Maine East receives grant to enhance language skills
Maine East High School's SkillsUSA program has received a $10,000 grant from Lowe's Charitable and Education Foundation that will fund a project to help enhance everyday language skills of Hispanic students.
The Lowe's-sponsored program, Sed de Saber, is designed to address job-site challenges presented by communication barriers. Sed de Saber (which in English translates to "thirst for knowledge") uses a seven-book, interactive curriculum to teach Spanish-speaking workers a functional level of English-language conversation and comprehension skills. The learn-at-home program teaches each worker 500 vocabulary words and 340 phrases covering basic skills such as job site scenarios, tools, equipment and scheduling.
SkillsUSA's annual membership exceeds more than 300,000 students and instructors in more than 3,700 schools, including Maine East, where faculty sponsor Jonathan Hunter works with 23 students and says of the Sed de Saber program that ""It opens up a door to a student population that has faced an almost insurmountable hurdle of limited job opportunities in the past."
At Maine East, the Sed de Saber program is a partnership between the English as a Second Language and Applied Arts and Technology departments. SkillsUSA members and ESL students will form peer partnerships, use special software for language development and will interact in class and at club meetings. This week, students unpacked and began putting to use the Sed de Saber kits containing the software and electronics that will deliver this language instruction. Several East students have been designated as tutors to provide even further assistance for ESL students as they use the Sed de Saber program.
SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization of students, teachers and industry - all working together to ensure that the United States has a skilled work force. SkillsUSA helps high school and college students enrolled in career and technical education programs to excel by teaching employability skills such as communication, problem solving and leadership. This is all done in conjunction with students learning skills for trade, technical and service occupations.
"By supporting SkillsUSA, Lowe's is working to motivate and inspire future industry leaders and spark interest in careers where skilled workers are in demand," said Larry D. Stone, chairman of Lowe's Charitable and Education Foundation. The Foundation is associated with Lowe's, a Fortune 50 company with more than 1,600 stores in the United States and Canada.
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