A ‘willingness’ to learn English

Children learn English in one class and the parents are learning in another class at the same time. This is certainly the best way for all of them to learn. DP

Many parents of immigrant students were eager to attend expanded classes

By Allison Graber
fortwayne.com: May Mon, a seven-year Burmese refugee living in Fort Wayne, wakes up Saturday mornings with one goal in mind.

She dresses her two children and goes to the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Minority Immigrant Literacy Program. Instead of waiting for her children to finish the class like she used to, she learns English in a separate room for adults.

The IPFW literacy program, formerly known as the Burmese Literacy Program, offers classes to students ages 5 to 12 who do not speak English as a native language. Kyaw T. Soe, program founder, organized the program for children in 2003 with his own money when he saw that Burmese students were falling behind in school. In January the program, open to minority immigrants of all nationalities, offered a new opportunity for the students’ parents.

On the upstairs floor, above the bustling activities in the students’ room, adults learn English.
“We need to learn to speak English very well, and then we can read, and then we can write a letter,” Mon, 35, said.
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