NEWCOMER TOOL KIT
xYhe4
xYhe4
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Kenji Hakuta (1986), who has researched and written extensively about issues related to newcomers and English<br />
Learners (ELs), criticized an early-20th century distinction between favored “old immigrants”—those who came in<br />
the early 19th century mainly from Germany, Ireland, and Britain, were overwhelmingly Protestant, and seemed<br />
to integrate easily into American life—and so-called “new immigrants,” who came between 1880 and 1910,<br />
primarily from southern and Eastern Europe, represented many religions (e.g., Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and<br />
Jewish), had more varied customs and cultures, and were not as readily accepted into American society. (Chinese<br />
and East Asians who came as temporary laborers were not viewed in this schema as potential citizens or permanent<br />
immigrants.) Those for whom integration into American culture was not a choice (such as Native Americans and<br />
enslaved Africans) must be noted, but for others who have to come here from abroad, nearly all immigrant groups<br />
have faced challenges integrating into American society.<br />
Throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries, immigrants to the United States have often arrived from wartorn<br />
or politically unstable countries, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America,<br />
or elsewhere. They have represented, and continue to represent, a wide variety of religions, cultural backgrounds,<br />
customs, and beliefs.<br />
The challenge of integrating into their new home is compounded for newcomers who attend school, since they<br />
must learn not only how to navigate a new culture socially, but also how to function effectively in an education<br />
system and language that typically differs from their prior experience (Jacoby, 2004; Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-<br />
Orozco, 2009).<br />
According to the 2014 American Community Survey, 1.3 million foreign-born individuals moved to the United<br />
States that year, an 11 percent increase from 1.2 million in 2013 (Zong & Batalova, 2016). The largest numbers<br />
of newcomers in the United States came from India, China, and Mexico (Zong & Batalova, 2016). India was the<br />
leading country of origin for recent immigrants, 1 with 147,500 arriving in 2014, followed by China with 131,800,<br />
Mexico with 130,000, Canada with 41,200, and the Philippines with 40,500. Included in these numbers are<br />
children adopted internationally; in 2014, these numbered 6,438, with 2,743 age 5 or over (U.S. Department of<br />
State, n.d.).<br />
Within the total population of immigrants in 2014,<br />
approximately 50 percent (20.9 million) of the 42.1 million<br />
immigrants ages five and older were not English proficient<br />
(Zong & Batalova, 2016). Among immigrants ages five<br />
and older, 44 percent speak Spanish (the most predominant<br />
non-English language spoken), 6 percent speak Chinese<br />
(including Mandarin and Cantonese), 5 percent speak<br />
Hindi or a related language, 4 percent speak Filipino/<br />
Tagalog, 3 percent speak Vietnamese, 3 percent speak<br />
French or Haitian Creole, and 2 percent speak Korean<br />
(Brown & Stepler, 2016).<br />
Languages Spoken Among<br />
U.S. Immigrants, 2014<br />
Note: Languages spoken by at least 2% of immigrants age 5 and above are<br />
shown. Hindi includes related languages such as Urdu and Bengali.<br />
1<br />
The Census Bureau defines recent immigrants as foreign-born<br />
individuals who resided abroad one year prior, including lawful<br />
permanent residents, temporary nonimmigrants, and unauthorized<br />
immigrants.<br />
Source: Brown, A., & Stepler, R. (2016, April 19). Statistical portrait of the<br />
foreign-born population in the United States. Retrieved from Pew Research<br />
Center website: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/04/19/statistical-portraitof-the-foreign-born-population-in-the-united-states-key-charts/#2013-fblanguages-spoken<br />
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION • <strong>NEWCOMER</strong> <strong>TOOL</strong> <strong>KIT</strong> • CHAPTER 1 • 2<br />
No official endorsement by the Department of any product, commodity, service, enterprise, curriculum, or program of instruction<br />
mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. For the reader’s convenience, the tool kit contains information about<br />
and from outside organizations, including URLs. Inclusion of such information does not constitute the Department’s endorsement.