Up

Ulpan in America

The goal of our Ulpan in America project is to implement a yearlong pilot program based on the Ulpan (Israeli Hebrew Language school for immigrants) educational model. The program is designed to address and remedy deficiencies in existing English language programs for limited English proficient adult residents, thereby accelerating the process of their integration into American society.

Objectives:

1. Develop an intensive English language curriculum designed to give new immigrants maximum proficiency within a minimum amount of time of study. Unlike traditional curricula, this instruction program will teach practical self-sufficiency skills (e.g. opening a bank account, dealing with emergency situations, job search) through the English language.
2. Teach the English language as an integral part of the acquisition of American values through instruction in key aspects of American culture and society. This focus on understanding American culture will help bridge the cultural gap and assuage misunderstandings that often exist among newcomers due to poor communication and the lack of information about American social norms and values.
3. Provide adult newcomers with an opportunity to obtain skills imperative for attaining economic self-sufficiency and informed citizenship.
4. Offer a model for successful and speedy acclimatization of adult immigrants into American society to be easily implemented across the nation.
5. Bring attention to the shortcomings inherent in the process of immigrant assimilation to our society and initiate a public debate about how to reform assimilation policies and processes.

Project background:

As an educational and research organization, the U.S. ENGLISH Foundation has long been involved in exploring issues of immigration, particularly those pertaining to acculturation and the successful acquisition of English language skills.

The U.S. ENGLISH Foundation boasts 20 years of experience in the facilitation and direct support of innovative English language programs geared towards the specific needs of the adult immigrant population. Traditionally our educational initiatives have been offshoots of research into the most current trends within immigration. Our recent research focus on official language policies around the world has led us to the conclusion that the most socially and economically efficient assimilation of immigrants is a result of an official language policy complemented by a system that provides an educational mechanism that is designed to facilitate this process through language and cultural instruction.

Further research revealed that the most successful methodology in this regard is the one that has been developed and implemented in Israel through the Ulpan school system. This system has stood the test of time since its inception in 1949 and has served as the model for other nations seeking to promote their official language while minimizing the economic and social cost of immigration. The main mechanism ensuring this achievement has been the Ulpan school system, where learners are taught the Hebrew language, basic cultural values and good citizenship in an intensive environment. Given the success of this program and the similarities between the immigration situations in the United States and Israel, we at the U.S. ENGLISH Foundation believe that such a system should be implemented in our country.

Project content:

Ulpan in America project includes the following distinctive elements:

1. Duration

   The pilot program will be run twice over the course of one year with two successive 5-month sessions, fall 2004 and spring 2005. This will allow for more objective, and thus scientifically valid data, which is important for an effective evaluation of the program. This program is designed for 5 (five) hours a day of intensive English language instruction. Its intensive nature eliminates drawbacks inherent in more lax programs, such as irregular attendance and high attrition rates resulting in the low and uneven levels of language acquisition. Its framework guarantees effective assessment of students’ progress.

2. Class size

   Keeping the size of each class to fifteen students per class guarantees personalized instruction and ensures adequate attention to the needs of each student. Since this program is based on oral communication, it is important for the class to be small enough so that every student has a chance to actively practice the presented material.

3. Student profile

   The curriculum of the pilot program is designed for students of three defining characteristics:

   First, the learners are adults over the age of 18 who are to join workforce and have attained a minimal (less than or equivalent to high school) education in their native country. Secondly, the group selected will have arrived in the United States within 18 months of the commencement of study.

   These three characteristics are important because they reflect the demographic characteristics prevalent in the immigrant community on the nation-wide scale.

4. Incentives for Students

   To ensure rapid and steady progress by the students, the program will offer stipends in the amount of minimum wage to offset the opportunity cost of wages foregone while attending class.

5. Instructional Methods

   Our program involves the use of English as the sole language teaching, the introduction of conversation as the central feature of the lesson, the study of functional grammar through inductional means, which is practiced through dramatization. Other than that each teacher is free to improvise and employ whatever techniques he/she considers suitable for the learners.

   The main teaching aid employed is dramatization. This constitutes a major feature of every lesson and is an invaluable tool in teaching practical “survival” skills as learners act out such everyday tasks as going to the supermarket, opening a bank account, looking for a job, etc. During the first lessons prepared dialogues are learned and enacted. Later on, variations are introduced into the dialogue leading to independent preparation of dialogues and talks.