JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – Nervous laughter breaks out as language instructor Ernesto Montes asks a man in a yellow vest, “What’s your license plate number?”
When the man struggles to answer, Montes reassures him, “it’s OK,” and goes on with the day’s English lesson inside a Juarez trucking company’s conference room.
Later, he reflects on the urgency to teach a foreign language to Spanish-speaking individuals who never saw the need to learn English despite living along the U.S.-Mexico border their whole lives.
“It’s incredible. They come knowing just the basics they learned at school, basic words like ‘door,’ ‘truck,'” said Montes, who works for a company called SVS. “(But) they’re starting to learn how to communicate the parts of the truck, explain where they work, what they do.”
Their lack of bilingual skills needs to change in a hurry, as the Trump administration steps up enforcement of an English proficiency requirement from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
It requires all commercial drivers, including those who cross into the U.S. from Mexico, to understand traffic signs, respond to emergency situations on the road and communicate clearly with law enforcement if stopped.
“What happens with a driver if his English is not satisfactory? He is taken out of service,” said Manuel Sotelo, president of the Juarez Transportation Association. “The company has to send a driver that complies with the requisites to take over. There could be consequences for the driver and the company, and, above all, the merchandise is delivered late.”
That’s why Sotelo’s company – Fletes Sotelo – and others in Juarez have begun sponsoring English classes for their drivers.
The trucking industry executive said most Mexican truck drivers in Juarez do not venture to the interior of the United States, which is where law enforcement usually checks cargo, weight and the safety features of trucks.
With El Paso being so far away from the Detroit automakers for whom parts are assembled at Juarez maquiladoras, it doesn’t make sense for a Mexican driver to make a 1,700-mile, seven-state trip.
“Most just cross into El Paso, but we don’t know if the same language requirement will apply here on the border. We want to think it will not. But just in case, we are giving our drivers English lessons,” Sotelo said.
Back in the classroom, Gustavo Morales Rodriguez explains how driving trucks is not just a job, but a way of life, and he enjoys it. But when asked to answer questions in English, Spanish words and expressions pop up as he answers.
Do you think it’s important for you to learn English?
“No, este, since a long time ago, este, I needed to speak English. Pero, today is more necessary when I cross the border, when I cross the loaded trailer I needed speaking more English,” he said.
The drivers are already familiar with English-language signs and Texas motor vehicle regulations from their frequent trips to El Paso. They just worry they are not eloquent enough to express that knowledge to a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper or other law enforcement deep in the States.
So, Morales makes them role-play as if they had just been stopped by law enforcement.
“What is your route number?” a driver asks a colleague.
“My number is LN13,” he answers.
“Your plates?”
“388-EX7.”
Morales said he encourages his students to not just learn the basics of a traffic stop, but to continue their English comprehension. “When you learn another language, your worth goes up. The more you know the more you get,” Morales said. “You save your company money, and this is going to help in their work situations and in their everyday lives.”
ProVideo contributed to this report.
Read: Read More