Literacy – Spanning North America :: Somerset Co NJ :: Nashville TN :: Invermere BC

Literacy: Spanning North America    

@Litsomerset

Somerset County libraries, Literacy Volunteers team up

NJ.com: 1.17.2018 by Community Bulletin

Imagine living in a country where you cannot communicate with your children's educators, doctors, and/or caretakers due to a language barrier. How would you feel?

According to the 2017 Census, 2.6 million New Jersey residents and 30.2% of households in Somerset County speak a language other than English at home. These statistics demonstrate the need for English as a Second Language education.

Yuliana Ballestero, a Costa Rica native and Bridgewater resident, is one of those individuals, who primarily speaks Spanish at home.

"I wanted to start to learn English to be able to communicate with my children's teachers and doctors," said Ballestro, a mother of two.

Ballestro came across an advertisement for ESL instruction from Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County in a local newspaper. The organization paired her with tutor Ann Beth Constad, a retired language therapist.

"My passion has always been language and literacy," said Constad. "I thought it would be wonderful to give back to the community and put my skills to use with adults."

The pair meets for 90 minutes a week at SCLSNJ's Bridgewater Library branch, located at 1 Vogt Drive in Bridgewater.

The Library provides an ideal location for tutoring sessions by offering a flexible and convenient space with multiple resources.  READ MORE >>

@NashvilleLit

Retire-To Volunteering: Julie Kramer–Adult Literacy Council

Stitcher: 1.16.2018 by Ed Zinkiewicz

Julie Kramer is high on the Nashville Adult Literacy Council for its two main goals: Teaching American adults to read and teaching English skills to adult immigrants. Volunteers make the difference by helping immigrants talk to doctors, grocers, employers, and teachers and American adults complete application forms, read labels on shelves and understand their child's grade card.  LISTEN

Castlegar Library and CBAL partner to celebrate Family Literacy Week

“It’s a lot of activities packed in.”

Castlegar News: 1.18.2018 by Chelsea Novak

The theme for this year’s B.C. Family Literacy Week is “What’s on My Plate” and members of the local alliance for literacy will be joining the staff at the Castlegar & District Public Library to provide a fun day of activities related to the theme on Saturday, Jan. 27.

Members of the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL) will be at the library from 12 to 2 p.m.

@cbaliteracy

“We’ll be doing stories and crafts, and then songs,” says Corinne Svardfeldt, community literacy coordinator for CBAL. “And then we also have our StrongStart coordinator coming out with some table activities.”

The Lions are also participating and will be bringing games and a photo booth, and Kootenay Family Place will be doing face painting.

“It’s a lot of activities packed in,” says Svardfeldt.

CBAL works in conjunction with Decoda Literacy Solutions, the provincial literacy provider.

@decodaliteracy

“The focus is Family Literacy Week, which incorporates engaging families to understand that learning happens all of the time. It happens when children are in the cart and they point out signs at the grocery store, when they are cooking together or when they play games,” says Svardfeldt. “So just making families aware that it really is a natural state of things.”

CBAL will be incorporating the “What’s on My Plate” theme into its regular programming as well.

“On our Friday program — our ESL family program — we’ll be making placemats and we’ll have a little lunchtime together and they’ll talk about different cultural traditions at meal times,” says Svardfeldt.  READ MORE >>