"Mexico quietly helps emigrants to US learn Spanish"

Mexico helps future immigrants to the United States learn Spanish?  Shouldn't Mexico be teaching these immigrants English?  In this article, written by Laura Wides-Munoz, it is said that Mexico has been teaching people who wish to immigrate to the U.S. Spanish.  At first I thought of this to be a little strange until I read on and found out that the Mexican government is trying to make these people completely literate in Spanish so they can in turn learn english.  This reality had not crossed my mind until I had read this article.  Many of the people that enter into this country struggle to learn English because they don't know how to write properly in Spanish.  Even though I thought of this as a clever thing to do I still find it hard to believe that they are funding programs to teach these people Spanish.  "The programs aren't substitutes for U.S. curricula, but educators familiar with them say they provide a lifeline for adult students with little formal education by helping them become literate in Spanish - and by extension, English," explains Munoz.  I believe that this is a type of encouragement to illegally immigrate to the US.  I think of it as a very risky thing to do considering the circumstances with the US and strengthening of immigration laws.  Right now the US is conducting large sweeps across the southern part of California to relocate any illegal immigrants that they find.  I can only imagine how excited they were to find out that Mexico had these types of programs setup to encourage immigration.  Although it seems like this is a negative thing by what I have said so far, it really is for a good cause.  The Mexican governments intentions are to teach the people who want to come to America the right way.  They do encourage immigration, but from this article I can tell that they have good intentions.  I hope that everything works out and thousands of people benefit from these programs, but at the same time I hope people don't use these courses in a negative way.  

Written By: Laura Wides-Munoz

The Associated Press

9/24/2008