Literacy: Spanning North America
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Newport/Mesa ProLiteracy
Announces Online Services
Stu
News Newport: 6.16. 2020
Newport/Mesa
ProLiteracy (NMPL), a program of the Newport Beach Public Library
(NBPL), provides free literacy instruction to adults who live or work in the
Newport Beach area.
Like many other organizations,
Newport/Mesa ProLiteracy shut down on March 18 in response to public health
concerns and guidance about COVID-19, temporarily stopping its services to
almost 150 people in the community.
However, in just a couple of
weeks, much of the program was able to be moved online. Tutors and learners
were taught how to use platforms like Zoom, WhatsApp and Skype for one-on-one
sessions and eight of the 10 regularly scheduled classes were quickly moved to
a distance-learning model.
NMPL has continued engaging
people through online channels to further its mission of literacy education. So
far, about 40 online pairs are meeting with more taking steps to start in the
near future. Starting this week, the program will be offering online orientations
to new learners and online training to those who wish to be tutors.
In this uncertain time, the need
for improved language skills is great. Many people will be in search of
employment, dealing with health issues, or in need of emergency services. NMPL
provides help to those with poor English literacy skills who want to be
self-sufficient. READ MORE ➤➤
Readability
Consensus
Based
on 7 readability formulas:
Grade
Level: 11
Reading
Level: fairly difficult to read.
Reader's
Age: 15-17 yrs. old
(Tenth
to Eleventh graders)
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Adaptation: How One Organization
Has Embraced Virtual Volunteering
Volunteer
Central: 6.18.2020 by Ryan Charles Parker
Things were different back then.
It seems odd to use the phrase “back then” when it has only been a matter of
months since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, but it feels like forever. As we
all know, the virus has brought on significant changes to our lives. And
volunteering is no different. Many causes have had to put their work on hold,
and this made it difficult to volunteer. Some programs, however, have been able
to adapt and have carried on through these troubled times. The Adult Literacy Program,
run by the Red Deer Public Library, is one such case.
The Adult Literacy Program is a
service that utilizes volunteer tutors to help English as a Second Language and
Adult Basic Literary learners to learn or improve their English. Students can
learn writing, reading, pronunciation and conversation.
Isabel Bolhuis volunteers for
the Adult Literacy Program. She described to me what it was like to volunteer
as a tutor before the crisis hit:
“I met my learner once a week at
the Dawe (Library branch). We would always start with a conversation; at the
level of my student…I used a notebook to write what we were talking about as
well as to write any words my learner was struggling to understand so that she
would have a visual.”
Isabel also used other
techniques such as using flashcards with one side a word and the other a
picture, and word strips to read and match.
“I especially like to use
activities that provide a lot of visual cues,” Isabel explained.
But then the pandemic hit, and
this work with visuals became difficult. When you are cooped-up in your home
and unable to meet with your student face to face, especially when so many of
your techniques require you to be in person, it is difficult to tutor.
But Isabel took it in stride.
She exchanged emails with her student after receiving an email from the Adult
Literacy Program that both notified her that face-to-face learning was to be
put on hold, and encouraged the volunteers to continue tutoring online. READ MORE ➤➤
Readability
Consensus
Based
on 7 readability formulas:
Grade
Level: 10
Reading
Level: standard / average.
Reader's
Age: 14-15 yrs. old
(Ninth
to Tenth graders)
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‘Zoomsday’ Video Performance Celebrates
Irish Author James Joyce
Greenfield
Recorder: 6.18.2020
This year, the Literacy Project’s
annual Bloomsday Literary Festival, a global celebration of Irish writer James
Joyce, is being hosted in a unique way — on YouTube.
While the 2020 “Bloomsday” was
officially commemorated Monday via a digital performance featuring Deerfield
harpist Rosemary Caine and The Wilde Irish Women, the video can be watched
anytime. It is free and accessible by the public.
Proceeds from Bloomsday
Zoomsday go to purchase laptops for The Literacy Project’s adult students. This
year more than ever, a press statement notes, The Literacy Project needs funds
to purchase laptops to send home with low-income students so they can continue
their education online and remotely via Zoom classes and Google classroom
projects.
Founded in 1984 in Greenfield,
The Literacy Project’s mission is to provide access to education for adults who
need a second chance to get their high school diploma and move on to community
college, jobs and job training programs to better support themselves and their
families. READ MORE ➤➤
Readability Consensus
Based on 7 readability formulas:
Grade Level: 15
Reading Level: difficult to read.
Reader's Age: College graduate
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