Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
When Literacy Helps New US Citizens Achieve Their Dreams
ProLiteracy Blog: 9.22.2017 by Jennifer Paulding
This
winter, the South Coast
Literacy Council in Orange County, CA celebrated the new
citizenship of one of its students, Badre Naqvi. She is a mother of five and a
grandmother of six, with a devotion to the happiness and success of her family.
Badre
was born in India and later settled in Karachi, Pakistan with her father and
five siblings from 1947 to 2005. After her husband passed away, Badre
moved to the United States with her sons and later had a baby girl. She and her
children lived in Little Rock Arkansas and in Virginia before landing in Yorba
Linda, California in 2012.
Even though she was unable to continue her education when she was younger, it was very important to Badre to make sure her five children attended and completed college – and they did. In 2015 she arrived at South Coast Literacy Council (SCLC) hoping to learn English and advance her own education.
In
January 2017, Badre passed her citizenship with the help of her tutor, Judy
Aleta. She is very happy with her classes at SCLC and always looks forward to
meeting with her classmates every Tuesday. One of her sons told the council,
“the English classes have greatly helped her by boosting her confidence and
allowing her to pass the citizenship interview on her own.”
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A
Love, and a Leap, for English
At
a young age, while attending high school in Iran, Shanin Talai fell in love
with English—it was her favorite subject to study. After high school, she
continued learning English as a hobby, got married, and became a mother.
Four
years ago, Talai and her husband came to the United States. Although she had
spent many years practicing reading and writing in English, she struggled to
understand Americans and everything going on in her community. Friends referred
her to ReadWest, Inc. in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
ReadWest, Inc. is a nonprofit adult literacy agency that provides one-to-one
tutoring sessions that help adults learn to read, write, and speak
English.
Talai
enrolled in ReadWest’s U.S. Citizenship Preparation Course. With the help of
her volunteer course tutor, Lynn Simpson, and the materials supplied by
ProLiteracy’s National Book Fund, Talai achieved her goals. On June 26, 2017,
Talai passed the course at ReadWest. She gained the vocabulary, civics,
culture, and literacy skills she needed to prepare her papers for citizenship
and pass the interview for the citizenship exam. She was sworn in as an
American citizen in August 2017. READ MORE >> Student Stories
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NJ
adult literacy programs focus on better-educated children and stronger
workforce
My Central Jersey: 9.27.2017 by Monica Chenault-Kilgore
More
than 17 percent of New Jersey’s adults, many of whom are parents, lack the
basic literacy skills necessary to comprehend a note from their child’s teacher
requesting a conference, to help with homework or read a bedtime story.
According
to advocates, these are low-literate adults who are unable to read, write, and
speak in English at levels of proficiency necessary to help their children
succeed in school.
While
the causes for low literacy in adults are complex, the impact on children
of low-literate parents can be devastating. Research from ProLiteracy, a national adult literacy
organization, states there is 72 percent chance that children with parents
with low literacy rates will be at the lowest reading levels, which in turn
becomes a contributor to many issues these children will face as young
adults.
Elizabeth
Gloeggler, chief executive officer for the Edison-based Literacy New
Jersey, an adult literacy program providing direct
services and support for a network of literacy programs operating in all 21
counties, feels that there is a great divide within this educationally rich
state. She wants to bring attention to this issue, particularly this week,
which has been designated Adult Education and Family Literacy Week
by the National Coalition for LIteracy (#AEFLweek).
“There
are pocket communities where low literacy is pervasive and children are most
likely being left behind as a result," she said. "What we see
happening is parent[s] that are struggling with literacy. They don’t do
pre-literacy things with their kids. When you get that kid to kindergarten they
are already behind and are in school with kids who have been read to since
being in the womb. If they are already behind they continue to stay behind.
Parents that are struggling with literacy don’t know how to participate in
their child’s education.”
 |
Oklahoma
library official: Low adult literacy cannot be ignored
NewsOK:
9.27.2017 by Julie Serven, Exec Director-OKC Metro Literacy Coalition
I
had a 40-year-old woman in my reading comprehension class who told me she quit
her job when she was offered a promotion. She was too embarrassed to tell her
employer she couldn't read and write well enough to do the tasks associated
with the new role.
She
was a hard worker and good with people. She wanted to get her childcare license
so she could have her own business and take care of more children in the foster
system. =But she was stuck. She needed help with reading so she could pursue
her dream and give to her community the way she wanted.
Mayor
Mick Cornett has previously recognized September as Adult Literacy Month,
serving as a good reminder that these people exist in the Oklahoma City metro. It is to our common
detriment as a city to not equip these adults with the gateway skill of
reading.
An
average of 1,000 adults per year are served by local providers. But an
estimated 140,000 adults in Oklahoma County are considered functionally
illiterate. In a knowledge economy, it is not enough to simply be able to
decode words. Adults must be able to access and comprehend the information
needed for them to function in daily life. For example, if they cannot
communicate professionally on a job application or via email, they may not even
make it to the second round of interviews for better-paying jobs. READ MORE >>
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