Stephen Lambert & Ning Jiang. Immigrant Professional Career Re-entry: Facilitation Methods and Advocacy

Transcription

1 Stephen Lambert & Ning Jiang Immigrant Professional Career Re-entry: Facilitation Methods and Advocacy

2 Handouts online on the right hand side of:

3 JMU Stephen Lead Teacher of EL/Civics funded adult ESoL program TESOL faculty Doc student Ning Administrative Assistant and Career Coach of EL/Civics funded adult ESoL program Grad student

4 Objective To facilitate deeper understanding of the immigrant professional s linguistic and social needs in the career re-entry process.

5 Describe and share strategies on 1. Counseling and teaching adult ELLs that have professional credentials and need guidance returning to their pre-immigration careers, 2. A policy brief written to advocate for this population, and 3. An interagency collaboration designed to facilitate better service for this population

6 NING S TURN: CAREER COUNSELING

7 Understanding the population Characteristics & Barriers Educated, driven and hard-working individuals Language fluency Lack of information about Career information and guidance Transferring credentials Culturally appropriate U.S. job search skills: resumes, interviews American workplace culture Professional networks U.S. work experience Professional Licensing Need for immediate survival job income to support family Family Obligations Technical skill gaps Age or stage in career Discrimination Employer s misconception

8 Resources Imprintproject.org Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education Welcome Back Initiative Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians Upwardly Global World Education Service (WES) CareersforNewAmericans.org GlobalTalentBridge.org WelcomingCenter.org

9 Handouts online on the right hand side of:

10 STEPHEN S TURN ADVOCACY POLICY BRIEF

11 Brief: How to build or My brief s content?

12 Anatomy of a Policy Brief Willard Richan. (2006). Lobbying for Social Change (3 rd ed.). Routledge. Pat Libby. (2012). The Lobbying Strategy Handbook: 10 Steps to Advancing Any Cause Effectively. Sage Publications. Talking points Sections of Brief: Introduction Scenario: the status quo The need for change The plan Consequences Scenario: the future we need Rebuttal Conclusion

13 America WITHOUT Einsteins Stephen Lambert

14 Workforce Investment Act of 1998

15 Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012 Claims of: Greater efficiency and simplicity

16 America benefits from skilled immigrants Einstein teaching at Princeton Einstein becoming us citizen From the Atomic bomb to the Zipper, immigrants have made a difference.

17 Successful skill tapping requires Higher level English language instruction Immigrant professional-specific career counseling Foreign credential evaluation

18 America WITHOUT Einsteins

19 Meet Pierre

20 SUPERIOR ADVANCED Can support opinion, hypothesize and discuss abstract topics, and handle an unfamiliar situation on logrithmic scale Can narrate and describe in past, present, and future and handle a complicated situation or transaction on logrithmic scale INTERMEDIATE Can create with language, ask and answer simple questions on familiar topics, and handle a simple situation or transaction on logrithmic scale NOVICE No functional ability; speech limited to memorized material points on logrithmic scale

21 NOT reportable in NRS Classes at these levels are NOT supported Reported in NRS NRS Scale None 8 ACTFL Scale Superior 7 Advanced High TESOL Scale Reaching Bridging 6 Advanced Expanding Intermediate 6 High Intermediate 5 Mid Intermediate 4 Low 3 Novice High 2 Novice Mid Developing Beginning 0-1 Novice Low Entering FSI/ILR Scale 5 Native or bilingual proficiency 4+ 4 Distinguished proficiency 3+ 3 Professional proficiency Minimum needed for highlyskilled employment 2+ 2 Limited working proficiency for entry level un-skilled employment 1+ 1 Elementary proficiency 0+ 0 No practical proficiency

22 Immigrant professionals do NOT need A GED To start all over Another college degree To change careers To wait for the next generation to have a chance To be satisfied with just any job they can get

23 Immigrant professionals DO need Higher level English language instruction Immigrant professional-specific career counseling Culturally appropriate information for successful self advocacy Situation appropriate pathway guidance for efficient career re-entry navigation Foreign credential evaluation Referral to reputable firms such as World Education Service

24 Arguments to expect Unfunded mandates Crowding out / stealing jobs A down economy is not the time Should government teach English? and Can t they learn on the job? Foreign training is not good enough How will state bureaucrats know what to do?

25 Help is available

26 Remember Pierre? Get to know the real Pierre and the rest of the story!

27 Return on investment Pierre v2.0 Pierre s annual salary went from $12,480 at the car wash to $240,000 as a physician The federal government can now collect $72,000 in taxes whereas before it may have collected as much as $1,200. That is a sixty-fold increase in tax revenue. In other words, it is a 6,000% increase for the federal government. Pierre s position as a physician in a private practice creates jobs for medical office staff and nurses. Pierre has disposable income in the tens of thousands of dollars every year that are at work in the local economy. He contributes taxes to the local and state governments far in excess of his former self. He is happily providing for a family that expresses no burdens upon social services, but instead, contributes positively in the form of volunteering in the community, giving financially to charities, and working in the provision of vital medical care. Now, he is the social safety net, instead of forever being in the net!

28 Back on track

29 Results May 2012 Ears of Immigrant Professionals Career Coalition John Segota: TESOL s policy writing expert (Director of Advocacy). June 2012 Ears of fellow practitioners from around the nation at TESOL s 2012 Advocacy Days June 2012 Ears of staffers of Senators Webb and Warner and Representatives Scott and Goodlatte September 2012 Ears of Dr. Johan Uvin, Senior Policy Advisor, OVAE, US DOE Ears of Regional Literacy Coordinators Committee October 2012 Ears of VATESOL annual conference attendees

30 Handouts online on the right hand side of:

31 STEPHEN S TURN ADVOCACY COALITION BUILDING

32 IPCC ESOL Career Development Academy New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center Refugee Resettlement Office Skyline Literacy Massanutten Technical Center Eastern Mennonite University s Intensive English Program Forward/Adelante Virginia s First Bilingual Business Journal Virginia Employment Commission Blue Ridge Community College Blue Ridge Area Health Education Center

33 Handouts online on the right hand side of: