English Instruction on TV and Video

The face of adult education is changing--to a screen.

In an effort to meet the needs of current students and attract new ones, adult schools throughout the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles Unified School District are launching a learning program designed to make learning English almost as easy as turning on the TV or popping a videotape into the VCR.

Thanks to $5 million in state adult education funds allocated to the district to encourage more effective use of technology, students can follow scheduled programming on Channel 58 on television and use textbooks and videotapes distributed through the adult schools to learn English without leaving home.

“My problem is I don’t have very much time,” said Elena Ibarra, 37, who works six days a week packing cosmetics in a Chatsworth factory. “I hope someday I could stay in school everyday. But now I don’t have the time.”

Like many of the students who enroll in adult education, Ibarra quit her English classes at Reseda Community Adult School after only a year because she found it impossible to juggle the demands of school with work and raising four children. Now she watches a videotape whenever she has a spare moment. She admits it is not an ideal way to learn. But, she said, it is her only option.

While videotapes have been available for several years at selected schools, the distance learning program has never been organized on a districtwide basis. Coordinators of the program hope to reach 5,000 new students by the summer. In the San Fernando Valley, administrators and teachers are advertising at elementary schools and churches to attract new students.

“A lot of students attend school only 50% of the time and a lot drop out after the first week of instruction,” said Hugo Pedroza, who coordinates the distance learning program for the district. “They want the opportunity to learn English. This program accommodates their schedules rather than the other way around.”