Project English
Rotary is an international service club with local affiliations. There are five Rotary Clubs with more than 200 members in the Fargo-Moorhead Community. Rotary International has over 34,000 clubs and over 1.2 million members throughout the world.
Rotary has a strong commitment to literacy, community development, self-sufficiency, international peace and understanding. Fargo-Moorhead Rotary created and supports Project English because there was a need in our community. The Clubs realized they were in a perfect position to help make our community a better place.
Why Project English?
Fargo-Moorhead has settled over 2,500 refugees in the past decade, most from non- English speaking countries. While children learn English quickly in school, parents often lack access to English language learning opportunities, making it harder for them to gain employment and inhibiting their ability to handle issues with their children. As a result, some children start to “fall through the cracks” and face growing discipline problems. Parents often find it difficult to get the help they need due to language barriers and a lack of resources. This situation can create friction and problems for children, adults, and our community.
Learning a language can be very difficult and time consuming. It takes approximately 700 hours to learn an "easy" language. Learning a language can also be intimidating, especially for those who come from refugee camps, where there may have been limited educational opportunities. Computer-based learning can be less intimidating than a classroom style format because it is less embarrassing to say something wrong to a computer than to another person. Computers also allow unlimited autonomous language learning, so the highly motivated can learn English very quickly.
The Rosetta Stone program was chosen because it is an easy-to-use, intuitive program that is “point and click” and is based on natural immersion-based language learning. No boring grammar drills or tedious vocabulary memorization. Rosetta Stone can also be used by individuals who can’t read or write because it is based on pictures and speaking. Individuals using the program progress at their own rate. All learning is customized and helpers have complete visibility into the learning progress for each learner.
When and how did Project English start?
This project was brought to the attention of Rotary by one of its members, Heather Ranck. Heather secured funding through the Clubs and rallied members to become involved as volunteers. Rotary’s mission with this project is to help New Americans become successful members of the Fargo-Moorhead community through Rotary friendship and access to computer-based English language learning resources. The organization wants to change vicious cycles into virtuous cycles. Club members believe that language can be a foundation for success for parents and families.
Rotary Clubs have committed over $6,000 to this project. Thus far,143 volunteers have provided over 1,000 hours assisting 172 New Americans at eight locations. Volunteers are Rotarians and community partners to include some businesses and an NDSU fraternity (Delta Tau Delta). Additional community partners include Discovery Benefits, RSVP+, several NDSU Professors who incorporate Service Based Learning into their curricula, and Carl Ben Eielson Middle School staff.