Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
Literacy volunteers provide tools
for success
My
Central Jersey.com: 11.30.2014 by Jay Jefferson
Emoke Kotroczo is very bright.
In her homeland, Kotroczo, 37, a
resident of the Somerset section of Franklin, studied agriculture engineering
and economics. But her homeland of Budapest, Hungary, is a long way from
Franklin Township. You could say it is a world away.
And a new world presents new
challenges.
“When we arrived in the United
States almost two years ago and we spent almost three months in the hotel, I
had no job and no work permit, so I tried to learn English better,” said
Kotroczo, who came to the United States with her husband. “I didn’t understand.
I tried listening to television and learning online. I went to the Franklin
Township Library, but there was no free place, the conversation group was full.
“The receptionist at the library
mentioned Literacy Volunteers of
Somerset County (LVSC). I checked on the Internet and I found their
conversation group at the Bound Brook
Library. They were very kind and told me there was a free place and I could
enjoy it,” she said.
Despite feeling nervous, Kotroczo
gave it a chance. READ
MORE !
Carino: Literacy tutors changing
lives in Ocean County
Asbury
Park Press: 12.01.2014 by Jerry Carion
If you're reading this, then you
probably take it for granted. The ability to read, that is.
Ken didn't. When he came to Literacy
Volunteers of Ocean County in 2011, the Lacey resident stated a simple
goal.
"He could barely read or write
at a third-grade level," tutor Chris Angersbach recalled. "He was
pushing shopping carts in the Shop Rite parking lot. He said, 'I don't want to
do this all my life.'
"There are more people like
Ken than you think. Charlotte Fahey, executive director of Literacy New
Jersey's Ocean County programs, estimates 60,000 in that county alone. That's
10 percent of the population. More than half are immigrants.
Tutors are in high demand. Fahey's
program counts about 50 of them. The volunteers work with a total of 75-100
students, and there is a waiting list.
"If you know how to read, you
have a gift to give someone else," said Fahey, who has been tutoring for
40-plus years. "It's extraordinary what happens when you do this."
What
happens, exactly? Read
on.
Literacy Volunteers respond to
county education need
Las Cruces Sun News: 12.02.2014 by
Matlin Carter
After a group of New Mexico State
University graduate students recognized a need to help with adult literacy,
they started the Literacy
Volunteers of Doña Ana County, which, after 30 years, is
still serving county residents and even expanding to serve nearby rural
communities.
"They saw a need, particularly
in the Hispanic area in this area. Many people come over from Mexico and they
don't know the language and they can't function in society, so they get English
as a second language (ESL) tutors for those who are below a sixth-grade level
in an area," said Susan Ya-Senka, coordinator for the Literacy Volunteers.
According to statistics cited on
the nonprofit's website, between 21 and 23 percent of the 191 million adults
who live in the United States show skills in the lowest literacy level and
illiteracy creates a larger national problem. According to statistics from the
U.S. Department of Education, 60 percent of prison inmates are illiterate and
85 percent of all juvenile offenders have reading problems.
The Literacy Volunteers hope to
target that part of the population and serve more than 400 learners each year
with more than 100 volunteers, who teach them reading, writing, math, personal
health literacy, financial literacy, citizenship and GED preparation in
history, math, science or English. Tutoring sessions are given on a one-to-one
basis and in small groups. READ
MORE !
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