Havana - English for Everyone

Havana: English for Everyone / Ivan Garcia
Posted on October 31, 2014

In a city of two and a half million inhabitants such as Havana — its
streets riddled with potholes, its garbage cans overflowing, its
hydraulic networks shattered and a layer of soot covering the facades of
its homes and commercial buildings — it seems anachronistic to see
language schools teaching British English.

At the corner of Graciela street and Santa Catalina, a four-lane avenue
lined with Jacaranda trees in the Tenth of October district twenty-five
minutes from the center of the capital, stands a privately-run English
language school with courses of study developed by the UK's prestigious
Cambridge University.

It is headquartered in a large house with air-conditioned classrooms and
flat screen TVs mounted to the walls. It offers courses for children 4
to 11 years old and adolescents up to age 18. It also offers specialized
prep courses for international exams.

The faculty is first rate. And although it costs 20 CUC to register and
another 10 CUC a month for tuition, the school is no longer accepting
new students due to lack of capacity.

Adriana, a civil engineer, enrolled her eleven-year-old daughter in the
school. "It's quite expensive," she says, "but thanks to help from the
girl's grandmother, who lives overseas, I can afford to pay for these
English classes."

It costs Osvaldo, a private-sector worker, a bit more. "I enrolled my
two sons," he says. "The sacrifice is worth it; they get a lot of
personal attention and the teaching methods are excellent."

Each student is given an 8-gigabyte flash drive with learning materials,
textbooks, exercise books, pencils, pens and a light blue bag. Erasmus,
who teaches classes for children, notes, "In the two years the school
has been operating, the reception has been tremendous. Over 80 people
attend the Monday and Friday evening classes. We guarantee students will
learn both forms of English — the UK and the US versions — as well as
idioms used in cities like New York and Miami."

In a spacious porticoed house with a carefully tended rose garden half a
mile from the Britannia private school, Adela teaches English to
children, adolescents and adults for 10 CUC per month.

"I give classes three times a week in two different time slots. On
September 10 I had to stop enrolling students. In addition to the 10 CUC
a month, the first month costs 8 CUC, which covers textbooks,
specialized DVDs and other material," explains Adela.

In Tenth of October alone — with 213,000 inhabitants, it is Havana's
most populous district — there are sixty private English language schools.

"In addition to these there are eleven or twelve state-run schools that
offer language classes at night," says Gregorio, a local high school
English teacher. "In addition to price, the main difference between
these and the private schools is quality. The classes taught at the
private schools are much better than those at state schools."

Havana probably has more English language classes per capita than any
other city on the planet. This was not always the case. In the 1970s and
1980s there were a few state-run foreign language schools in English,
German, French or Russian.

By the mid-1980s English language classes were being suppressed in Cuban
schools. "It was crazy," recalls Renato, a philologist. "Russian was
adopted but it didn't enjoy widespread acceptance in spite of the fact
that Radio Rebelde broadcast Russian courses."

But with the fall of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, English
language instruction returned to school curricula. With new regulations
in 1994 providing greater options for self-employment, hundreds of
teachers, interpreters and translators of the language of Shakespeare
began giving classes as a way to earn money and improve their quality of
life.

Twice a week, Marlén gives English lessons to about twenty students, all
under the age of twelve. "I charge 5 CUC a month. I worked as part of a
team translating books and articles for Fidel Castro. But I am retired
and my 300 Cuban peso a month pension is not enough to live comfortably."

You wil find that prices run the gamut in Havana, from 1 CUC per class,
or 3 CUC a month, to 10 or 15 CUC a month in private academies or
well-equipped homes.

According to Carlos, a sociologist, the demand for classes in English
and other foreign languages for younger kids and adolescents is driven
by the desire of many parents to prepare their children for emigration
in the future.

"Not since before 1959, when there were schools throughout Havana
offering free English language classes, have so many students of all
ages been studying English in such a serious and in-depth way. It is
taught in state schools but the classes are poor quality. Behind the
high-demand is a desire to be prepared to work, study or live in the
United States, Canada or some other English-speaking country. No
self-respecting professional — whether he or she is an engineer,
programmer or high-tech worker — can avoid the study of the English
language. Knowing how to speak English is essential in today's world."

Juan Antonio, a Cuban-American living in Miami, knows firsthand the
importance of English. "I spent four years working in low-paying jobs
because I had not mastered the language. That's why I send money to my
nephews and nieces, so that they can learn English from an early age,"
he says. "When it comes time to leave, they will have opportunities for
better jobs."

With the new winds blowing through the island, among the goals a bright
young man like Jonathan has is to learn English well enough to attend an
American university.

"Young Cubans are always preparing because we hope to get scholarships
to study at American or European universities. A degree from any
prestigious university is an advantage that will allow us to find
good-paying jobs. It's no longer enough just to emigrate. After
arriving, I want to thrive," says Jonathan.

Comfortable schools with modern teaching methods, such as Britannia in
Havana's Santa Catalina Avenue, offer the quality that those who see
their future in an English-speaking country are looking for.

Iván García

Photo from Martí Noticias

23 October 2014

Source: Havana: English for Everyone / Ivan Garcia | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/havana-english-for-everyone-ivan-garcia/