Demand for English lessons outstrips supply

A survey last year by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials found that in 12 states, 60 percent of the free English programs had waiting lists, ranging from a few months in Colorado and Nevada to as long as two years in New Mexico and Massachusetts. The United States Department of Education counted 1.2 million adults enrolled in public English programs in 2005—about 1 in 10 of the 10.3 million foreign-born residents 16 and older who speak English “less than very well,” or not at all, according to census figures from the same year. Federal money for such classes is matched at varying rates from state to state, leaving an uneven patchwork of programs that advocates say nowhere meets the need. Read more about the long wait that many immigrants must endure in order to learn English in this article from The New York Times.