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Steamboat Springs — Parents who want to learn English and teach their young children English as a second language have a new network to turn to for support, advice and free lessons.

The Family Literacy Program at Colorado Mountain College's Alpine Campus, in cooperation with local agencies, is putting the tools for bilingual education into the hands of local parents via weekly English classes and family networking.

Jen le Roux, professor at CMC and coordinator of the program, said the idea to include children in the English lessons came as a response to the needs of students in her English as a Second Language courses.

"In the nighttime, people started bringing their children with them," she said.

Since the program was not designed for children, they could not be accommodated and the class started losing students.

The Family Literacy Program then was created to offer courses Wednesday and Thursday mornings. On Wednesdays, parents and children will go through English courses together. They then will be separated for specific lessons.

On Thursdays, the Family Literacy Group will meet with local community organizations at Epilogue Book Co. on Lincoln Avenue. There, parents will have the chance to learn parenting techniques and ways to expand literacy in their homes.

"We want to have literacy in everyday activities, to make homes literacy-rich environments," le Roux said. "We find children are often the interpreters, but we want parents to be teaching their children."

The group will meet from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursdays, followed by a children's story-time with the Epilogue staff. Le Roux said she hopes parents can use that time to network and talk with local experts.

The Newborn Network is one group that hopes to become involved. Volunteer Melinda Clark said it often is difficult for mothers who don't speak English to find the help they need.

"I would like to see Hispanic moms find support networks, to let them know there are people willing to help," she said. "It is very easy, when you're a part of a subculture, to not know there is help out there."

The program helps parents who speak all languages, and le Roux said the summer English courses had a wide variety of languages represented.

She also said she hopes all the parents retain their home language and uses it to teach their children to be bilingual.

"We want them to be passing down legends and stories they've heard," she said.

At last week's first meetings of the Family Literacy Program, there were few attendees, but the organizers hope their expanded advertising and flier distribution campaigns will attract more students.

All of the classes are free for students, and although the evening English classes are nearly full, they still are accepting new students.