Posted on 08/06/2007 8:02:03 AM PDT by pabianice
Framingham, Mass. - In Framingham, a few educators are wrapping up some homework of their own - a new handbook to teach their colleagues more about the town's Brazilian students and families.
``It's a service to the Brazilian community as much as to educators,'' said Esta Montano, director of Equity and Achievement at Framingham Public Schools. ``The better educators understand their students, the better their academic (achievements) will be.''
The publication - ``Framingham's Brazilian Students and their Families- School, Culture, and Values: A Handbook for School Personnel'' - was researched and written by five local educators to spread general knowledge about the town's large Brazilian population.
The book covers immigration history between Framingham and Brazil, along with that country's education system, culture and the Portuguese language. Three of the authors are from Brazil and brought experience of their own country, she said.
``It would give educators an idea of the cultural strengths of Brazilian families... and how to respond to those strengths,'' she said.
Framingham is one of the largest districts in the state with nearly 8,100 students during the last school year, and more than one-third - about 2,700 students - do not speak English as a first language.
About 1,200 Framingham students are categorized as limited English proficient by the state Department of Education, meaning they have trouble using English in ordinary class activities.
Across the state, about 15 percent of students - nearly 144,000 - speak a primary language other than English and about 54,000 are rated as limited English proficient by state education officials.
In Framingham, those students include a large number of Brazilian immigrants - whose families educators want ``to reach out and engage,'' said Montano.
She got the idea for the handbook from a publication written by a Colorado school district which focused on that state's Mexican students, she said. The Framingham version was funded by a grant from the Sudbury Foundation.
About 1,000 copies will be printed out for school staff and teachers, along with other town departments. The book is also available online at http://pages.framingham.k12.ma.us/equity/handbookforwebsite8.pdf.
``As a first step, it's great. We really hope this is useful to the community,'' she said.
Other school districts with large immigrant populations have taken steps of their own to reach out to parents and students.
Laurie Zucker-Conde, director of English Language Learners and Fine Language Department for Waltham schools, said the district holds Spanish-language nights for parents about MCAS, college and other topics facing their children's education.
``If you want to be effective, you need to be able to speak to adults in a language they'll understand,'' said Zucker-Conde.
About 1,700 of the city's roughly 4,800 students speak a primary language other than English and 425 are rated as limited English proficient.
Waltham schools also operate the Parent Information Center since 2000, but have actively reached out to immigrant families for about two years, she said. She called the district's success in meeting immigrant parents a ``work in progress,'' as educators build relationships with families.
``Learning how to teach students, and not expecting everyone to be the same, is knowledge every teacher should have,'' said Zucker-Conde.
Ann Feldman, director of Milford schools' English Language Learner program, said the district has bilingual parent councils for kindergarten through fourth grade, plus the district will establish a similar group for the middle school this year.
In Milford's roughly 4,200-member student body, close to 230 students are considered limited English proficient by the state and about 700 speak a primary language other than English.
She said every teacher in the state is required to undergo Department of Education training which largely deals with cultural awareness. About 70 Milford teachers will undergo the training this year, she said. The district will create a parent resource center, plus currently sends out notices and school handbooks home to parents translated into both Portuguese and Spanish. The effort is done ``so these students have access to the curriculum, so they're not isolated,'' said Feldman. ``It's a civil right.''
(John Hilliard can be reached at 508-626-4449 or jhilliar@cnc.com.)
Metrowest Daily News,July 29, 2007
Framinghma, MA - The 51-year-old Brazilian man came with plans to stay here for up to six years to save enough money to buy a house in Brazil, two cars for his daughters and secure a life back home.
But after three years of calling Framingham home, the man has decided to go back to Brazil with only part of his dreams fulfilled mainly because, he said, living as an illegal immigrant doesn't pay off anymore.
"It's not worth it," said the man, who doesn't want to be identified for fear of deportation. "It was good when I first got here, when the money I made here had more value back home. Now it's not worth all the suffering. That's why I'm leaving."
He is not the only one.
Across MetroWest and the Milford area, many Brazilian immigrants are packing their belongings and leaving for good as they grow tired of immigration crackdowns, increasing demands from employers to produce working papers, and the worsening exchange rate between the dollar and Brazil's currency, the real.
For years, illegal immigrants from Brazil have coped with the uncertainty of life here and the threat of deportation because of a favorable exchange rate. When the dollar hit its lowest level in three years this month compared to the Brazilian real, a result of the real's strengthening due to Brazil's export boom, many people decided to take the plane home.
"Now, with the money I make here, my family can buy fewer things in Brazil," said the man who used to work as a bus driver in Brazil and now works at an Ashland-based roofing company. "Three years ago, I could buy a car for $5,000. Now, I need $10,000."
It's still far from being an exodus, but people in the community have noticed that more and more Brazilians are buying one-way tickets home. In Framingham and Marlborough, travel agents are selling two or three times more tickets to Brazil compared to last year. In Milford, Marisol Carper who owns a multi-service store on Main Street, sold four tickets to Brazil on one day this week. Last month, she only sold seven.
"Those who are leaving have been here for four or five years," she said. "They're saying they have no choice but to leave. They're afraid of immigration and the police, they don't have driver's licenses, and now that the dollar is too low, they're walking away on their own feet."
That trend also includes fewer coming in.
Manoel Basilio, who runs a downtown center in Framingham that helps recent arrivals from Brazil, hasn't seen any lately. On a recent afternoon this week, he reviewed his daily journal and found there has been only one recent arrival in July.
"Last year, we'd see four or five per day," said Basilio at the center sponsored by St. Tarcisius Church. "Now, we have more job offers than workers. We're seeing more people leaving than coming in."
A combination of factors is making it more difficult for Brazilians to enter the United States illegally. A requirement for Brazilians to obtain a tourist visa to travel to Mexico put in place at the end of 2005 has made the illegal journey harder, longer and more expensive. Strict immigration controls along the U.S.-Mexican border and a policy change that allows immigration agents to deport those arrested at the border without having to release them have played a role in discouraging Brazilians from sneaking across the border.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs Protection, the number of Brazilians arrested along the U.S.-Mexican border plunged dramatically from 31,000 in 2005 to 1,400 in 2006.
"I don't see new faces," said Mara Silva, who runs an advertising company on Union Avenue in downtown Framingham. "I don't hear of anyone who is arriving or has just arrived."
Shopkeepers who depend on a largely Brazilian clientele are growing concerned for their businesses if more people leave. They said since the New Bedford raid earlier this year, which netted several hundred illegal immigrants working in a factory that made backpacks and other gear under U.S. government contracts, business has been slow. But it seems to have dropped off even more since June, when failure of an immigration reform bill in Congress dashed illegal immigrants' last hopes for a change.
"People were very hopeful," said Vera Dias-Freitas, who owns a jewelry store in downtown Framingham. "When the immigration reform failed, there was frustration and desperation. For two weeks after that, I didn't see a soul in my business."
Other businesses, such as money-wire agencies, have also felt the slump. People continue to wire money home but these days they send less. Roberto Aragao, who runs a Western Union agency on Concord Street, said the adverse exchange rate, the economic downturn and the increasing demands for working documents are making Brazilians struggle to make ends meet.
"Those who used to send $1,000 a month are now sending $500," he said. "Those who sent $200 are sending $100. They're feeling the heat."
So is the man who works for the roofing company. He still makes much more money here than in Brazil, but the falling exchange rate is making him think whether his sacrifice is worth all the trouble he experiences by living in the shadows. Once, he was arrested by the police and sent to court for driving without a license, and recently his car insurance company told him it won't renew his insurance unless he obtains a driver's license. Insurance companies accept international driver's licenses only the first year, said the man, and after that, he had to use three different false names to secure insurance for his car.
"I'm tired of living as a criminal," he said in his native Portuguese. "I cannot drive, I have to use false names, and I'm afraid of the police and immigration. I'm tired of living in fear and away from my family."
With his earnings here, the man said he bought a $7,000 house in Espirito Santo state, where he hails from. He also gave cars away to his two daughters, one for each, and with what he makes from now until December he'll buy a car for himself. He has no plans of to come back to the U.S. because he doesn't believe the exchange rate is going to improve.
"To be far away from my family for so little money is not worth it," said the man, who plans to spend Christmas with his family in Brazil.
(Staff writer Liz Mineo can be reached at 508-626-3825 or lmineo@cnc.com)
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ho hum...another day, another reason to home school...
Wait until Laurie-Zucker finds out that Brazilians don’t speak Spanish. The reason that MA Hacks are frantic to keep the 90% of the 160,000 Brazilians that are in MA illegally (Brazilian Immigrants Center in Allston’s numbers)is because MA will lose TWO Congressional seats in the 2010 census. Framingham is in Fast Ed Markey’s district. But they won’t toss him to the curb. They’ll have to redistict parts of Worcester oe South Boston into Middlesex county so they can toss Olver or Lynch.
Isn't that cute? Their Brazilian excuse manual quotes Chomsky.
Which is why the Brazilians need to learn English.
ping
The insane are running the schools.
Yep. You nailed it completely.
It encapsulates the Liberal approach to speech and communication. "...Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation..."
If you take the time to actually listen to liberals, they will tell you exactly what they stand for. You just need to parse it out and listen. Basically, words can mean whatever YOU want them to mean, and because everything is relative, what YOU say the words mean is JUST as important as what I say they mean. There is no fixed meaning.
And liberals have the astounding GALL to call conservatives "Orwellian".
“And liberals have the astounding GALL to call conservatives “Orwellian”.”
As you say, in liberal-speak, it can mean anything you want it to mean. To a liberal, ‘Orwellian’ can mean, ‘not compliant with our philosophies, which are engineered such that we may retain power’.
“If you take the time to actually listen to liberals”
Unfortunately, if you don’t listen to them, they’ll accuse you of being closed-minded;))
First make them learn our official language... Spanish.
Here in Norwood the Brazilians have taken over one whole part of town. Luckily they never seem to leave that part of town.
“...Esta Montano, director of Equity and Achievement at Framingham Public Schools...”
It is truly over.
So Mr. Montano helps the teachers refinance their homes and look for better jobs?
Seriously though, when my eyeballs see a hyphen in a woman’s name my ears hear an alarm going off...Liberal Incoming!
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