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Another Graduate Featured in Sacramento Bee

November 15, 2007

Luther Burbank High's program to teach English targets not only students but their entire families
By Kim Minugh - kminugh@sacbee.com
© 2007 The Sacramento Bee

Huddled in a corner of their south Sacramento house, their faces awash in the blue glow of the computer screen, the Yang family is learning the intricacies of English grammar.

Seven siblings – ages 5 through 18 – read in chorus the sentence on the screen: "Magnetic storms create cool, dark patches on the Sun's surface. They are sunspots."

Then the children fight over the mouse, eager to show their grammatical knowledge by clicking on nouns and verbs.

For these Hmong children, in the United States just three years this month, this is a slow yet steady lesson in a new language they must master to succeed. It is a lesson they can practice to perfection in the comfort of their own home, learning in unison with squirmy siblings and without the pressure of the regular classroom.