A Brief History of Adult ESL InstructionSarah Young, Adult ESL Specialist

May 2008

syoung@cal.org www.cal.org

ContentsContents

1. Introductory comments

2. Statistics about immigrants and immigration from 1880-1930

3. English language service providers

4. Americanization efforts

5. Anti-Americanization efforts

6. English language instructional materials and methods

7. Successes and failures in immigrant education

1. Introductory Comments1. Introductory Comments

The materials and information found in this presentation come from a variety of sources; many of the images came from photos available on the Internet (with credit given) and from primary resources (reports, teacher manuals, and student textbooks) found at the Library of Congress and scanned in to this PowerPoint. A full bibliography is available in a separate Word document.

This presentation was originally given at the California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL) conference in Sacramento on April 12, 2008 and at the COABE conference in St. Louis, MO on April 30, 2008. This PowerPoint has been modified for viewing on the CAELA Website and requires permission from the author for further distribution.

1. Introductory Comments1. Introductory Comments

Why examine the history of adult immigrant education and English as a second language (ESL) instruction?

The story of immigration in the United States is an important one that spans centuries and continues on today. Many of the questions and challenges surrounding adult immigrants that have surfaced recently in the media, in our communities, and in our schools are not new or unique to this century.

Many Americans have grandparents or great grandparents who immigrated to the United States in the last 100 years; these descendants of immigrants may not know many of the details of how previous generations became a part of American life.

1. Introductory Comments 1. Introductory Comments

Why examine the history of adult immigrant education and English as a second language (ESL) instruction?

Adult basic education has been federally funded since the Adult Education Act of 1966 and the 1970 amendments to that Act that expanded educational services to include ESL and citizenship; however, much progress has been made in the field of adult immigration education since its more formal origins in the late 1800s.

Adult ESL instruction and immigrant education continue to evolve as new populations arrive, new initiatives begin, and new developments arise (such as the revised citizenship test to be launched in October 2008); the future directions of this field may be informed by its past.

This photo depicts workers outside of an Italian and German storefront in Stamford, Connecticut in 1892. It is likely that the people in this picture were of European background, and were possibly first-generation immigrants with limited English proficiency. In 1892, 579,663 people immigrated to the United States, most coming from Germany (119,168), the UK (93,598) and Russia (81,511) (Jenks & Lauck, 1922). However, very few ESL programs were in documented operation in the United States around this time.

Photo available from the Immigrant History Research Center, http://ihrc.umn.edu/

This photo depicts a workplace-sponsored English class at the Ford Motor Company around 1915. Note the instructional resources used and the classroom set-up.

In 1914, many of the Ford Motor Company’s employees did not speak English. English classes were part of the requirements associated with the “Five Dollar Day Plan” that Ford instituted, which paid employees this wage provided that they met certain standards of living: “The Sociological Department of the Ford Motor Company was organized in March, 1913, and oversaw a broad array of social benefits for Ford employees, including assistance in living in well-maintained single-family homes as opposed to small apartments… the Sociological Department was responsible for determining if employees’ personal lives and personal habits made them eligible for the full wage. This phase of the Department's activities terminated with the reorganization of the company in 1920.” [ from http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Overview/Sociological_Depart.htm]

Photo retrieved from www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Labor/L_Overview/FordEnglishSchool.htm

How do you think that adult ESL instruction now may be the same as and/or different than 100 years ago? Think in terms of…− Instructional methods, materials, and resources− Teacher training and qualifications− Service providers− Recruitment, enrollment, and retention− Public support for immigrants and immigrant

education− Linguistic, cultural, and educational

backgrounds of the students− Politics, society, labor, and culture of the United

States

2. Immigrants 100 Years Ago2. Immigrants 100 Years Ago

Majority were 20 years and older in 1910; at least 2.6 million aged 21 years and older couldn’t speak English

Majority were joining family or friends; relatively high rate of mobility between native countries and the U.S.

Many sent money back home: Between 1900 and 1906, 12,204,485 money orders worth $239,367,047.56 were sent overseas through the New York postal service – about 50% to Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy alone.

Low literacy rates in 1913-1914: Of 921,160 Southern and Eastern Europeans, 26.8% were not literate, compared to 2% of 253,855 Northern and Western Europeans; among 43,065 others, 19.9% were not literate

“New immigrants” (labor seekers mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe) were deemed by many as inferior to the “old immigrants” (land seekers mainly from Northern and Western Europe)

(Alexander, 2007; Jenks & Lauck, 1922)

2. Immigration Numbers2. Immigration Numbers

Numbers of immigrants in a given year

1820: 8,385

1864: 191,114

1879: 177,826

1881: 669,431

1900: 448,572

1905: 1,026,499

1907: 1,285,349

1914: 1,218,480

1918: 110,618

1921: 805,228

(Jenks & Lauck, 1922)

Number of immigrants admitted from 1899-1921Italy: 3,555,215Austria-Hungary: 3,231,595Russia: 2,676,674England, Scotland, Ireland,

and Wales: 1,525,541British North America: 995,446Japan: 236,991China: 48,799Africa: 17,193Pacific Islands: 2,786South/Central America: 87,000

Total Europe: 13,886,993Total Asia: 488,078

Immigration decrease due to World War I

Immigration peaks

Immigration to the U.S. by DecadeImmigration to the U.S. by Decade

Source: Migration Policy Institute, http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/charts/final.immig.shtml

Size of the U.S. Foreign-Born Population as a Percentage of the Total Population: 1850 to 2006 Size of the U.S. Foreign-Born Population as a Percentage of the Total Population: 1850 to 2006

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For more statistics on current immigrant populations, see:− U.S. Census Bureau section on the foreign born at

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign.html and the American Community Survey at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

− Migration Policy Institute’s Migration Information Source at http://www.migrationinformation.org/, and its section on interpreting the American Community Survey data at http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/acscensus.cfm

− Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) annual reports to Congress (latest report available online: 2005) at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/arc_05.htm

2. Major Legislation & Events Affecting Immigrants2. Major Legislation & Events Affecting Immigrants

1875: First federal law restricting immigration enacted

1882: Chinese Exclusion Act and restrictive immigration law enacted

1885: Alien Contract Labor Act barred employers from importing alien laborers

1889: Jane Addams’ Hull-House settlement opened in Chicago

1892: Ellis Island opened in New York to process increasing numbers of new immigrants

1893-1897: Severe economic depression; Bureau of Immigration established (1894); President Cleveland vetoed literacy test legislation (1897)

1903: Additional laws restricting immigration enacted

1906: First ever English language ability requirement for citizenship; Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization established

1907: Immigration numbers peaked; additional laws restricting immigration enacted

1910: Angel Island immigrant depot opened in San Francisco Bay

1915: July 4 - Americanization Day celebrated across the U.S.

1917: U.S. entered World War I, three years after it began in Europe; literacy test legislation for new immigrants passed over presidential veto

1921: Immigration Quota Act limiting numbers of immigrants based on nationality enacted

3. English Language Instruction Providers3. English Language Instruction Providers

Community-based and private organizations

Federal agencies

Ethnic organizations

Factories and industry

Public schools and local education agencies

Hull House and other settlements

3. Providers: Community and Private Organizations3. Providers: Community and Private Organizations

This announcement for new adult ESL classes for men was created by a community-based adult ESL program in Wilmington, Delaware in 1918 (Hart & Burnett, 1919).

3. Providers: Community-based and Private Organizations3. Providers: Community-based and Private Organizations

North American Civic League for Immigrants; Immigrants Protective League; California Commission of Immigration and Housing

YMCA – Began the push for workplace ESL in 1906

YWCA – Began creating International Institutes in 1910

Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution – Distributed pamphlets about good citizenship and learning English

Buffalo, NY – Residents wore buttons saying, “I am making Buffalo a Christmas present. Ask me.” indicating that they had donated $1 to help pay for an immigrant’s English instruction.

(Alexander, 2007; Leiserson, 1924; McClymer, 1986; Mohl, 1986; Seller, 1978)

3. Providers: Federal Agencies3. Providers: Federal Agencies

Cover of the1921

government-issued citizenship

textbook

(source: Library of Congress)

3. Providers: Federal Agencies3. Providers: Federal Agencies

National Americanization Committee

Federal Bureau of Education

Department of Immigration and Naturalization

Council of National Defense

Committee on Public Information

3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations

By many accounts, immigrants’ own organizations and institutionsdid more to assimilate them into American life than community orstate-run instructional programs.

Here, a Finnish folk dance group from Negaunee, Michigan, ca. 1915. Available at

http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im169368.jpg

3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations

Immigrants often lived in boarding houses, where they shared both

close quarters and advice/information about living and

working in the United States.

Here, a group of Finnish boarders in Chisholm, Minnesota, 1906.

Available at http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im169467.jpg

3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations

Neighborhood life

Literary societies and institutes

Fraternal lodges

Music and cultural circles

Women’s organizations

Churches (e.g., Catholic church’s “Civics catechism on the rights and duties of American citizens”)

Theaters

Citizens Clubs

Unions and socialist groups

Foreign press

“Polish University” of Chicago (Founded 1910): “Some Americans think… that we immigrants can comprehend only such thoughts as ‘I see a cat; the cat is black; -- as the teachers in the evening schools make grown men repeat. But the minds of most immigrants are not so feeble as that. For the poor man, America is all work-work-work. We believe in work, all right, but we want thought and education to go along with it. So we took up questions about the beginning of things – the creation of the world, the theory of evolution, primitive man, the development of language … All the lectures were in Polish… Gradually we came to subjects connected with America and with civic problems. But here we do more than have lectures. We go and see for ourselves how civic agencies work… We Socialists have not tried particularly to spread our propaganda… We haven’t preached ‘Americanization,’ either … [but] if what America wants is people who think and act for themselves, then we’re doing Americanization.” (Cited in Seller, 1978)

3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations3. Providers: Ethnic Organizations

St. Joseph Society members at the St. Casimir Church, St. Paul,

Minnesota, 1918.

Available at http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im000151.jpg

3. Providers: Factories and Industry3. Providers: Factories and Industry

3. Providers: Factories and Industry3. Providers: Factories and Industry

YMCA workplace classes (1906)

Ford English School (1913)

“The non-English speaking worker is recognized as a potential source of disturbance or waste, largely because it is difficult to convey to him the intentions of the management when there are just instructions regarding safety, health, and other conditions of employment.” (Leiserson, 1924, p.120)

“Primary and fundamental duty resting upon all American employers”

“The Americanization movement had been in launched in 1915, and by 1918, the factory-class idea had been “sold,” as an idea. Factory classes sprang up on all sides, flourished for a brief period, and in a discouragingly large number of cases, died. It was the time when everyone relied on enthusiasm, and practically nothing else, to get this job done. Anybody could teach. Make everybody 100 per cent American, and do it overnight! Speaking English will win the War! And so on.” (Leiserson, 1924, p.122)

3. Providers: Public Schools and Local Education Agencies3. Providers: Public Schools and Local Education Agencies

1901 and on: NYC, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Buffalo

1914: 253 places in 10 states with large foreign-born populations had classes; 1919: 504 places

1916: First statewide education program began in NY

Early 1920s: less than 2% of population attending night school; male-female ration of 3:1

Different content areas for men and women

Very low participation, attendance, and persistence rates in night schools

(Alexander, 2007; McClymer, 1986; Sellers, 1978)

3. Providers: Hull House and Other Settlements3. Providers: Hull House and Other Settlements

Family living close to Hull House, 1892. Source: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhullhouse.htm

Hull House parlor and reception area (Glowacki & Hendry, 2004)

3. Providers: Hull House 3. Providers: Hull House

“The teacher in a Settlement is constantly put upon his mettle to discover methods of instruction which shall make knowledge quickly available to his pupils, and I should like here to pay my tribute of admiration to the dean of our educational department, Miss Landsberg, and to the many men and women who every winter come regularly to Hull-House, putting untiring energy into the endless task of teaching the newly arrived immigrant the first use of language of which he has such desperate need. Even a meager knowledge of English may mean an opportunity to work in a factory versus nonemployment, or it may mean a question of life or death when a sharp command must be understood in order to avoid the danger of a descending crane.” (Addams, 1910, p. 286)

3. Providers: Hull House Residents3. Providers: Hull House Residents

Experience abroad

Diversity of religious creeds

Up to 40 residents at a time; most stayed for 12+ years. Doctors, attorneys, newspapermen, businessmen, teachers, scientists, researchers, artists, musicians, trades people, lecturers, juvenile advocates, immigrant advocates, labor/union advocates, sanitary inspector.

(Knight, 2005)

3. Providers: Americanization Efforts3. Providers: Americanization Efforts

Ford Motor Company’s employees: “Before” and “After” the institution of the Five Dollar Day Plan and living assistance from the Sociological Department. Available http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Overview/Sociological_Depart.htm

4. Americanization Efforts4. Americanization Efforts

Assimilation (cultural, linguistic, physical)

“Birds of passage” exploiting America

Anti-hyphenism

“Each contributor of aid… is a center of radiating influence and publicity. Everyone likes to tell what he is doing to further Americanization” (Schermerhorn, 1923, p. 15)

“Everything that touches the immigrant’s life is an instrumentality for his Americanization or the reverse” (cited in McClymer, 1982, p. 114)

Americanization through the pay envelope

Some people feared that new immigrants would not assimilate into American society: “The coming in of people who will not be assimilated creates discord and makes separate classes or castes in a community… It may, therefore, be assumed that the immigrant who cannot be adjusted with a reasonable degree of readiness to the customs and institutions of his adopted country brings an undesirable element into the community and would better be excluded. Those immigrants who can readily be assimilated will be desirable, if their energy is needed to develop the resources of the country to good advantage, tho (sic) it may be injurious if they come in so large numbers that regardless of their personal qualifications they can not be assimilated.” (Jenks & Lauck, 1922, pp. 331-332)

Many societal attitudes of the day did not look favorably on immigrant employees: “In general, it may be said that the southern and eastern European often does not intend to remain permanently in the country or at the work in which he is engaged. His primary object is to earn as much as possible within a limited period of time under the conditions of employment obtaining at the time he begins his work. He is not looking to advancement in the scale of occupations, or to gaining permanently a position in any branch of mining or of manufacturing… The great mass of foreign-born workmen remain in the ranks of unskilled, or semi-skilled, laborers.” (Jenks & Lauck, 1922, p. 335)

4. Americanization Efforts4. Americanization Efforts

Federal Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization – citizenship requirements

Congress and the “Literacy Act” and the “Quota Act”− “Immigrant inspectors shall be furnished with slips of

uniform size, prepared under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, each containing not less than thirty nor more than forty words in ordinary use, printed in plainly legible type in some one of the various languages or dialects of immigrants. Each alien may designate the particular language or dialect in which he desires the examination to be made, and shall be required to read the words printed on the slip in such language or dialect… [some exceptions]” (Jenks & Lauck, 1922, p. 425)

Industry (see Leiserson, 1924)

5. Anti-Americanization Efforts and Support5. Anti-Americanization Efforts and Support

War brides at the International Institute of St. Louis, 1947. Available from http://digital.lib.umn.edu/IMAGES/reference/im/im000234.jpg

5. Anti-Americanization Efforts and Support5. Anti-Americanization Efforts and Support

International Institutes (see Mohl, 1982)

Immigrant groups and foreign press (see Seller, 1978)

“Immigrants are treated as economic commodities because of the work they can do. As long as they remain docile and do not react against untoward conditions, they are tolerated in large numbers. For instance, despite large numbers of Mexicans in the Southwest today, no Americans are particularly disturbed by the presence of these noticeably different peoples. In fact, still larger numbers are being sought. As long as unskilled immigrant laborers, of any race, remain “in their place,” amenable to control, all goes well…It is announced, perhaps, that he must not use his own language or that he is to be ‘Americanized,’ and he promptly discovers that his homeland culture possesses an unsuspected preciousness.” (Bogardus, 1928, pp. 8-9)

Americanization by example (see Schermerhorn, 1923)

Chicago’s Yiddish-language Daily Courier was against the trends toward “Americanization” of immigrants: “… it is not at all necessary for the liberty, security, and prosperity of America to fuse all the nationalities here to a point where they will lose their identity completely…It is much better that they should treasure dearly the inheritance which they brought with them from the old world.” (McClymer, 1982, pp. 110-111)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

YMCA and Roberts method (1907)

Direct method

Home classes for mothers

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

This letter was used by a community-based Delaware program in 1919 to recruit students. It was sent out in the immigrants’ languages through their children’s schools.

From Hart & Burnett (1919)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

This letter was used by a community-based Delaware program in 1919 to recruit students. It was sent out in the immigrants’ languages through local factories and employers.

From Hart & Burnett (1919)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

Source: Brown (1918)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

Source: The Division of Americanization, State of Ohio (1922)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

Examples of “direct method” strategies of instruction.

Photo: Hart & Burnett (1919)

Text: Brown (1918)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

Example of text for a reading lesson.

Source: Brown (1918)

6. Instructional Methods and Materials6. Instructional Methods and Materials

Sample textbook page from the Federal Citizenship Textbook (Part III), Crist (1921)

6. Instructional Methods: Factory Classes6. Instructional Methods: Factory Classes

“The Ford English school’s elaborate graduate ceremony … reflected both the symbolic and increasingly coercive nature of the Americanization movement not only in the Ford plant but also in the country as a whole. For commencement, graduates, dressed in gaudy ‘old world’ costumes and carrying signs identifying their native lands, went down into a huge receptacle labeled ‘melting pot.’ The school’s instructors stirred the pot with huge ladles. Then, the men, wearing identical ‘American’ suits and waving a small American flag, filed out from each side of the huge pot” (Alexander, 2007, p. 222).

Photo credit: http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Labor/L_Overview/FordEnglishSchool.htm

Factory ClassesFactory Classes

“Lessons in citizenship are taken up as soon as the men have a fair understanding of English. Citizenship is taught by what the instructor calls the dramatic method. Five lessons each represent a year of the naturalization period. The students go through naturalization proceedings, with witnesses, giving evidence of their residence in this country and attending to other details. One of their number acts as a judge. After they have been ‘naturalized’ they become ‘citizens] – for classroom purposes. The class is next organized into wards – a ward in each aisle in the schoolroom. Aldermen and a mayor are elected, and debates and conversations conducted which bring out the various duties and privileges of American citizenship. ‘The plan gives everyone in the class something to do,’ explains their teacher. ‘We get them to working, to talking, making speeches. The rest is easy. They learn from one another’.” (Leiserson, 1924, p. 124)

Home classes for immigrant mothers were often the only way that women received English language instruction. “The foreign-born mother has been the last member of the family to be considered worthy of education” (University of the State of New York, 1920, p. 1).

Home Classes for Mothers (Source: University of the State of New York, 1920)Home Classes for Mothers (Source: University of the State of New York, 1920)

“The learning of the English language should be used merely as a vehicle for the clear understanding of American ways, American ideals, and American institutions.” – Secretary of the Interior, 1920

The home: Hunting a good location; A window in every room; Sunshine and health; Protection against fire; A good kitchen and living room; Keeping out mosquitoes and flies; Tenement house laws; Opening windows for ventilation

Food: Setting the table; Box lunches; Simple refreshments for a party; A family breakfast, luncheon, supper, or dinner

Clothing: Suitable play clothes; Dressing a doll

Esthetic environment: The garden; The walls of the house; Harmonious colors for a room; Making box furniture attractive

Home Classes for Mothers (Source: University of the State of New York, 1920)Home Classes for Mothers (Source: University of the State of New York, 1920)

The baby: Feeding and weighing; Going to the clinic; Playing with the baby; Simple lullabies; Learning to walk; The baby a citizen

Children: Keeping children well; Providing children with handkerchiefs; Food for an invalid child; Children’s sleep; Physical effects of tea and coffee; Physical effects of moving pictures; The mother and the school

The mother and the larger community: How the library helps the family; Going to the moving picture show; Telling time; Buying a ticket; Keeping a family budget; Holidays

“Italian mothers learn to make a bed”

Source: Hart & Burnett, 1919

Sample assessment for beginning level students.

Source: Hart & Burnett (1919)

Sample assessment for intermediate level students.

Source: Hart & Burnett (1919)

Sample assessment for intermediate level students (continued).

Source: Hart & Burnett (1919)

Suggestions for teachers to close the class

Source: Division of Americanization, State of Ohio (1922)

“Suggestions to Teachers” (Brown, 1918)“Suggestions to Teachers” (Brown, 1918)

1. Have your methods and material meet the peculiar needs of your own locality.

2. Be sure you have a plan book and a time schedule.

3. Prepare all lessons systematically. Do not use a “hit or miss” scheme.

4. Teach patriotic songs and memory gems to inspire a proper American spirit.

5. Hide your chair when you enter the room. Walk about among your pupils.

6. Make your classroom a busy workshop. Have it buzzing all evening.

7. Be a “dramatic” teacher.

8. Be sympathetic, humorous, cheerful, courteous, encouraging, patient.

9. Don’t let a student miss a session without knowing the reason. Don’t give him a start in “cutting.”

10. Don’t be a slave to the textbook.

11. Have real, every-day conversation lessons, something that the pupils may use when they leave the class at night.

What Seemed to WorkWhat Seemed to Work

Relevant topics

Personal talks and opportunities for advancement and increased pay on the job

Native language teachers

Slower pace of lessons

What Didn’t Seem to WorkWhat Didn’t Seem to Work

Compulsory attendance in factory classes

Untrained teachers

Use of children’s materials

Inadequate facilities

Lack of research: “No systematic effort has ever been made to work out the best methods… We have little definite usable knowledge of the varying characteristics of the several races. We are ignorant even of the surest and quickest way to teach them to speak and understand English” (cited in McClymer, 1982)

Americanization classes, not education

Some ThoughtsSome Thoughts

Let’s learn from history: How did immigrants and ethnic groups initiate and implement their own successful programs?

Methods and contexts for instruction need to change according to the needs of immigrants.

We still struggle with some misconceptions, e.g., “Anyone can teach English.”

Low enrollment and persistence is still a problem.

What do we base our beliefs about language teaching and learning on now?

We have made a lot of progress!

What Will History Say About Us And…What Will History Say About Us And…

… our enrollment statistics and attendance/persistence rates?

… accountability requirements like the NRS?

… the training of teachers?

… research on language learning and teaching?

… funding for adult education?

… immigration policies and controversies in 2006-2008 and on?

… data to better understand the needs of immigrant populations?

Thank You!Thank You!

Sarah Young

syoung@cal.org

www.cal.org and www.cal.org/caela