Literacy – Spanning the US :: Nashua NH :: Lafayette LA :: San Diego CA :: Columbia WI

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

NALC

U.S. Poet Laureate Visits N.H. To Meet with English Language Learners

NHPR: 4.12.2018 by Rick Ganley & Mary McIntyre

Juan Felipe Herrera, the 21st U.S. Poet Laureate, is in New Hampshire this week.

Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with Herrera about his plans to visit the Nashua Adult Learning Center to talk with a class of international English language learners.  LISTEN

VITA Tutoring Helping Adults with Educational Endeavors

KADN: 4.12.2018 by K King

Volunteer Instructors Teaching Adults, better known as VITA, has one goal: educating any adult who wants to learn more.

Organized in 1982, VITA is a non-profit, community based adult literacy program. They offer free reading and writing classes, science classes, math classes, computer classes, as well as language classes to those students whose first language is not English.  WATCH VIDEO

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Helping others achieve greater literacy

San Diego Union: 4.14.2018 by Lisa Deaderick

At the start of first grade, Jose Cruz struggled with reading. Both of his parents were readers and he wanted to be one, too.

“I knew early on what it feels like to lag behind. It isn’t a good feeling. Then I graduated from the yellow birds reading group to the red birds, to the blue birds,” he says. “While I was fortunate enough to progress, I noticed later on in elementary school that the same kids from the yellow birds were continuing to struggle. I still wonder what happened to them today.”

If they happen to be among the more than 500,000 adults in San Diego County who struggle with literacy, they can benefit from the San Diego Council on Literacy and its affiliated programs that provide support and resources for children and adults in learning to read. Cruz, who began working for the council in 1988, now serves as its chief executive officer after years of teaching and working in other literacy campaigns, including Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) and Project READ.

Cruz, 63, took some time to talk about the importance of literacy, his work with the council, and the organization’s upcoming annual fundraiser, “Eat. Drink. Read. A Culinary Event for Literacy” on May 17 at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.  READ MORE >>

Columbus Literacy Council unique to region

Wisc News: 4.14.2018 by Kevin Damask

Columbus has a special program that isn’t widely known but has been helping people for more than 30 years.

The Columbus Literacy Council, a group started by former Columbus School District Superintendent Dick Mortimer, began in the mid-1980s. It’s volunteer-based and the only regional literacy council outside of Madison. Volunteers meet with students every week to teach them how to read, write and speak in English.

Columbia Library

The group, led by Mary Lou Sharpee, a retired reading specialist, holds sessions at the Columbus Public Library and its Annex building. The council has 22 adult volunteers and two high school students. Sharpee said the group is looking for more students and volunteers. It currently has about 22 students so each instructor can match-up one-on-one with each student.

“There was a push about 30 years ago for adult literacy help,” Sharpee said. “A movie [ Stanley & Iris ] came out about a man who worked in a factory and couldn’t read and the pain that came with that.”  READ MORE >>