Literacy: Spanning the U.S.
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How
informal English classes help many county residents thrive.
Monterey County Weekly: 9.01.2016 by Marielle Argueza
On
the bookshelf of a cramped back room at the Monterey
Peace and Justice Center, Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony and
Survival stands alongside a well-worn Snow White picture book. Opposite the
bookshelf, there is a break room setup on folding coffee tables, complete with
a microwave, a bottle of Nestle creamer and Folger’s instant coffee. A constant
and loud thud shakes thin walls as it rings out from the judo class next door.
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Despite
the noise and small space, Rachel Musgrove and Steven Silbert begin pulling
chairs into place around a single rectangular table in the center of the room,
which is angled toward a white dry-erase board. It doesn’t look like much, but
it’s the setting for a free ESL class taught by students of the Middlebury
Institute of International Studies’ TESOL program (teaching
English to speakers of other languages).
Tonight,
the volunteer teaching duo is Musgrove and Silbert. The students are native
Spanish speakers, but unlike a formal classroom that’s divided by grade, age or
comprehension, this is a drop-in class, offered to anyone who wants to improve
their English skills.
The
class begins with a sign-up sheet where students write just their first name.
Musgrove and Silbert both watch their students eagerly – it’s a simple enough
task, assuming students know the English alphabet and, at a basic level, how to
read and write in their native tongue.
After
the sign-in comes verbal introductions. Forty-five-year-old Gabriela Garcia
begins saying in steady, thoughtful phrases: “My name is Gabriela. I live in
Seaside. I like to cook and… ” She pauses, stares at the ceiling for a bit and
then the word comes to her, “… exercise.”
Isaac
Ruiz, 9, speeds through his introduction: “My name is Isaac and uh – mostly –
uh, I like playing trumpet a lot.”
Then
it’s 15-year-old Arturo Navarro’s turn. READ MORE @
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As
Loudoun’s immigrant population grows, so does the need for adult literacy
educators
Loudoun Times: 9.02.2016 by Hannah Dellinger
As the immigrant population of
Loudoun County continues to grow, a nonprofit works to expand its adult
literacy program to help new citizens learn English and become more involved in
their new communities.
The Loudoun Literacy
Council was created in 1980 to provide individual tutoring to
recently arrived refuges. The group expanded steadily as Loudoun started to
experience an 84 percent increase in population growth, the vast majority of
which were immigrants, in the first decade of the 21st century. Now the
organization serves over 1,000 students a year from over 70 countries, speaking
over 40 different languages.
Almost 30 percent of Loudoun
residents speak a language other than English at home and 7 percent of Loudoun
adults don't have basic literacy skills, according to census data and
educational surveys. That's a total of about 25,000 people in the county
potentially in need of the services provided by Loudoun Literacy.
The nonprofit currently has about
170 volunteers who teach its classes. The need for more volunteers continues to
grow as the immigrant population expands in Loudoun.
“I think a lot of us take for
granted the ability to read, write and communicate with others,” said Leslie
Mazeska, executive director of Loudoun Literacy. “For someone who can't do
that, it leaves them unable to do so many things.”
There are many success stories of
new immigrants learning English in Loudoun Literacy classes and subsequently
becoming more involved citizens, said Sarah Ali, director of the nonprofit's
adult literacy program.
“There's a lot of things that
happen with the literacy program that benefit the entire community,” said Ali.
“We help get people on their feet and become independent.” READ MORE @
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Literacy Volunteers of Harrison
County continue their yearly work
Theet: 9.02.2016 by Kailee E. Gallahan
The Harrison
County Learning Center and the Literacy Volunteers of
Harrison County are continuing their yearly tutoring with
hope for future plans and expansion. Officials hope the upcoming year brings
more volunteers and empowers more individuals in the community.
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The Harrison County Learning Center
hosts 22 volunteer members who help with events, fundraisers, grant writing,
internet and technology, office help, and above all, tutoring, according to
Director Kim Payne.
“We help people to be better
involved with the community and better equipped for job opportunities and in
school,” she said. “We have been servicing the community for 36 years, and we
will continue to do so as long as we can.”
“We have a very committed group of
volunteers, many of them being with us for five or more years,” said Sam Mano,
Literacy Volunteers of Harrison County board president. “This is something that
everyone can do, whether you are in your 20s, or a senior citizen.”
Mano said the group lost several
volunteers over the past year, but the long-term members have taken on more of
the workload. Finding volunteers seems to be the big concern for the learning
center.
“We don’t want our long-term
volunteers to get weighed down, but until we can find additional volunteers, we
have to ask for them to do more work,” he said.
Volunteers tutor students in
subjects from kindergarten to high school, offer tutoring to increase skills
required for the GED program or help in studying for tests, assistance in job
certification tests, basic computer skills specializing in Microsoft Word and
Excel, as well as an English Language Learners (ELL) program to help develop
skills for those who use English as a second language.
Payne said the ELL program is the
most utilized program that the learning center offers. Literacy Volunteers
helps teach reading and writing techniques, as well as American customs to help
acclimate individuals to their new language.
“During the program, we help them
study for the citizenship test, which a lot of individuals have questions
about,” she said. “We have seen a lot of our learners progress a lot and
although it takes a long time to get to a certain point, seeing them reach
milestones is a great feeling.”
Being able to communicate with
doctors and school teachers and officials is important, and Literacy Volunteers
help to make that possible with practice, she said. READ MORE @
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