both prison. A recent report by Her
curriculum for Esol learners in carried out and published by the Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons
prisons and rehabilitation set- Bell Foundation in 2015. The found that people who do not
tings. The Learning and Work reports state that there is a lack of understand spoken English are
Institute seeks to help prison- knowledge about this area and no much more likely to report hav-
ers build skills for their future data on how many people in UK ing felt unsafe in prison,’ Little
and reduce reoffending. In this prisons have English as a second added. Due to the increase in
project, funded by the Bell language. They identified literacy global migration and mobility
Foundation, the Institute wants training and English language across nationalities, the potential
learners to make decisions on skills as crucial, the university’s number of learners in prisons
what is most important for them website reported. needing access to Esol provision
and their future. According to According to DMU and the is increasing, The Prison within
the Foundation, half of all pris- Bell Foundation, it is important Prison noted. n