Vocabulary Junction: Free Vocabulary Coaching For Third Graders

Nationwide campaign, made possible by Google, launches on
Int. Literacy Day, 9/8/2010

Sebastopol, CA. (8/1/2010) - eSpindle Learning, a CA 501(c)3 nonprofit organization hosting an award-winning vocabulary program, www.LearnThatWord.org, is offering free coaching to five million third graders throughout the U.S. and Canada for the 2010-11 school year.

LearnThatWord.org designs 100% personalized learning sessions supported by a database of 150,000 words, complete with audio, images, translations in 37 languages, definitions, context samples with audio, tutoring comments, links to online resources, and more.

LearnThatWord.org, with its unique Pay-Per-Result concept, is already the most affordable way for schools to teach vocabulary. In addition, schools can enroll their third  grade classrooms in Vocabulary Junction completely free. Starting September 8^th, 2010, International Literacy Day, the Vocabulary Junction campaign lasts for one full year.

In many neighborhoods, up to 70% of fourth grade students are ill-prepared to succeed in school. As the focus shifts from learning to read to reading to learn, those who lack the vocabulary to make sense of content are doomed to fall behind. Indeed, 75% of fourth graders who struggle with literacy drop out of school later on.

The largest obstacle to achieving literacy proficiency and academic success is vocabulary.
While a middle-class child enters school knowing 2,150 words on average, a child from an underprivileged household struggles to survive with a vocabulary of 600 words (Flynn, 2008).
This vocabulary divide commonly widens dramatically during the first years of school.
An introduction to the problem and a solution, Vocabulary Junction, is available here.

To get started, schools create a free school account at www.LearnThatWord.org/schools and contact our live support to get third grade students included in the campaign. Registering will also support the school 100 free learning credits, which never expire.

Included in the campaign are unlimited customer support and professional development, as well as rewards, diplomas, and prizes.

Vocabulary Junction is made possible by the generous support of Google, who is helping eSpindle Learning raise member contributions through its Google Grants program. The program empowers thousands of nonprofits to achieve their goals of website traffic, visibility and awareness by helping them promote their websites via free online search advertising via Google AdWords.

eSpindle Learning is one of the program’s recipients. Google's powerful approach of helping nonprofits help themselves enables these organizations to become more successful at what they do and allows them to reach out to the community more effectively.

“Our nonprofit uses social entrepreneurship principles to build an organization that grows and flourishes through member support,” says Rosevita Warda, Executive Director of eSpindle Learning. “Member contributions directly sustain our philanthropic campaigns. The Google grant provided the encouragement we needed to step out and dare to launch a large campaign like Vocabulary Junction, serving millions of students.”

About eSpindle Learning:

A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, eSpindle Learning offers individualized online vocabulary and spelling coaching to help students of all ages become confident readers and writers. 

www.LearnThatWord.org offers 100% personalized tutoring and rewards students for building their vocabulary. The online tutoring service delivers customized learning sessions based on a proprietary database of 150,000 words, complete with audio, images, translations in 37 languages, definitions, sample sentences with audio, tutoring comments, links to online resources, and more.

For more information about the program, or to sign up for a free account, visit www.LearnThatWord.org.

Contacts:

Billie Sue Fischer, [email protected], Media Liaison, 415-508-3661

Rosevita Warda, [email protected], Executive Director, 415-448-6404