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To make donations to the Laptops 4 Learning program, visit www.Laptops4Learning.net.
By Jeff Francis, MILE HIGH NEWS
A group of professionals in Jefferson County hopes to raise enough money to help Jeffco children from other countries learn English — through technology.
Jenee Centeno recently took the Leadership Jefferson County classes, which she described as “an eighth-grade civics class on steroids.” Now she and her teammates are leading a project they hope will live beyond the 10-month program.
The idea was generated during education portion of the Leadership program, in which the class of 40 visited area schools, including Lasley Elementary in Lakewood.
“There are quite a few students from another nation represented there,” Centeno said. “I’m guessing about 12 different languages are represented. They have one year to get students up to English proficiency before they can really enter the curriculum.”
After speaking with officials at Lasley, Centeno and her peers learned that technology was one of the most glaring shortages at the school.
She and her classmates crafted the idea that laptops would assist the children, through ESL tutorial software, to learn English more quickly.
“We started talking about putting something together what could be helpful,” she said.
The idea is to secure 20 laptops at a cost of $400 each. The laptops could be temporarily checked out from Lasley, where the ESL students would take them home and learn the software, perhaps even including their parents or grandparents in the lessons, Centeno said. The aim is that students also be mentored through older students at Red Rocks Community College and Alameda High School.
Centeno said her team is in the last push of its fundraising. She said they’re about halfway to their $10,000 goal. The Wheat Ridge Optimist Club recently made a donation.
“At the end of the day, the main benefit and the goal of the project is to help these kids learn English more quickly,” said Dan Macey, another member of the Leadership team. “I think we all understand that the better command of the English language you have, the better chances of success. This is about giving them (ESL students) a tool that’s going to make them more successful in life.”
Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters
