Literacy – Spanning the US :: Champaign IL :: Grand Island NE :: Tahlequah OK

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.     

Project Read

Parkland’s Project Read seeks volunteers

Prospectus: 5.02.2018 by Kaiden Pope

Project Read, an adult literacy service funded by the Illinois State Library, is currently looking for volunteers to help tutor adult learners in subjects such as ESL, math, and reading.

The project is coordinated by Sue Gallo, Donna Camp, and the program manager, Amanda Harris. The administrative aspect of the project is operated out of the office located in E106 on Parkland’s campus, but volunteers tutor adult learners at several drop-in sites around town.

Tutors teach learners English-as-a-second-language, beginning math, or basic reading below a ninth grade level. Learners are taught on a one-to-one and small-group basis at the Champaign Public Library, the Urbana Free Library, the Wesley Food Pantry, the Parkland Service Learning center, the Rantoul Business Center, and the local corrections department.

Services are offered weekly at each site for two hours. Volunteers can also arrange to meet with learners outside of drop-in times in public places. Additionally, trained volunteers help in classrooms around the community, including in Parkland classes as well as at Urbana Adult Education.

“In keeping with the national trends, the majority of volunteers are white women over the age of 50,” Harris said. “However, we have seen a lot of that change. We have a lot of students from the University [of Illinois] and Parkland. We have retired professionals and people from the Rotaries.”  READ MORE >>

@litcouncilofgi

GICC students volunteer as tutors for the Literacy Council of Grand Island

The Independent: 5.03.2018 by Harold Reutter

Learning is a two-way street for Central Catholic seniors and immigrant residents of Grand Island when they meet one another for weekly English lessons.

Those lessons take place from 8:45 to 10:30 a.m. every Friday in the Central Catholic library.

The seniors who do the tutoring are all enrolled in world religion class, which is taught on Mondays and Fridays, and social justice class, which is taught on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays byDee Hanssen and Deb Houdek.

There are enough seniors in the classes that half of them come to the library to work with the adults during the first half of the tutoring sessions, with the other half working with the adults during the second half.

The Literacy Council of Grand Island first suggested the partnership.

“We just had this presented to us a couple of years ago by the Literacy Council and we thought what better way to incorporate world religion,” Hanssen said.  READ MORE >>

Tahlequah Library

TPL Literacy Center helps those learning English

Tahlequah Daily Press: 5.04.2018 by Sheri Gourd

Thinking of a public library, one may imagine reading a book. For some adults in the Tahlequah community, the library is a place where they are learning to read or speak English.

Sharon Tarrance has been the literacy coordinator at the Tahlequah Public Library since 2013, and she and three volunteers teach classes to adults.

Mostly, the TPL Literacy Center serves people using English as a second language, but some people who have difficulty reading are tutored, including a couple of men who are non-readers.

With four teachers, the library offers the literacy classes on multiple days and times. Some are not classes, but one-on-one sessions. Tarrance said attendance drops in the summer, so only the evening classes are available then.

"Women get tied up with the kids in the summer. The busiest time is the fall. In August, we get a large group in. Some will stay quite a while," said Tarrance.

When community members visit the Literacy Center and want assistance, the coordinator will use a few tests to determine the level of fluency. This can be for non-readers and ESL students.

The teacher provides reading books, workbooks, maps, sight word and vocabulary sheets, and some even have lesson plans.  READ MORE >>