Literacy – Spanning North America :: Greenville SC :: Winnipeg MB :: Northville MI

@GLiteracy

Top Ten Things That Make Greenville Literacy Association Unique

Upstate Clutch: 6.23.2017 by Staff

GLA has some amazing things they do to promote literacy in our community. And so here’s a little shout-out to them and what they do, with ranking our top ten favorites about their organization. Keep up the good work, GLA! And mark your calendars for the AMAZING book sale they have coming up. We score great finds every single time.

Greenville Literacy Association has served Greenville County for 52 years and is the largest community-based adult literacy program in South Carolina. GLA touched over 1,400 adult students last fiscal year through its three learning centers, and its mission is to enrich our community by increasing the literacy and employability of our citizens. GLA aims to put these students on a better pathway through their programs for basic literacy, Pre-GED, GED, English as a Second Language (ESL), and career readiness.

Each fall, GLA hosts one of the largest used book sales in the southeast. The 2017 Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap book sale will be held August 12-13 at McAlister Square with a Preview Party on August 11. This is GLA’s largest fundraiser and features books across multiple categories. Prices generally range between two for $1 to $5. Last year’s Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale raised over $143,000 and a total of 138,045 books were sold.

Greenville Literacy Association creates a welcoming, encouraging environment for its adult students that come to them with limited English or typically with less than an 8th grade education.

With all of the growth and opportunity in Greenville, there are still over 40,000 adults in Greenville County without a high school credential. So far during this fiscal year, 32 students passed their GED through the help of GLA staff and volunteers. GLA recently hosted a successful GED boot camp led by one of its faithful volunteers.  READ MORE @

Edge Skills Centre

Giving adult learners an Edge

St. Vital program builds up language, job skills

Winnipeg Free Press: 6.24.2017 by Kevin Rollason

Three people and three lives, changed for the better:

Jason Hussey was reading at a Grade 3 to 4 level;

Elena Cvetkovska, who is originally from Macedonia, found her lack of Canadian work experience was preventing her from finding a job as an administrative assistant;

Abdoul Toure could speak some English, but needed to learn more.

Today, Hussey is reading books and getting ready to apply for a new job, Cvetkovska is an administrative assistant at Teenstop Jeunesse and Toure can keep up in conversations in English, thanks to the Edge Skills Centre.

The Edge Skills Centre is a not-for-profit, charitable organization in St. Vital that is helping adults with employment, literacy and language skills.

The organization began 28 years ago at Victor Mager School to address the low-income and high-transiency rates faced by the parents of local children. Back then, the name was the Victor Mager Adult Education programs. The organization became Edge in 2012.  READ MORE @

@IMSEOG

Wyoming prisons use unique education program to improve inmate literacy

Star Tribune: 6.25.2017 by Seth Klamann

Over the past year, more than a dozen Wyoming Department of Corrections officials were trained by the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education of Orton-Gillingham, a Michigan-based organization that advocates a phonics-based teaching style. The idea is to break down language and understand the composition of words, rather than memorizing spellings and meanings, said Jean Rishel, the lead trainer for IMSE who trained the corrections officials.

“Sixty to 70 percent of English is based on Latin and Greek,” she explained. “We trained the instructors in how to teach basically suffixes and prefixes and how to start. So they can help their adult population, not just with single words, but with multi-syllabic” words.

For example, she said she has a lesson for the word hydrophobic. It’s a long, technical-sounding word, but it becomes more approachable, especially to less advanced readers, when it’s broken down into its prefix (hydro, or water) and its suffix (phobic, or having fear of). Another example is unpredictable. It’s easy enough to break down: un (not)—pre (before)—dict (say)—able (capable of).

-She says part of the reason for educating the inmates is so they simply have base literacy abilities. But it could also help them integrate into the work force once they’re released.

“We come to these young adults that are in these prison systems, and they may not have finished high school,” she said. “Those that did probably did not get great grades. They come into the job place, don’t have these marketable skills. ... To be competitive today you have to be literate. Really try and help them to gain the literacy skills so they have the chance to go out and get better job.”  READ MORE @