Mexican TV network adding English classes to its lineup

Tue Nov 20 15:06:39 UTC 2007

 Mexican TV network adding English classes to its lineup

By S. Lynne Walker
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

November 19, 2007

MEXICO CITY – As the debate over immigration reform festers in
Congress, one message is clear: Americans think people from other
countries who live in the United States ought to speak English.

LUIS J. JIMENEZ / Copley News Service

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it to a gathering of Latino
journalists. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said it when he proposed a bill
calling for the designation of English as the national language. Even
President Bush said it as he lobbied for his immigration overhaul
package. "I think people who want to be a citizen of this country
should learn English," Bush said. Now a Mexican television network is
saying it, too. And the network, TV Azteca, is putting its money where
its microphone is.

In January, Mexico's second-largest network plans to launch a 60-hour
series of English classes on 60 affiliates in the United States, from
Chattanooga, Tenn., to San Diego. The televised classes, the first of
their kind to be broadcast by a Mexican network in the United States,
will offer cultural as well as language lessons. They will not be
broadcast in Mexico or other countries in Latin America. The aim is to
prepare immigrants in the United States for a host of situations
ranging from taking their children to school to grocery shopping and
going to the doctor.

"It just makes sense," said Luis Echarte, chairman of Azteca America.
"In order to survive and get better jobs, they have to learn basic
English." Echarte, 62, a Cuban-American who immigrated to the United
States as a teenager, came up with the idea for the classes after
making a courtesy call to senators and congressional representatives.

In every meeting, lawmakers brought up "the educational problem
regarding the language," Echarte said. "So we thought one of the
things that we could do is . . . offer an opportunity for people to
learn at least the basic language so they could do better in the
country."

Azteca America may also benefit by expanding its audience. The network
ranks fourth among Spanish-language networks broadcasting in the
United States. Its average prime-time audience in the first week of
November was 183,000 viewers, Azteca officials said.

Azteca America has partnered with the prestigious National Autonomous
University of Mexico, or UNAM, which has three campuses in the United
States, including one in Los Angeles.

Students at UNAM will produce the TV classes in the university's
Mexico City studio under the guidance of Azteca directors. Some
segments will feature grammar and pronunciation, and others will
instruct viewers on appropriate dress for work, renting an apartment
and U.S. social customs such as waiting patiently in line.

The series, which will carry commercials, is tentatively scheduled to
air in 30-minute segments on Sunday mornings, before Mexican families
traditionally head for church or tune in to soccer games. For people
whose work schedules or legal status prevents them from enrolling in
formal English classes, the TV programs will allow them to learn basic
language skills in their living rooms.

"This makes our community even richer," said Paola Hernandez, who's in
charge of community outreach and promotion for Azteca America San
Diego 15 (AZSD), which will carry the classes in San Diego. "If we all
speak the same language, it's easier for everybody."

About 83 percent of Americans support making English the official
language, according to a survey conducted in May for U.S. English
Inc., an organization that lobbies Congress on the issue. The survey,
conducted by the Zogby International polling firm, also found that 75
percent of Latinos living in the United States favor making English
the official language.

Roughly 34 million people age 5 and older speak Spanish at home,
according to a 2006 U.S. Census Bureau survey. Of those, many said
they speak English "not well" or "not at all."

"English empowers people," said King, whose bill to designate English
as the official language has drawn 130 co-sponsors. "If we as a nation
take the posture that we're going to accommodate those who do not
learn English and we do so as a matter of public policy, then they
lose their incentive to learn and they're forever relegated to a class
of second citizenship."

Thirty states have designated English the official language. Louisiana
passed the first law in 1812. Georgia passed a law in 1986 and again
in 1996. California passed a law in 1986.

Schwarzenegger said he stopped speaking German and forced himself to
speak English when he came to the United States from Austria 39 years
ago as a young bodybuilder. At a June meeting of the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists, he advised Hispanics who come to
the United States to do the same.

"It's that simple," Schwarzenegger said. "You've got to learn English."

The public clamor over English "is an indication of how much public
angst there is over immigration," said Mark Krikorian, executive
director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for a
reduction in immigration. The number of illegal immigrants in the
United States has grown to nearly 12 million, accounting for one in
every 20 workers, according to research by the Pew Hispanic Center.

"The only way the public can be convinced that maintaining high levels
of immigration is a good idea is if they are convinced that immigrants
are Americanizing."

While TV Azteca's plan to teach Spanish-speakers survival English
"helps in a practical sense, it's not going to make any difference
politically," Krikorian said. "This isn't just a practical issue. It's
a moral question: Do they have a moral obligation to learn English?
That's something we no longer insist on."

Krikorian said he believes TV Azteca should exhort its viewers to
learn English once they arrive in the United States, "but you're not
going to see that, especially from a Mexican TV network."

"It would be different if the message was, 'You're now in America,
paisanos, and you need to learn English because that's the language of
your new country.' That's a different message than, 'Here's how to get
promoted from bus boy to waiter,' which is really the message of this
kind of program."

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the billionaire retailing and media mogul who
owns TV Azteca, insisted the program will help Spanish-speakers
assimilate into U.S. life.

"We are trying to incorporate ourselves into American society, to
incorporate ourselves starting with the language," he said at a Mexico
City news conference. "In the United States, there is so much to do.
This is the first step."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S. Lynne Walker: slwalker at prodigy.net.mx

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20071119-9999-1n19english.html

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