Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
English tutor group transforms lives
in Stoughton
TheEnterprise: 11.19.2014 by Ryan Hathaway
“The English Challenge.” This was the fitting title of a
video shown at the annual Potluck and Recognition Dinner hosted by the Stoughton Public Library
and organized by the Literacy
Volunteers of Stoughton.
Volunteers from the community try
to help the students from other countries meet that challenge. Daniel Guillen
from Venezuela knows that mastering English will help him.
“If you speak well, your life is
improved,” Guillen said. “If you want to learn, come here.”
The literacy volunteers are tutors
who work with adult learners from the Stoughton and Sharon area on basic
reading, writing and speaking English. They offer one on one tutoring,
conversation groups, specialized classes, and social gatherings – and all for
free.
“People get so excited when we help
them, there’s nothing nicer,” said Eve Beer of Canton, a tutor who was honored
at last year’s dinner. “Where else can you work, where, instead of politics you
get hugs?”
The group features diversity with
students and tutors collaborating together from 39 countries, with 23 languages
spoken. READ MORE !
Nashville Adult Literacy Council
helps adults improve their English
Tennessean:
11.20.2014 by Andy Humbles
Nashville's Ron Richardson was tired
of guessing at grocery store items from their pictures, unable to write family
letters or pay bills.
"You can't hardly imagine
unless you've been there," said Richardson, 61. "I had never read a
book. Now I can't wait to get to the next page."
Richardson considers himself a man
with a new life thanks to the Nashville
Adult Literacy Council, a nonprofit that helps students 18 and older learn
to read, write and speak functional English.
"The learners are always
self-motivated, so for a tutor's point of view that is great," said tutor
Ron Wilson, a retired lawyer.
The Nashville Adult Literacy
Council serves about 1,500 learners who are comprised of immigrants and
U.S.-born students such as Richardson. Learners generally enter the free
program to get a job, get a better job or help children with schoolwork,
Literacy Council Director Meg Nugent said.
"My son goes to pre-school,
and last year I couldn't communicate with the teacher," said Emi Ninomiya,
a student who has moved to Middle Tennessee from Japan. "Now I can
communicate a little; it's getting better." READ
MORE !
If words fail you, this Literacy
Center volunteer is there to help
Omaha.com:
11.27.2014 by Bob Fischbach
Annika Weber had to learn to read
all over again at age 8.
Maybe that’s why she relates so
well to those she tutors at the Literacy
Center of the Midlands. She knows some of what they’re going through.
Her family, the Toffers, arrived in
Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1952 from Austria, after fleeing from Soviet
encroachment in their native Estonia. Annika didn’t know a word of English.
“But as a child, you learn things so quickly. And my teachers were so
extraordinarily helpful.”
Her mother read to the children
often as Annika was growing up.
“Books have always been an
important part of my life,” she said.
Now Weber, 71, is sharing her love
of reading at the Literacy Center, where she has volunteered for four years.
“I always thought it was really
important that people know how to read and write,” she said earlier this month
at the center. “I thought maybe I could do something here. I wasn’t quite sure
what, but I thought I would try it.” READ
MORE !
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