Rep. Henry Cuellar announced today that the U.S. Department of Education has launched a new website aimed at helping people with limited English. The website is free and located at www.usalearns.org.

“I congratulate the Department of Education for taking the initiative and for looking out after people and helping them with their literacy skills,” said Congressman Cuellar. “Being fluent in English is something that benefits everyone, from being better parents, to being a better employer and employee, to becoming active members of the community. Bilingual individuals are highly sought all over.”

The website offers the following features:
• An easily accessible Internet learning tool;
• Simple directions;
• Free instructional materials developed to teach basic English skills and help adults improve their English proficiency; and
• Learning modules that can be used outside a traditional classroom

The site provides users the option to use directions in English or Spanish and select their level a beginner or intermediate level. Twenty units are offered in the beginner course, including numbers, the calendar, places to go, families, schools, clothes, money, and shopping. The challenges increase in the intermediate course, which is aimed at furthering the user’s existing English reading and writing skills.

According to data provided by the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, it is estimated that as many all 11 million adults in the United States are not literate in English, and that approximately only one million of these individuals are served by local and state programs.