FULLERTON : Computer to Help in Teaching English

English students in North County will soon have a new teacher--a computer--to help them work on their pronunciation.

The Eastside Christian School set up a computer lab in October and will offer English-as-a-second-language classes in January.

The computer will teach spoken English by using voice synthesizers, pictures and text on the screen. Kitty Keefer, computer coordinator at Eastside, said the system will combine wide-screen television and laser discs, running on interactive software called English Express.

The computer can teach pronunciation by having a voice synthesizer speak words for the student to mimic. When the student repeats the phrase, the computer will record it and play it back to let the student compare his pronunciation to the computer’s.

Keefer said the computer program has been highly successful in other areas. She said she would like to make it available to residents of Fullerton, Brea, Yorba Linda, Placentia and Anaheim Hills. The school now has a dozen computers and hopes to expand to 18, Keefer said.

The Fullerton South Rotary Club and IBM gave $7,000 in grants to the school to help purchase the equipment. Keefer said the English-as-a-second-language program is the first of many she hopes to bring to the computer laboratory at the school.

“We feel strongly about literacy, and we support making their program available to as many people as possible,” said Ron Sweney, president of the Fullerton South Rotary Club.