Speech #900179600

Although I fully recognize that the major problems resuting from language barriers lay in the Spanishspeaking communities. I proposed broadening the bill to include all nonEnglishspeaking students. Because of my deep personal interest in general immigration mattersand the fact that some 40 percent of the population of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is of foreign stock. largely. from nonSpanishspeaking backgroundsI am keenly aware of the difficulties confronting other language groups as well. Serious problems confront schools and nonEnglishspeaking students in Massachusetts and elsewhere with a heavy concentration of recent Portuguese. French. Italian. Greek. Chinese and other immigrants. The growing number of immigrants from these various backgrounds. especially the striking increase in the number under 20 years of age. is compounding the problems. A good example of this is the influx of foreignborn children into the schools of New Bedford. Mass. During the last school year. the influx averaged nine to 10 children weekly. and apparently continues at this pace. The day school for immigrants in Boston. which has very limited facilities for only a few hundred nonEnglish speaking students. reports an enrollment increase of 100 for each of the last 2 years. Many others were turned away. These local examples are repeated throughout Massachusetts and across the country.