Helping Immigrant Parents

 Vancouver, B.C.:

Our CAP site is located in the library of our elementary school located in the south east part of Vancouver. The students in our school are 80 % ESL. More than 20 different languages are spoken in our students' families. The cultural breakdown is 40% South Asian, 40% Chinese, and 20% everything else, including Filipino, Sri Lankan, Korean, and Vietnamese. Only 70% of the parents in our school have graduated from high school and 34% of our families have incomes less than $30,000.

The CAP computers are kept in our library which is open to parents and others every school day from 8:20 to 3:30. Often parents will use the computers after they bring their child to school and are waiting for the on-site preschool to open. We have recently purchased licences for a web-based reading program, which we have advertised as beneficial to students AND any parents who are learning to read in English. Families who do not have access to the Internet at home are encouraged to come into the library and get registered for this program which provides for individual progress as people listen to stories being read, read the story(and possibly record themselves reading), then answer a quiz about the story.

With the CAP funding, each year we have been able to purchase 3 new computers to maintain a group of 12 up-to-date computer stations in the library. This service to the families in our school would not be possible without this extra funding, particularly as school budgets continue to decrease.