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Literacy: Spanning North America

Nigerian refugee 'really, really' happy B.C. makes adult basic education and ESL free again

Vancouver Sun: 8.08.2017 by Rob Shaw

When Joy Chukwura heard the news that adult basic education and English as a second language courses would once again be free in B.C., she could barely contain herself.

“This is the best news I’ve had in a very long time,” she said, after Premier John Horgan announced the move on Tuesday.

“I’m going to go back to school!”

Horgan said his new NDP government would follow through on an election campaign promise to remove fees on ESL and adult learning classes.

The previous Liberal government had placed fees on the classes after a 2014 dispute with the former federal Conservative government that resulted in $22 million less in annual ESL and adult basic education funding.

After the change, in 2015, the cost of adult basic education and ESL fees jumped to as high as $1,600 per semester of full-time studies, and enrolment dropped 35 per cent.

“We can’t afford to leave people behind. As a new government we want to make sure everyone can participate in our economy, and that means everyone having access to the basic skills they need to make sure education is a foundation for them, their children and grandchildren,” said Horgan.

The cost of the change will be revealed in the NDP’s September budget update, he said. The party’s election campaign estimated it would cost $7 million a year.

Horgan said the government will try to ensure that anyone who prepaid for courses in September will get a refund.

Adult basic education courses include night classes that allow people to upgrade skills, or obtain their high-school equivalency.  READ MORE @

@indyreadsbooks

Indy Reads Books focuses on giving back to Hoosiers through adult literacy programs, community events

CBS4Indy: 8.09.2017 by Rachel Bogle

Massachusetts Avenue has been a popular destination for more than a decade. But don’t forget to cross over College Avenue and experience all the new local businesses in the northeast corridor, like Indy Reads Books.

Just steps off the Cultural Trail at 911 Massachusetts Avenue, money spent at this nonprofit bookstore goes back to adult reading programs to increase literacy in Indiana.

@indyreads

“Indy Reads really stands out in the Yelp reviews for the atmosphere and the people you’re going to meet when you walk in the door,” said Brittany Smith of Yelp Indy.

When you step inside Indy Reads Books, you immediately sense something very different. Here, it’s not just about the books--it’s about the lives you impact through buying a book here.

“We support a nonprofit literacy program called Indy Reads and they work with adult literacy. They train adults to be literacy tutors and to teach other adults who are at or below a 6th grade level,” said Meredith Hilton of Indy Reads.  READ MORE @

@TheREADCenter

For some, reading can change everything

Chesterfield Observer: 8.09.2017 by Rich Griset

Sitting in a classroom at Philip Morris’ plant on Commerce Road, Floyd Winfield raised his hand.

Long an employee of the tobacco giant, Winfield had just finished listening to an instructor give a refresher on how to operate the company’s cigarette packing machines. Following the presentation, the instructor asked if anyone had any questions.

The instructor called on Winfield, who explained that if he could be taught with a machine in front of him, he’d continue to be one of the company’s best operators. When the instructor asked if anyone else in the class felt the same way, every hand went up.

For adults who struggle to read, it’s a familiar story. At the time Winfield learned to operate the packing machine, he couldn’t read very well. By being instructed with the machine in front of him, Winfield could memorize how to work the machine without having to decipher the booklet that was part of the presentation. Techniques like this are how people who have trouble reading function in a world of words.

“It’s like a blind person,” explains Winfield, a 69-year-old Chesterfield resident whose learning was hindered because he had to help his father farm crops while growing up. --=“You start to listen to your ears.”

Winfield, who worked at Philip Morris for three decades before retiring, is one of 37 county residents to participate in classes offered through the READ Center this past year. The Richmond-based nonprofit offers programming to help native English-speaking adults with low-level literacy improve their reading skills through small classrooms and one-on-one instruction throughout the region.  READ MORE @