Literacy – Spanning North America :: Wichita Falls TX :: Taber AB :: Lincoln CA

Literacy: Spanning North America      

@WALCWF

Could you pass the citizenship test?

Times Record News: 1.02.2018 by Sara Shelton, Director-Wichita Adult Literacy Council

I wrote a column a few years back asking readers if they were required to become a U.S. citizen would they be able to pass the test. I gave examples of the questions that potential new students must pass. Many readers who were born in the US approached me and told me they failed miserably. I thought it would be fun to revisit the test. Let’s see how you do. Could you pass?

When immigrants want to become U.S. citizens, they must take a civics test as part of their naturalization interview before an immigration officer. Could you pass it?  Wichita Adult Literacy Council, Inc. (WALC) and Region 9 Adult Education have several adult students in our programs who are working toward passing the test but they must go through several steps first and they are not easy. Of the many steps, the two most important require money and knowledge.

Immigration reform is a numbers game. And one of those numbers is $725 for form N-400 the Application for Naturalization. This includes the $640 citizenship application fees and the $85 background check fee. This fee is the process that turns green card-holders into citizens. After filling out the application and paying the fee the most difficult step is the Naturalization test which involves going to a citizenship interview where you must pass an English and a civics test. Locally, we do not have a testing site, so the applicant must go to Dallas to the office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. If you fail either test the first time, USCIS will give you another opportunity to take the test in an appointment several weeks after the interview that you failed. If you do not pass both tests, you cannot become a naturalized U.S. citizen, and USCIS will deny your application. This test begins the moment the applicant meets with the (USCIS) Officer who conducts the test. He may say, “Hello, how long have you been in the US and do you enjoy living here?”. If you do not answer each question properly, you may ask for the officer to repeat it, but if you can’t answer the questions, you may have already failed.  READ MORE  >>

@TaberAdultLearn

Small-town Alberta welcomes Mennonites with English lessons

'I never had a chance to go to school,' says oldest daughter in a family of 12

CBC: 2.08.2018 by Allison Dempster

Mina Pener is 21, and she's never been to school. But that's not about to stop her.

Undaunted, she unpacks her hot pink pencil case and opens a thick workbook before her English class begins at the adult learning centre in the small town of Taber in southern Alberta.

Like most of her approximately 50 fellow students, Pener comes from a traditional Mennonite family. She's one of a dozen children.

"I was the oldest daughter, so I did all the housework from a really young age. So I never had a chance to go to school," said Pener, who grew up speaking the dialect Low German.

Her family moved around to find farm work. She was born in Leamington, Ont., and her family lived in Chihuahua, Mexico for a time. In Taber, Pener has a part-time house-cleaning business.

The family's latest move may be permanent. Soon after arriving in Taber five months ago, Pener started learning to read and write English at the learning centre.

"I just want to have a better career for myself. I would like to go to a beauty school," she said. "So, if I can read and get my high school diploma, I really want to do that."  READ MORE >>

Library’s Family Literacy Program offers free personal tutors

Lincoln News Messenger: 2.03.2018 by Carol Percy

For residents who need help with English language skills or for those who would like to volunteer as a literacy mentor, sign up now at the Lincoln Public Library. Services are free, according to library officials.

The library at Twelve Bridges Drive is a registered provider of Adult and Family Literacy services. Part of the California State Library Literacy Services, the program supports state residents by providing services to adults with low-literacy and their families through California public libraries, according to Michael Givan, the Lincoln Public Library’s family literacy coordinator.

The adult and family literacy program is for two groups: participants who are 16 years or older and are not concurrently enrolled in school and their family members.

The adult participant “would be seeking literacy services for himself or herself in English and would be able to do the (library’s) intake interview in English,” Givan said.

The Twelve Bridges library also offers additional family literacy services to adult learners with children under the age of 5.

The library’s mission is to help learners improve basic literacy skills, according to Givan.

“Learner-centered literacy instruction supports adult learners and their families in their major life roles as community members, workers, family members and life-long learners,” Givan said.  READ MORE >>