Escuela Ministro Zenteno
The Ministro Zenteno public school, located in Viña del Mar, Chile, provides free pre-school and elementary education (pre-school to grade 8), including English classes, to 960 marginalized local students. The school sought funding for the construction of a language laboratory that would enhance their students' success in learning English by providing access to such things as an electronic dictionary, music suitable for all grades, CDs, tape recorders, radio transmissions, stories, and more. These resources would help to motivate the students by allowing them to work with authentic and lively linguistic material, and would help the school meet their goal of having 70% of their students achieve a conversational ability in English.
CIEE students initially participated by helping with the set up the language laboratory and the training of staff and students in its use. They will work with the students, in the long run, through workshops and informal teaching experiences that make use of the new resources.