A few months ago, Mamadou Jalloh, a Riverside student in Level 2, told his teacher, Doris Athineos, that he was nervous about passing his driver’s road test, despite enrolling in a driving school. In her four years as a teacher at Riverside, Doris noticed that while many students are already experienced, licensed drivers back in their home countries, passing the road test has been a persistent challenge for students, largely due to the lack of attention given to ESL students in driving schools: “Some agents speak quickly and not always clearly. Some of the instructions and commands are unique to driving and difficult for new English speakers to understand.”
Doris learned that while NYC has one of the nation's lowest road test pass rates, there are no programs in New York dedicated to helping immigrants overcome the language hurdles and pass the road test. She decided to develop a curriculum to help students understand conversational driving expressions and address the learning gap ESL students experience in driving schools. During the Cycle 4 class, 9 out of Doris’ 18 students stated that they would be very interested in participating in the program.
“We are not teaching students how to drive but teaching them the language they will need to be successful and confident for their road test.”
The curriculum was developed from student input on confounding colloquial phrases. In a test run of the program, Doris helped Jalloh after school to identify expressions that confused him. Certain terms were foreign to Jalloh and other Riverside students, including “traffic jam,” “hazard lights,” “DUI,” and commands such as “Pull over,” “Pop the trunk,” and “Buckle up.”
For many immigrants in New York, passing the road test and obtaining a driver’s license can increase their income immediately and make a significant difference in their day-to-day lives. According to a 2018 study from the New School, 90 percent of NYC’s app-based drivers are immigrants. Many Riverside students are delivery workers and aspire to become rideshare drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft, which can double and even triple their income. Failing to pass the road test can result in a delay of several months to retake the test and also requires paying additional fees.
The pilot program is especially important in light of the passage of the Green Light Bill in 2019 by the New York State Legislature. The law permits all New Yorkers the opportunity to obtain a driver’s license, regardless of immigration status. The law also compels DMVs throughout the state to offer the written driver’s test in more than 30 languages. However, applicants with limited English proficiency are still required to perform the road test in English.
A few weeks ago, Jalloh arrived to class with a big smile on his face and a driver’s license in hand. Riverside hopes to expand the pilot into a five-week evening program with the goal of a 100 percent passage rate of participating students.
Berta Colón, Executive Director of Riverside, shared her enthusiasm for the program: “The Driver’s Education Program serves as one more critical resource available to our students and demonstrates how Riverside continues to adapt to best serve the needs of our community.”