[NIFL-ESL:9306] Re: Accept English Only donation?

From: ttweeton (ttweeton@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Aug 29 2003 - 06:02:57 EDT


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From: "ttweeton" <ttweeton@comcast.net>
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9306] Re: Accept English Only donation?
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 Welcome to America.
> Do what u like.
> We'll give u tax dollar.
>
> Xenophillically

Joe you are so funny.! I am in agreement  with  what you say.   The issue of
Bilingual programs  ( or not) IS a problem  for the children,   but a most
irritating situation   is the immigrant (parents of those children??)  who
comes here and decides that it is not necessary to learn English( or ver y
little of it )  because he/she can get along pretty well (particularly in
Miami ) without it! AND finds all kinds of government help in his/her native
language just as you stated ( so why learn English if you don't have to!!!!)
If you are from Miami you know this but when you call govt. offices here,
the first language spoken  when answering the phone is Spanish.  I
personally  speak Spanish AND French AND Italian etc...., no problem,
BUT...... how presumptious of these people to think that I will
automatically understand what they are saying!!!! In this case, with these
govt agencies  English MUST and should be spoken , AND   come first!  I ,as
a taxpayer, pay their salaries and  have a right to expect that I will be
helped in "correctly and clearly spoken "English  FIRST. To speak in Spanish
first , only intimidates me, as Mrs Consumer. I also have rights as a
consumer . How can they possibly know who is at the other end of the line??

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Little" <
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 5:48 PM
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9300] Re: Accept English Only donation?


> >  One suggestion would be for students to investigate the group (as an
> >  exercise).  Financials should be public, as are mission statements,
etc.
> >  See what percentage of their budget goes for ESL.  There is no paucity
of
> >  newspaper articles at relatively easy reading levels that go into an
array
> >  of issues and cases associated with English Only.  Some go into
employees
> >  suing employers for their right to speak their native language on the
job; others
> >  tell the exact opposite.  And of course, English Only's strong
connection to
> >  right wing, anti-immigrant forces are well documented and easy to
understand.
>
> Laurie, Cathy, and all,
>
> I love the idea of investigating the financial statement and mission
statement of the  English Only organization. That's clear,factual stuff.
Many folks-- present company excluded, hopefully -- would stear clear of
that, opting instead for liberal-rant, leftist-
> rave articles from our libero-centric friends in the media.
>
> >  That the group approached you with the unabashed intention to use their
> >  donation as a PR stint to push "their" political agenda reminds me of a
> >  slogan on a t-shirt complete w/caps and exclamation points I saw just
last
> >  weekend in NJ:  "Welcome to America.  Now SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!"   As ESL
> >  professionals, we know that the bottom line is xenophobia.
>
> Bottom line of what? That slogan? Produced by whom? Probably the vast
left-wing conspiracy...but seriously, the t-shirt u saw reminds me of a
haiku i read not three
> hours ago:
>
>,
>
> sincerely,
>
> Joe
>



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