English-language learners might find it interesting to follow Simon Cho in the upcoming winter Olympics in Vancouver. He’s a Korean-born speedskater who lived in this country illegally as a child, but is now a U.S. citizen and representing this country in the Olympics this year (Learning the Language – Mary Ann Zehr).

I haven’t paid much attention to the Olympics since they were here in Utah. I mainly celebrated that one by partying a lot down at the Dutch House (and it was awesome when they won gold). I had to buy some orange clothing so that I could fit in with the crowd.

Anyway, I’m interested to follow Cho this year.

In 1995, when I got my LDS mission call to Philadelphia’s Cambodian refugees, I knew nothing of Cambodia or its history.  I did a two month language learning stint at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and then flew to Philadelphia. I very quickly became familiar with South Philadelphia’s narrow and littered streets, and I came to love the southeast Asian people who lived there.  In the almost 15 years that have lapsed since, I feel I have become more than somewhat Cambodian at heart.  One day I’d like to visit Cambodia.

From the NY Times (Via Larry Ferlazzo):

There is clearly a need for policies and programs to support immigrant parents and children, but the reality is as haphazard and tenuous as these children’s lives often are. Millions are growing up in mixed families, with some members here illegally, others not. Bills to help immigrant families with a path to legalization have died repeatedly in Congress, and small-scale reforms like the Dream Act, a path to college or the military for children of illegal immigrants have been stymied for years. New investments in language education, citizenship preparation and after-school and preschool programs have been derailed by economic crisis, harsh immigration politics and a general lack of attention.

This is the great challenge that is forgotten in the heat of the immigration debate. The children of immigrants are Americans. “They” are “us,” a cohort of newcomers who will be filling the demographic void left as the baby boomers start fading away. Their future is our country’s future. The job of integrating them is not only unfinished but in many critical ways has hardly begun.