OneAmerica provided a 13-week series English Innovations classes this winter, with support from the 2013 Technology Matching Fund, for immigrants living and working in Seattle. Twenty-four immigrants learned a combination of English and technology skills through English Innovations’ unique blended program model. During weekly classes, a technology coach and dedicated volunteers assisted students with basic computer and Internet skills, as well as English grammar and conversation. Students used language-learning software provided by Livemocha, a Rosetta Stone-like online […] 
One America English Innovations Graduates
OneAmerica provided a 13-week series English Innovations classes this winter, with support from the 2013 Technology Matching Fund, for immigrants living and working in Seattle. Twenty-four immigrants learned a combination of English and technology skills through English Innovations’ unique blended program model. During weekly classes, a technology coach and dedicated volunteers assisted students with basic computer and Internet skills, as well as English grammar and conversation. Students used language-learning software provided by Livemocha, a Rosetta Stone-like online tool. They also received loaner laptops with Internet access to continue with required practice outside of class.
One student, Aoxiang, is married and moved to the US from China in 2008. She speaks Cantonese, her native language, and reads and writes Mandarin. She had taken ESL classes before, but had to quit because of her work schedule.
Aoxiang enrolled in an English Innovations class held at the Best Western Executive Inn in the evenings, and says she found the course more fun and interesting than the ESL class she had previously taken. She does not have a computer at home and her cell phone does not have Internet access. Instead she uses a computer at the public library. Now, after taking the class, she sends emails and talks on Skype with friends and family. She also uses the Internet to check her work schedule, request days off, and find directions. She did not know how to do these things before.
Aoxiang says the class has changed her life. Now, when she talks with people, she is more fluent and more confident and people understand her more quickly. She no longer has to repeat herself all the time at work or in the grocery store. Now, when she has a question to ask of someone, she can do so herself and no longer has to rely on her son to interpret. She says she would love to take another English Innovations class, perhaps at a slightly higher level.
Congratulations, Aoxiang, and to all the other English Innovations graduates! For more information on the project, contact Becky Pogany.