Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
 |
Improving English
literacy in the Helena area
Helena Independent Record: 12.04.2015 by Susan
Nimick
Imagine arriving in
Helena, Montana from a foreign country, but you understand and speak little or
no English. Perhaps you do speak some English, but need to improve. You have
come for a job, or to join a family member, or because you want a better life
than what you left behind.
One thing you know is
that in order to be successful and to be able to become a contributing member
of your new community, you need to become more fluent in speaking English, as
well as in reading and writing. You need to read and understand enough to get a
driver's license. You need vocabulary and communication skills to help you in
your job. You want to read to your children and help them with school. You need
to be able to talk to a doctor about health issues. You would like to gain
academic and job skills by going to school. You might also want to eventually
become an American citizen, which takes a lot of study and preparation. You
wonder where in Helena you can go to find help.
In Helena there is a
nonprofit organization that has been offering free tutoring and materials in
English language skills for adults for 27 years. The Lewis &
Clark Literacy Council provides trained volunteer tutors who
work one-to-one with adults of all ages. Students and tutors working together,
set goals and work to achieve them, no matter what level they start at. READ MORE@
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1 in 5 adults in Leon
County struggle with reading
Tallahassee Democrat: 12.08.2015 by D A
Robin
Literacy volunteers
spread love of reading in Leon County
Most of us learn to read
at age three or four. First we recognize sight words: Dog, cat, rat. By five, we can sit and read books. By six,
if we’re a little behind, the markings on the page finally assume meaning, when
words come to life, when books draw us with the secrets only reading can
deliver.
Emily Dickinson wrote
there’s no frigate like a book. But many adults feel as if they’ve been
shipwrecked. Kindergarten turned into first and second grade. Elementary to
middle and high school without them learning how to read.
Fortunately, for many
adults, literacy is a door to books that is finally being opened to them. And
that is thanks, in large part, to dedicated Leon County volunteers such as
Roberta Carpenter.
Carpenter reserves her
Thursdays for teaching area residents to read. She carries notepads, pens,
pencils, exercise books and snacks in an agian tote bag bearing the green and
white logo of Literacy
Volunteers of Leon County. She wears glasses and a smile,
beaming with an infectious energy that rushes from her like a tide. Long ago,
Carpenter wrote the year “1998” onto the bag in black marker as a reminder.
“People ask me all the
time when I started,” says Carpenter, a retired librarian, adding with a
chuckle, “This way, I wouldn’t have to remember.” READ MORE @
VITAL provides literacy tutoring
Indiana Daily Student: 12.09.2015 by Cora
Henry
A man in Bloomington wanted to sing in a gospel
choir, but there was one
problem: he couldn’t read.
He learned through Volunteers in Tutoring Adult Learners, a
Monroe County Public Library program that provides one-on-one and small group
tutoring to language learners in the community.
The man became comfortable enough with reading
to join the gospel choir.
There he learned how to work a soundboard. His
skills eventually led him to a job with a local radio station.
Other adult students may come to VITAL for help
with working toward obtaining American citizenship, drivers licenses, high
school equivalency diplomas or better jobs.
“We have at least one pair here who have stayed
together for 12 years,” VITAL coordinator Bethany Terry said. “The tutor
doesn’t drive anymore, so the learner picks her up.”
Terry led an orientation for new tutors in
VITAL’s suite of rooms on the second floor of the library Tuesday night.
Volunteers must commit to two hours a week: a
one-and-a-half hour session with their student and a thirty-minute lesson
planning
period.
Many IU students become volunteers, but Terry
said there is a good mix of students, retired teachers and community members.
“Frequently I hear from folks, ‘Oh, I’ve wanted
to do VITAL for years, and I’ve just never had a chance,” Terry said, and some
of the participants training echoed that thought. READ MORE @
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The Cape Fear Literacy
Council’s popular 12 Tastes of Christmas returns
Encore: 12.09.2015
Low literacy among adults in New Hanover County
has been combated by the Cape Fear Literacy
Council (CFLC) since its inception in 1984. The modest yet
recognizable royal blue building on 17th Street serves hundreds each year.
U.S. Department of Education research shows low
literacy is an underlying issue related to underemployment, poor health status
and limited civic engagement. These and other social ills come at significant
costs to individuals and society as a whole.
“The effects of low literacy cost the United
States more than $225 billion each year in non-productivity in the workforce
and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment,” says Erin Payne, director of fund
development at CFLC.
To tackle low literacy requires volunteers and
funding, which ultimately requires fundraising events. One of CFLC’s newest
annual efforts, 12 Tastes of Christmas, quickly has become a favorite around
the holidays. ILM foodies can flock to the Brooklyn Arts Center (516 N. 4th
St.) for the third annual event on Friday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. The theme
this year is “Ice Haus.” Think of it as a blue winter wonderland of sorts, says
co-organizer of 12 Tastes, Nina Bays-Cournoyer.
═════════►
encore talked to both Payne and Bays-Cournoyer
about the new and returning vendors, what’s being plated up this year, and how
the event helps combat low literacy in the Wilmington area. READ MORE @
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| @Literacy_4_Life |
Literacy for life
Lake Placid News: 12.10.2015 by Frank
Shatz
There is program that, if adopted, in
cooperation with North Country Community College and the Adirondack Medical
Center could be beneficial for the whole area.
"Literacy for Life,"
the adult learning center at the College of William
& Mary, originally called Adult Skills Program, was founded 40
years ago. It has become a "force for good" in the community.
Faculty members at William & Mary as well
as concerned local citizens in 1975 recognized an urgent need for an adult
literacy program to develop reading and writing skills for college employees,
and later to adult learners in the greater Williamsburg area.
The Center for many years was housed in the
basement of one of the dormitories. When the new, modern School of Education
was built, Literacy for Life found home there, in a wing of the school that
provides spacious, airy classrooms, equipped with the latest electronic
teaching tools.
What makes "Literacy for Life" so
effective and valuable, said Joan Peterson, in an interview with the Lake
Placid News and the Virginia Gazette, are not just the technical tools. It is
primarily the one-on-one tutoring provided by more than 300 volunteers, serving
more than 700 adult learners annually. READ MORE @
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