From The Integration of Dominican, Chinese, Russian and Mexican Immigrants in NYC
Organizations Helping Mexican Immigrants
Contents |
Poblano Migrants of New York
Commission of Immigrant Affairs
Located in the heart of the city, the director highlighted what made Poblano Migrants in New York an important resource for Mexican immigrants. He said,
'''We do stand out because most organizations are community based organizations. We’re a bit different; we have a specific service that we offer and we try to do it as well as we can. Most organizations … are after school programs, English and other types of classes, they organize cultural events, this is something we don’t do.'''
Who They Help
The Poblano Migrants In New York primarily work with Poblano migrants, those who originate from the state of Pubela in Mexico, where the majority of Mexican immigrants are from in New York.
Even though he stressed that the organization focuses on a particular Mexican group, he did tell me that it is difficult to give definite insight into where Mexicans are located, what specific services should be provided and how they can develop a Mexican community because Mexicans don’t settle in a particular neighborhood. It is because of this that he emphasized the importance of being centralized, especially in a large area such as New York City.
He also mentioned how his role as a young Mexican in New York City helped other young Mexican migrants relate to him and how he is involved with youth because of this connection.
Services It Provides
Poblano Migrants in New York primarily help Mexican migrants untangle the bureaucratic mess they get into, where it is not being able to go back to Mexico if they choose to return or accessing services here and in Mexico, such as health. Also, the Mexican consulate is within a few blocks from them so many times, when the consulate can not solve a problem, it refers the person to the organization, where the problem is dealt with. It is because of the organization's relationship with the government of Pueblo that makes it easier for it to resolve problems that the consulate can not.
'''There’s a lot of things that we do to help people untangle some bureaucratic mess and this can be anything you can imagine and it’s tricky because if it is difficult for us to figure out, imagine migrant workers, who 80% of the time, never went to school.'''
How Has It Helped the Mexican Community
It is clear, through its funding and its goals, that this organization has helped many Mexican migrants settle in New York City and aided them in the integration process. Those it helped has given back to the community and donated to the organization to show its gratitude for its help.
Integration is difficult for any immigrant and Poblano Migrants of New York's goal is to help ease the difficult transition. It aids those, who do not know the language and are overwhelmed by paperwork, with government policies and corrects any problems migrants have with the government. Its aim is to help the Mexican migrant prosper and have a decent life in this new country and that is all that the organization could ever want.
Political Voice
The Poblano Migrants of New York encourages political voice in the Mexican community because it is
important that Mexicans register to vote so that they are able to elect local representatives, even though they are not a majority in any particular neighborhood. It is important to be part of an ethnic voting block and it is important to get used to that political process.
Contributing to the Mix of Mexican Organizations
'''There a wide range of organizations and what I'm trying to do here is a little different from what other people do.'''
MASA- Mexican American Students Alliance
MASA
420 E 145th St, NY 10454
Tel: 646-320-2464
E-mail: acabrera@masany.org
Service Provided:
ESL classes for parents, tutoring for students in all subjects, mentoring for students in areas like applying for college, looking for internships, etc…, psychological counseling for students, and building a tighter Mexican community for both parents and students
Advantages: • All services are free of charge; anyone can participate • Develop close relationships between workers and participants • Workers pay close attention to parents and students due to small amount of participants • Students’ grades and working habit can drastically improve • Parents can learn English through helping their children with their homework • Preserve Mexican culture while helping parents and students to integrate into the American culture • Prevent students from joining gangs, etc… by setting examples for them to follow
Disadvantages: • Limited funding due to being a donation-based organization • Students and parents might not be able to learn English as quickly since most volunteers and workers at MASA are bilingual
Mexican Consulate – Education Department – Eduardo Peñelosa
• Helps Mexican immigrants get documents from Mexican government in order to ultimately get a Mexican passport and consular ID in order to be able to attend college.
• Works with the Ministry of Education to get certificates for immigrants
Educational goals include: • To get immigrants a basic education in Spanish, so that they can then advance to English
• Help uneducated first generation immigrants get basic education to set the foundation for their children to pursue an education. Challenges facing Mexican immigrants • Many do not have national recognition from Mexico; cannot prove their nationality or identity, and thus cannot get a passport, and cannot go to college
• Many of these who are undocumented in both the US and in Mexico are illiterate and/or speak little to no Spanish, thus making learning English much more difficult
• Minorities within minorities: Divisions in Mexican community
• Many speak a native language, and cannot communicate with the Spanish community
• Jay Hershenson, Senior Vice Chancellor for University Relations and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of CUNY, says the education level of the Mexican community is a “catastrophe”
• Mexicans have biggest high school dropout rate and consequently lowest college attendance
Work of the Consulate • Can issue 200-300 passports/consular IDs per day
• Has 25 community plazas in the NYC that educate around 2000 Mexicans, generally 1st generation
Obstacles/Challenges to the Consulate
• This branch serves almost the entire tri-state area; one million people.
• Do not have resources to teach immigrants their native language, so Spanish is second best option
NYC Department of Education: Mexican Immigrants
The Board of Education
In New York City, free public education is supplied from grades Pre-k through 12th grade. All residents of the five boroughs can attend any school throughout the city of New York. A tool that the city offers to immigrants are classes called English as a Second Language, or ESL classes. I do not specifically say they offer ESL classes to Mexican immigrants because the Board of ED is non-discriminatory towards any race, religion, or culture.
 Mrs. Maria Bermudez |
 Miss Sandra Lee-Kim |
 Miss Kimberly Kissag |
P.S. 212Q
Located in Jackson Heights, P.S. 212 has a strong Hispanic population, primarily composed of Mexican immigrants. 79.8% of the school's population rely on the ESL program. Four professionals in the field of ESL voiced their opinions, concerns, and trends that they have seen through their experiences.
Integration of ESL students
There are 3 different classroom settings an immigrant child can enter as seen below.
In the above illustration, the first setting is a non ESL class, where the next two are ESL classroom settings.
There are several varying opinions amongst the 4 teachers interviewed as to which classroom setting is better. Mrs Bermudez, who immigrated to the United States at age 8, was surrounded by only English speaking students in class, therefore agreeing that the first situation is an effective method. She also believes that of the 2 ESL options, a mixture of languages in one classroom is most beneficial because
"It forces the students to speak English. If they want to communicate, the only commonality to converse with one another is through English."
Miss Kim agrees with Mrs. Bermudez, but Miss Kassag had a slightly different opinion. Although she is an advocate of ESL classes, she thinks that it is more helpful to an ESL student to not be around English speaking students.
"It's important for these student to learn proper English, and if they're around the general education students, then they won't be hearing the language spoken properly."
The Primary Focus of ESL Classes
Education is a great resource in the assimilation process because it is one of the quickest ways to learn the language, a key component to assimilation in New York City, and be around New York City culture. The thought behind ESL classes is that a teacher will teach non-english speaking student through repetition of commands in conjunction with acting out said command. For example, if asked to take out a book, the teach will repeat "Please, take out your book," while reaching over to retrieve a book.
ESL classes vs. Bilingual Classes
Out of all four teacher interviewed, the consensus was unanimous that ESL classes are more effective than the old method of Bilingual classes. 'Although you can communicate to a child easier in their native language, there is a greater tendency for a teacher to 'baby' the child, therefore making the learning process longer,' says ESL teacher of 14 years, Maria Bermudez. Miss Kassag did mention a case where bilingual learning maybe more useful to a Non-English speaking student.
Overall Effectiveness
There are several factors that can make an ESL program work. These are the teachers and the home life. As Miss Kim explained to me
"The city has set up the program and that's that. It's as if it said 'Here, we understand the need to help immigrant children, and this is what we're going to do about it,' then the city decided to walk away. Teacher training programs are set up, but there is never any follow up to see if a teacher is doing a good job."
I also discussed with Miss Kassag about the attention given to ESL classes. General education classes are constantly being revamped to find the best curriculum, but ESL style of teaching has remained unchanged. Below is an excerpt of a letter that Caren Miller wrote.
Flaws of the System
All the work that teachers put in can be dismissed easily. The City relies on home life to help the student's learning, but how often can an immigrant parent help their child? Depending on home life, a child can flourish or fail. Through her 17 years of teaching, Mrs. Bermudez has seen a difference in Mexican immigrant children in the learning process.
"In South America the political unrest isn't as high as it is in Mexico, so home life is a little more structured than the Mexicans."
This trend is prevalent in any group that has parents who work several jobs, have siblings who act as parents, or who have young students.
Does the System Set Up for Failure?
The question posed is a valid question. Every year, ESl children must take a test called the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT). Some facts about the test:
- The length of the test is too long, leaving students to get restless
- There is one test per every two grades, therefore intimidating to the younger of the age groups
- The material on the test would be considered difficult for native speakers.
- There is no "gray area" to accommodate a score if it falls short.
- The results of the test are found until the next school year, so a student who is efficient in a general education class must remain in an ESL class for another year.
Our Lady of Guadelupe Roman Catholic Church
