Classroom for DALC Charity School

Anh, her English name is Helen, is a vibrant and energetic Vietnamese girl that has been with the DALlC school from the start. Her father is a carpenter and her mother sells flowers in the market.  They had not been able to afford to send her to a private language school despite  her strong desire to learn English.  She hopes someday to become a police officer.

In November of last year I started a free English Language school for low income Vietnamese kids between the ages of 10-14 years old. Each student attends class three times a week (1.5 HR sessions) and our average class size is 24 students. We (My wife Nga and I) started with 240 children but beginning in July of this year we increased our enrollment to 480 students. All of our kids come from low income families; Many are children of farmers, factory workers or street merchants who struggle to make ends meet. We also have children with physical disabilities as well as orphans cared for by the state.  All of our educational services including books and school uniforms are provided at no cost.
Our school DALC is non-denominational. Learning English is a valuable skill, potentially life-changing in terms of future employment opportunities. Private English language schools are plentiful here but are expensive and completely out of the reach of the standard Vietnamese family.
We currently employ five Vietnamese teachers and benifit greatly from the help of a handful of English speaking volunteers who visit the school. We are also thankful for our Skype partners who take the time to visit with our kids and help them perfect their speaking skills.
We are currently building a second classroom to accomidate the new students. We would appreciate any support you might be able to give us in this project. Nga and I have paid all the expenses of this charitable effort ourselves from the beginning because We believe that what We are doing is important to the future of these children.
The funds we are asking for are for the expense of constructing the classroom--the structure, windows and doors, a simple bathroom and air-conditioning. We already have the chairs, desks, video moniter and chalkboard as well as a library of books for this second classroom. You can track the history and progress of DALC in it's entirety at our facebook page: DALC Doan American Language Center. If you are interested in being a skype partner or visiting our school We would appreciate your help very much.