English: The Undercurrent of Life in the Monterey Bay
By Rachel Musgrove
Note: Names of interviewees have been changed.
The morning after I arrived in Monterey, having driven the 15-hour trek from Portland, Oregon with my mother, we emerged from our hotel room to see the city in the light of day for the first time. After exiting the hotel parking lot, two passerby on the sidewalk waved and greeted us with “Hola Señoras!” We were too surprised to answer until after the friendly greeters had walked past. Then my mom finally shouted “Hola!” after them. Literally my first social interaction in Monterey was in a language other than English. The city, on its surface, has the appearance of a linguistic melting pot. But beneath the layer of diversity in the “language capital of the world,” English is still the pulse that keeps the city going. I wanted to explore Monterey’s relationship with English and those who learn it, so I set out to answer the questions: What are the experiences of English language learners in Monterey? How are they treated by native English speakers? And finally, is it necessary to know English to live here?
My research for this project was informed by a series of interviews I conducted with three non-native English speakers in Monterey, two of whom have spent extensive time in this area and learned English here, either through the public education system or through classes offered at Monterey Peninsula College. The last interviewee is a Chinese degree student, currently earning her masters degree in translation and interpretation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. The perspectives of these three Monterey residents were quite varied, but revealed some commonalities in the experiences of English language learners in the area. Almost all of them agreed that Monterey was a supportive town in which to be a non-native English speaker (financially and societally), more so than other places in the US they had lived or visited. However, all of them have also experienced hardships here, particularly when it came to certain areas of town and certain demographics of native English speakers. All of them also agreed, at the bottom line, that English is a necessary prerequisite to life here in Monterey, at least a life where one is involved in the community to any extent.
One of the most obvious attributes that sets Monterey apart from other US cities and brands it as a welcoming place for English language learners is the wealth of affordable and accessible ESL courses here. Alicia, a Brazilian woman who works as a live-in caretaker for the elderly, spoke highly of her experiences taking ESL classes at Monterey Peninsula College in 2004, when she first moved here. The courses she took were cost-free through the first three levels, giving her a chance to gain her footing in the language while she adjusted to life in the US, and also to form a basis of academic English so she could pursue her nursing degree afterward.
Indeed, a quick Google search for ESL courses in the Monterey Bay area yields many results, several of which offer free or heavily discounted services for English language learners. In addition to MPC, learners can take free weekly ESL courses at the Peace Resource Center in Seaside or for a $25 fee per semester at the Monterey Adult School. Monterey County Libraries also offer free tutoring by volunteers as a part of their adult literacy program. All of these institutions offer day-time and evening classes as well, which makes them more accessible to a working person (though perhaps not someone with a demanding family life). There are certainly the more expensive options as well, like the intensive English programs offered at MIIS, which can run up to almost $10,000 for a 10-week session. But overall, there seem to be abundant affordable resources for those who wish to study English, so long as they are able to access the information (a Google search may be simple for me, but none of these webpages, except for that of MIIS, were available in languages other than English).
It’s been established that Monterey definitely has resources available for English language learners, but are they of quality? Of course, my data on the subject is limited, but Jorge, who came from Mexico with his family in 2006, also described his experiences learning English through the public education system as positive. He enrolled at Monterey High School at age 14 in their ESL program, where he said he learned quickly because “the instructor knew us.” According to Jorge, the ESL teachers themselves were all native Spanish speakers who had immigrated from Central/South America or Spain. Their teaching approaches were therefore very learner-centered, supportive and understanding of the hardships of acculturating to a new place. Jorge explains further:
“I think that’s important because… He understands what our needs are. Versus getting a guy from America who learned Spanish and hasn’t spent enough time in Mexico. The instructor has to come from the roots of the ground. Because if an American learns Spanish, he won’t learn the deep needs of the students.”
Whether intentional or not, the school board’s decision to hire native Spanish speakers as ESL instructors has made a huge difference for students like Jorge, to whom intercultural understanding was very important. As McGroarty writes in her summary of quantitative research on language attitudes in the classroom, teacher understanding of students’ needs and of attitudes toward language in the L2 community is necessary to encourage student motivation (2010). It reduces the power dynamic that inevitably exists between native English speaking teachers and their ESL students, no matter how well-intentioned the instructors are. Jorge’s description of his public school experience also reflects a rather sophisticated institutional ideology toward language for the school district as a whole. Perhaps the hiring of all native Spanish speakers as ESL instructors implies that the Monterey school administration is conscious of the fact that they may be teaching a Spanish-influenced version of English to its ESL students, and by extension supporting a version of “World English,” as opposed to the typical American standard English that’s taught in most public high school curriculum (McKay, 2010).
Besides the various educational institutions of the town, how else are English language learners supported here in Monterey? Each of the interviewees had stories to tell about the patience and kindness of strangers who seemed to understand their struggles. Lucy, a Chinese graduate student of the Translation and Interpretation program at MIIS, mentioned how when she first arrived to Monterey in 2014, even though she had studied English as a foreign language in China for most of her life, it was still quite difficult to understand people in day-to-day interactions. “I had to ask people to repeat themselves a lot,” she explained. But it was never a problem. Her requests for help were never met with an eye-roll, but rather enthusiasm from classmates, teachers, store clerks and locals, who usually complimented her on her abilities and were excited to help her improve. Alicia also mentioned several instances where she had made rather embarrassing mistakes while trying to navigate the English language. One particular time, she had been working at Chico’s when her boss needed to check something in the back of the store suddenly and asked Alicia to “watch the floor” while she was gone. Unfamiliar with this expression, Alicia interpreted the phrase literally and thought perhaps something was wrong with the floor in the showroom, and that she was supposed to look for something important there. As the customers queued up at the register, Alicia was busy investigating the floor, trying to figure out what it was that her manager had asked her watch for. After several minutes, the manager returned and angrily asked Alicia why she had not been assisting the now long line of disgruntled customers. Alicia explained that she had simply been carrying out her assigned task of “watching” the floor. When it became clear that this was a matter of mistranslation, the supervisor was not angry at all, but actually found the misunderstanding funny and endearing. She used it as a teaching moment to explain to Alicia that the expression was figurative and meant rather “to take over the operations of the shop” while she was gone. Alicia expressed gratitude toward her employer and many others who patiently corrected her, rather than criticizing her for not understanding English all of the time.
But of course, not even the self-proclaimed “language capital of the world” is completely devoid of the prevailing monolingual ideology rampant throughout much of the rest of the United States. Every one of the participants I interviewed reported feeling discriminated against at one point or another during their time spent in Monterey. For Jorge perhaps it was the hardest, as he actually attended high school here in town. As he put it:
“They are mean. Teenagers, learning English, oh man. You’re just gonna be teased to death. They will tease you. They don’t know anything about life, so they are not forgiving.”
Jorge recalled how some of his so-called “friends” and teammates on the wrestling team would often mercilessly tease him about his accent or mistakes he would make in his speech. He said they would tell him to “just learn English already” (as if it were that easy). Even into adulthood, Jorge has felt self-conscious of his linguistic status, mostly in certain parts of town or around particular demographics of people. He spoke of an incident at the Walgreens where he works, where a patron told him to “speak English or go back to your own country,” after he overheard Jorge speaking Spanish with a coworker. Jorge tried his best not to take the comment personally, as the patron seemed to have an overt mental disability. But it has made him wary. Particularly in the part of town near highway 61, or when he frequents establishments that are mostly filled with older white folks, he always speaks English, even if he’s with a friend who’s also a native Spanish speaker. He says he does this just to avoid the possibility of drama, and to minimize the amount that he sticks out in these places. Jorge’s experiences align with McGroarty’s summary of English as a ‘standard’ language (2010). The people who would target Jorge for simply speaking English in a public place, likely believe English should be the dominant language in this area, perhaps stemming from an outdated colonial-influenced desire to control the language sphere and thus, the people within it. Conscious of this ideology, Jorge perceives a possible threat to his own or others’ wellbeing when he speaks Spanish in a public place, therefore limiting his willingness to speak anything other than English when out and about with his friends.
Lucy also described her experiences becoming exhausted by the constant barrage of English in town. But perhaps her struggles with being an English learner in Monterey stem less from the ideology of the town, but rather her attempts to negotiate her identity as a bilingual person. Though her English is extremely technically proficient, she often feels left out during interactions at social hours, with her American professors or at home with her American housemates. A lack of knowledge of the cultural references and colloquial language of English speakers leaves her feeling excluded after a while. Since moving to Monterey she even feels physical effects of exhaustion after trying to function in her L2 all day, and believes she cannot connect emotionally to the fullest with native English speakers. Luckily she maintains close ties with her Chinese classmates and her family and partner in China, who are all native Chinese speakers. While she loves Monterey and would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn English, there seems to be an intangible barrier that prevents her from sharing her real self in English, no matter how kind and patient most people are.
As a final question for each of my interviewees, I asked them if they believed it was “necessary” to know English in order to live here. Without batting an eye, all three of them said that they thought it undoubtedly was. Alicia articulated it best when she explained that although there are many foreign language speakers in Monterey, their communities are not widespread enough to support one another completely. Even Spanish speakers, who have a broad network and many resources available to them in their native language, will find it extremely difficult to get a job here without English proficiency, or to integrate to the Monterey community in general. Jorge also mentioned his mother as an example, who only speaks very minimal English because she had to forego her English courses in order to care for her family. She is connected to many members of the Spanish speaking community, but still finds herself quite isolated by a life lead almost exclusively in Spanish. Their responses could be an indicator of the imagined (but also very realistic) community in which English language learners envision themselves, once they become fluent enough in the language. As McKay summarizes in her chapter titled English as an International Language, knowledge of English grants social and intellectual mobility, or at least the hope of it (2010).
All in all, Monterey is appealing for many wishing to learn or improve their English. The educational resources, friendly atmosphere and diversity of languages make it a welcoming place for those who want to start a new life in the US or simply spend a few years here. However, it’s not without its prejudices. Despite the varied native languages of its inhabitants, life in Monterey is carried out in English, and those who don’t speak it well may ultimately struggle to feel at home here.
Sources:
English as a Second Language (ENSL). (n.d.). In Monterey Peninsula College website. Retrieved February 14, 2015, from http://www.mpc.edu/academics/academic-divisions/humanities/english-as-a-second-language-ensl
ESL classes. (2011, October 11). In The Peace Resource Center. Retrieved February 10, 2015, from https://peacecentral.wordpress.com/esl-classes/
I want to improve my English!. (n.d.). In Monterey County Libraries website – Adult Literacy Program. Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/library/ALP/learners.html
Intensive English programs. (n.d.). In Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey website. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.miis.edu/academics/language/programs/english
McGroarty, M. E. (2010). Language and ideologies. In N. H. Hornberger & S. L. McKay (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language education (pp. 3-33). Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications.
McKay, S. L. (2010). English as an International Language. In N. H. Hornberger & S. L. McKay (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language education (pp. 3-33). Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications.