Amnesty Applicants Turn to Videotapes as Required English Classes Fill to Limit

With English language classes jammed, amnesty applicants in Southern California are turning to America’s favorite pastime--television--to learn their new country’s language.

In recent months, several nonprofit organizations and private businesses have produced videotapes and audio cassettes to teach the applicants English and civics at home and in small neighborhood classes, a development that has won the praise of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and other groups battling overcrowded classrooms.

“We believe these videos and audiotapes have merit. We’ve got people knocking the doors down to get into overcrowded English classes in some congested areas, especially in Latino communities,” said George Apkarian, the agency’s director of outreach for the amnesty program in the West.

While nearly half a million amnesty applicants in the INS Los Angeles District have 30 months to show English proficiency, Apkarian noted, most have been so eager to comply that they have crowded the classrooms well before their deadlines, thus taking up room needed by applicants who have earlier deadlines.

Also compounding the problem is the fact that although only eight weeks of classroom time are required to qualify for permanent residency, many of the students decide to stay longer.

Once the applicants have become permanent residents, they must reside in the United States for five years before applying for citizenship (three years for those who are married to U.S. citizens). They must also pass a history and civics test given in English.

“It’s a nice problem in a way, having all these students who get in class and are so eager to learn that they do not want to leave after getting the minimum requirements out of the way,” said Madeline Van Wagenen, INS regional outreach coordinator. But, she added, it also is contributing to classroom shortages.

The Los Angles Unified School District, which is running the lion’s share of free English instruction classes, has about 102,00 slots, most of them filled. While private agencies are begining to apply to the INS for teaching credentials, a backlog still exists, officials said.

2 Ways to Show Proficiency

Applicants can demonstrate proficiency in English in two ways, either by showing they have taken the 40 hours of classroom instruction or by studying on their own and taking a proficiency test.

INS officials said the home videos and audio cassettes are valuable in both cases because students can review the work often. But they cautioned that students should preview any tapes before buying them to make sure they are easy to understand. While INS does screen classes, the officials do not screen tapes on the market.

One of the most ambitious and glitziest of the video programs to date, “Opportunity Today,” was created by We the People of Los Angeles, a private nonprofit group that grew out of the city’s Commission on the U.S. Constitution.

The $200,000 video project was funded by Kaiser Permanente, Pepsi-Cola and Apple Computer and includes 60 half-hour videotapes taught by local English instructors. The videos include slick computer graphics and a fancy classroom set where language and civics are taught to a group of students.

While the video shows students in a classroom situation, the real-life problem encountered by many students is that they have little free time for continuing classes, explained Emily Chappell, We the People executive director. “Some work two jobs. Others have family responsibilities and just can’t make it to class on a regular basis. The beauty of videotapes is that they can study when it is convenient for them,” she said.

The video series is available in most local libraries and is also being used by church and other nonprofit groups to teach small groups of students. Some of the groups have purchased several of the $270 sets to set up their own “lending libraries” for students, Chappell said. She noted that before the videotapes were produced, they conducted a marketing study showing that television would be a good medium to reach the applicants because most have access to television and VCRs.

Scheduled for TV

In February the series will be run on KMEX, a Spanish-language television station. The workbook that accompanies the program will be printed in La Opinion, the Spanish-language daily newspaper.

Francisco Diaz, a 29-year-old Los Angeles restaurant worker and amnesty applicant, began using the “Opportunity Today” tapes when one of his customers suggested them to him.

“I had gone to classes, but these tapes are very good because they explain very slowly and repeat the words a lot of times,” Diaz said. He has also given the tapes to his in-laws, who do not speak much English. “They are older and learning a new language is very difficult, but they are very interested in watching the tapes. I took my father shopping at an auto parts store recently and noticed he could understand English much better. He said it was because of the tapes.”

Another new video program, which will be available early next year, is “No Problem!” produced by Media Education Ltd. of Great Britain. The video is set up as a light soap opera with the main character, Rafael, a Latino truck driver who speaks little English, learning to cope with social life and the English language helped by a new young friend named Veronica.

Consultants on the program included Donna M. Brinton, faculty member in UCLA’s department of applied linguistics; Terry Doyle, senior producer for foreign language at the British Broadcasting Corp., and George Colburn, former director of national media programs at the University of California.

The three 60-minute videos and accompanying workbooks cost $75 but can be purchased one at a time to make them more accessible, explained David Saltman, Media Education Ltd. marketing vice president.

“We’ll either sell hundreds or thousands,” he added, explaining they will market the videos not only in retail outlets and on television but directly to schools and organizations working with the applicants. A percentage of the proceeds from the video project, which cost about $500,000 to produce, will go to the National Hispanic Scholarship Foundation.

Audiotapes Available

Along with the videotapes, dozens of new audiotapes are also available.

Victor Martinez, co-author of one of the audiotape programs, Glendale-based El Paso Finale, noted that it took more than a year to create the program for students who in general do not have a high level of education.

“We’ve found many of the applicants are afraid to participate in the classroom. They like to be able to practice English in the privacy of their homes,” Martinez said.

Omar Reyes, a director of the nonprofit Programa de Apoyo a la Comunidad Hispana, which provides referral and legal services to amnesty applicants, said he hunted for several months for an inexpensive audiotape before choosing El Paso Finale for himself, his family and clients. It retails for $19 for two cassettes and two workbooks.

“I got excited about it,” Reyes said, “because I don’t speak English so great myself, and when I previewed it a few times, I found that it was helpful for me.”