Great piece, Aaron. And I greatly agree with you and the need for immersion in English in order to succeed in our country.
Last year, I became aquainted with one of The Lost Boys of Sudan who’s now living here in Middle Tennessee. After leaving Sudan, walking to Ethiopia and then back to Sudan and finally to Kenya, he and his clan lived for almost ten years in refuge tent camps where they were educated in British schools.
While he can read and understand English quite well today, his English speech skills leave much to be desired. He has a very thick accent and runs his words together. So much so, that when we have coffee from time to time, I have to work very hard to read his lips and ask him to repeat himself and enunciate more clearly. He’s slowly working his way through college. I’ve told him repeatedly that he needs to speak more clearly in order to succeed in America.
Aguto came to our family Thanksgiving dinner where he was warmly welcomed. However, the overwhelming consensus of family was that he urgently needs to speak better and more understandable English in order to pull himself up by his boot straps. No amount of education and smarts will overcome poor speaking skills.
All this to say, it’s not just a Spainish to English problem. And it’s not just a matter of reading and listeng to English. One must also speak clearly in order to increase one’s chances of success.
