Help Educate Brazil's Promising Underserved Youth

Two extraordinary young people stand out among the highly promising youth that English+ identifies and supports in Brazil.

 

Heitor, fifteen, dreams of becoming a cardiologist or an obstetrician. In his spare time, he plays piano and loves to bake. Heitor lives with his parents, brother, and grandmother in an underprivileged section of São Paulo. Their household income is less than US$1500 a month.

 

Kamilly also hopes to become a doctor—perhaps a pediatrician—or a teacher. Eleven years old, she too likes to cook. Kamilly’s father supports the family on a monthly income of less than US$400 from his work as a fabric cutter.

 

Heitor and Kamilly, like almost all socioeconomically disadvantaged youth in Brazil, attend only a half day of school. Without English+, a program launched in 2019 to promote social mobility, their aspirations to achieve more in life might not reach fruition.

English+ is dedicated to identifying young people of great promise and supplementing their education to boost their chances of high achievement. Starting in sixth grade, qualifying students attend live online classes that are taught in English and focused on math for the second half of the school day—graduating from high school fully bilingual and with math ability far above Brazil’s standard. Since less than 5% of Brazil's population can speak English and math scores are among the lowest in the world, students with these skills can unlock access to university education, remunerative jobs, and leadership in Brazilian society.

 

With a cost per student of around US$400 per year, English+ is a highly efficient, innovative way to transform the lives of Brazil’s underprivileged youth. English+, which has served over 100 students so far, aims to scale up to serve at least 250 students next year at a cost of US$100,000, but it can only grow with your help. Your contribution provides scholarships for students like Heitor and Kamilly who are identified through a rigorous process and are nurtured academically by caring, dedicated teachers so they have the means to reach their potential. English+'s teaching corps includes Ciara, a young African-American Yale graduate, and Daniel, who was raised by his grandparents—neither of whom completed elementary school—and beat the odds as a product of Brazilian public schools to become an ESL specialist with a master's degree in language acquisition from Middlebury College.

 

Please visit http://www.englishplus.us to learn more about this program.  English+ is an initiative of the International Education Access Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and all donations are fully tax-deductible in the United States. 100% of donations made to the International Education Access Foundation through this fundraising campaign go toward English+ scholarships.

 

Thank you for your support,

Bert Leatherman

Founder and Executive Director