English language standards in question
(CNS): An MLA has questioned the level of enforcement over English language standards among work permit holders after the Ritz Carlton recently undertook a recruitment campaign for a language tutor to improve the English spoken by hotel staff. Plans to mandate that permit holders sit a language test at international centres before coming here have been abandoned and immigration officials confirmed that those who are not native English speakers are still tested by officials on arrival.
However, the Ritz, which has the highest number of work permits held by a single employer, is recruiting a part-time English as a foreign language tutor to improve the accents, pronunciation and grammar of its staff.
Concerns have been raised for some time about improving the standard of English of work permit holders on the tourism frontline and North Side MLA Ezzard Miller raised his concern that staff are being recruited to the island who don’t meet the standards as required in the law. During his contribution to the debate Miller maintained that frontline tourism workers were not able to speak English as well as they should and that this was another example of foreign workers being held to far lower standards than locals.
Miller told his colleagues that Caymanians must have qualifications and experience in droves while those on permits are increasingly failing to meet even the most basic requirements of experience or language in critical tourism posts.
CNS asked the management at the Ritz a number of questions about their goal to find someone to help improve the language skills of their staff and the motivation behind the decision to have an in-house language teacher. The hotel sent a brief comment stating, “We support the enrichment of our ladies and gentlemen as they pursue their English language skill development. This directly correlates to their service delivery to our guests and fulfillment of their individual future career aspirations.”
The spokesperson did not answer the questions, however, about the English tests their staff are taking before arrival or the recruitment in the first place of people whose spoken English is not up to scratch as required by law.
Immigration officials said that they were satisfied that the tests being conducted at the airport were adequate to ensure that permit holders were able to speak English. Acting Chief Immigration Officer Bruce Smith explained that taking a test at an international centre before arriving in Cayman was still an option but the plan to make that mandatory had been dropped.
“Overseas testing arrangements are done on a much smaller scale due to complaints registered that the new arrangement caused great inconvenience and expense to prospective workers,” he told CNS, but said he was satisfied with the management, security and the administration process of the local test.
“Administration of tests involve both arriving persons, those taking up a work permit for the first time or those with approved renewals where the board or the chief immigration officer is of the view that their proficiency in English should be confirmed,” he said. “The test involves listening, speaking, reading and writing sections and we work from four test banks selected randomly by the proper supervising staff member.”
Smith added that the testing of a person’s skill level is set at what can be referred to as at the level of a “competent user of English” and not a “very good” or perhaps an “expert user”.
“The band level that has been established and applied locally by the Department of Immigration is on par with the International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS). This level describes the skill of the applicant where he will have a generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies … and misunderstandings. The individual can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations.”
Smith noted that the pass mark across the board at all locations is set at 75% and this was “vigorously enforced”. He added, “The policy governing the test is well thought out, which serves to preserve the integrity of the process.”
The immigration boss stated that communication is an art and that there should be an appreciation for both listening and communicating with persons of other dialects. “Foreign workers whose first language is not English must appreciate that the primary language spoken in Cayman is English. To ensure that non-English speaking workers assimilate well during their time on island they should converse in English when on and off the job in an effort to maintain the competent user standard.”
The immigration department has contacted entities in the past and informed them that they should remind their foreign language speaking staff to converse in English and do their utmost to speak and listen carefully when serving customers, Smith said.
He also welcomed the move by the Ritz to raise the standard of English spoken or written at the hotel, saying, “This is commendable in my books.”
However, Miller said he was gravely concerned that local workers were still fighting at every turn to get work and having to jump through hoops for jobs in tourism, in stark contrast to the ease with which foreign workers are able to acquire permits without, in some cases, any relevant experience at all.
The independent MLA called on government to enforce the immigration law and start fining employers that break it, as they promised when they changed the legislation to remove the seven-year term and allow everyone on a permit to apply for permanent residency.
See details of English language requirements and testing process on the immigration website
Category: Jobs, Local News
Just common or garden racism really.
Isn’t this just the law of unintended consequences, when Immigration started putting in quoata’s for Jamaican’s, people had to look further afield for workers who can stand the heat and will work for cheap. Some will be from places where English isn’t their first language. Best to make your mind up and stick with it, cheap willing labour from wherever, or English only speakers from a concentration of countries.
You folks just hate it when Miller does his job don’t you
Why dosent Ezzard focus more on the real life issues, especially the piss poor customer service in government. I posted here a few weeks ago about my niece who went to labour board to get assistance only to be told she would get a call back in24 hours….and that turned out to be a call FOUR days later. This sort of behavior is where the energy of MLAs need to be focused. Or how about the 3 or 4 cases that were lost by this same office in the past months. Or how about Customs coding goods wrong and people ending up paying wrong duty amounts. The list goes on, yet time is wasted on an English test that Stemla could pass! Shows where our priorities are.
I think it’s interesting that Ezzard thinks that the Ritz would rather hire non-English speakers than Caymanians. What could be their motive other than the fact that Caymanians clearly don’t like hotel jobs?
While I have read the topic and all the comments , I find that the issue of speaking English is only part of the problems that Mr Miller is trying to get across. But because Miller is not the most popular politican, while we do not wish to understand what he is saying , makes it a other part of the issue, we must learn to be part of the solution, not part of the problems.
Perhaps it wasn’t clear. The Ritz is hiring the tutor to improve the English skills of some of the employees. Who is to say it isn’t the Caymanian employees?
Same old story from the same old people. Why does not one ask the honest question of why employers don’t want to hire Caymanians. It isn’t some conspiracy.
There is no conspiracy, but there certainly is a standard business model. Work Permits provide for total control and effectively preclude employee mobility. It follows that in most cases they are worth the cost and hassle.The irony is that a system designed to protect locals is now achieving the opposite.
We had to bring in a minimum wage in for what? Not Caymanians. What happened to the Ritz hiring all caymanians…guess not……don’t preach to me to hire caymanians when government endorses companies that don’t hire them. Doesn’t that sound great the tourism field is all foreigners lmao lmao lmao
As an ex employee of the Ritz I can confirm that several of my former colleagues couldn’t speak a lick of English.
English language is only half the problem with that place… I was a college graduate back then trying to work my way up through the ranks. I decided to leave the hotel because after 4 years of loyal service I grew frustrated that an expat with equal qualifications but less experience than me was given the opportunity to take up a manager in training roll. Thank goodness I left when I did because new employers have given me the opportunities to grow which the Ritz denied me.
Frankly, the way that place is run and the way Caymanians are treated stinks.
Glad it worked out for you, it’s their loss at the end of the day, and the extra WP fees affect their bottom line
I find it interesting how these comments always include a self assessment of work skills and experience. Did it occur to anyone that the RC likes staff who will move properties if and when needed? If the hotel is going to invest in an employee then surely it makes sense to invest in the one who will become the most useful and versatile. I would be curious to know how many Caymanian staff the RC has working on properties outside of the Cayman Islands.
Why does no one ask why a company like RC or any other for that matter would go out of their way to pay extra fees and costs just to hold back a Caymanian from advancement.
Basic common or garden not so thinly veiled racism.
maybe ezzard should listen to a play-back of super tuesday on rooster……..
Que?
Oh please, they just bat their eye lashed and pass. How is it that you can go into the bars and not only do they not speak proper English but all they do is converse in Spanish or Tagalog. Go to any place that there is more than one of the same language and they are yelling across aisles in their foreign language. A customer walking into a store that I was in recently said, “I feel like I’m in Miami”. For once, I agree with Ezzard which is scary. And 75%? It should be 100%.
CNS could you check whether this appointment is aimed at training R-C’s ex-pat employees or their Caymanian staff?
Last time I was at R-C some of the ‘local workers’ Ezzard Miller refers to above conversed in what can be best described as patois – I doubt that most of them could have come close to passing an English test.
CNS Note: The Ritz would not answer the questions sent but the advertisement was for an English as a foreign language teacher so that makes it fairly clear it is for staff who speak English as a second language.
You would have to travel far far back in time to find Caymanians who you could not understand. More likely you were overhearing some Jamaicans. But you evidently wouldn’t know the difference. If they’re dark they must local, right?
@HG – I’ve been around the Caribbean since the 1970s and know the difference – trust me they weren’t Jamaican.
You think Ezzard has a sound grasp of the English language?
Thanks CNS, that pretty much proves the point I was making. As always the wording of the ad was just a WP requirement and R-C won’t comment because it could get embarrassing. In fairness R-C have really tried to recruit locally in the past but it always seems to bite them in the arse.
I think that since the government is taking the action of English to attain a work permit , they should also be doing a complete background check on everyone that needs a work permit . This would help keep a clean house , but a clean house has to start in the house .
Hey Ezzard – how about we ask some country Jamaicans and the Honduran spouses of Caymanians coming here to work to do the test? In some gas stations it is almost impossible to find anyone that really speaks English at all, and all you are worried about is that some hard working Czech needs a little help with their accent so that a tourist from North Carolina feels more loved?
Where is Ezzard’s significant other from again? Is she keeping a Caymanian out of work?
He likes to grumble and complain, but I think he would have to agree that he is content and very well kept.
Dont be a prick…
But then that would be like asking a scotch bonnet pepper not to be hot…
Perhaps he can confirm if she has ever sat an English test here?
Another racist rabble-rousing tirade by Ezzard, the English Professor. Odd that this should be at the top of his pile of priorities even while, Webb remains president of CIFA. None of our provincial-thinking MLAs seem to know what is actually important for the people of Cayman.
The standards are a joke. You don’t have to go far to encounter work permit staff who cannot speak English. Most of them appear to be younger women from Central America.
It seems the Filipino workers are held to a higher standard than the Latin American workers. I have encountered many Spanish speaking workers here who can’t speak English at all, or who are impossible to understand when they do speak. The Filipinos definitely have a better grasp of the language.
That’s right! Don’t employ Caymanians! Ensure that the work permit holders learn English to keep the Caymanians out of the workplace! What a crock of s**t! I hope when
Here we go again, Ezzard stirring up trouble where none need exist. Who cares if a janitor can only grasp basic English unless they are are displacing a Caymanian equally qualified, and unless there are Caymanians willing and able to fill the jobs then who cares if they speak English slightly, well, or very well. If the Ritz wants to spend their own time and money benefitting their staff then good luck.
Agreed. Far too often when I shop retail and cashiers are from non-English speaking countries, they cannot get my order right. Burger King and Wendy’s – please note!!
Stop eating that junk and cook your self a healthy meal. You will save in medical expenses in the future and maybe lose a few unwanted pounds. Food for thought.
Childish!
I’m sorry, but you have swallowed a myth!!
yawn….the usual miller nonsense..