Literacy: Spanning the US
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Adult Language Learners Find New Friends,
New Home In Northwest Arkansas
Arkansas
Online: 1.12.2020 by Laurinda Joenks
Gwen Nguyen shared a cheesecake recipe
Thursday with Fernanda Kanashiro, who plans to make it for her husband. Raya
Satibaeva decided to save it for special occasions because it requires a lot of
work.
The women have come together over the
past few years at the Ozark Literacy
Council in Fayetteville, all of them hoping to learn English. They gained
friends, community and a cheesecake recipe in the process.
Washington County's nonprofit literacy
council has served students for 55 years, transforming with the community's
needs.
The council served 83 students in 2007
with basic adult literacy instruction. It counted nearly 400 students, with 95%
of those seeking English language skills, in its 2019 annual report.
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"Only half of our students speak
Spanish," said Patty Sullivan, executive director of the Ozark Literacy
Council.
The Benton
County Literacy Council has seen a similar shift, said Vicki Ronald, the
executive director. The current 45-50 students hail from Mexico, Central America,
Brazil, Russia, South Korean, Vietnam and China. READ
MORE >>
Grade Level: 10
Reading Level: difficult to read.
Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. Old
(Ninth to Tenth graders)
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State College Nonprofit To Launch Program
To Help ‘Grandfamilies’ Gain Computer Skills
Centre Daily:
1.12.2020 by Marley Parish
For grandparents, raising grandchildren
can come with added stress, but the Mid-State Literacy Council
is attempting to ease the burden placed on “grandfamilies” by teaching computer
literacy skills in a first-time program.
MSLC Executive Director Amy Wilson saw a
gap that needed to be filled after seeing a rise in the number of Centre County
grandfamilies — grandparents raising the children of their drug addicted
offspring. With help from funds awarded by the Downtown State College Rotary
Club, MSLC was able to purchase equipment to use in the program, which is set
to launch next month.
“Everything has gone online — access to
health care and almost all access to school information,” Wilson said.
“Realizing how many people didn’t have computer skills or digital literacy
skills, I wondered what was happening with the children.”
Collaborating with day care programs,
local senior centers, support groups, area school districts and Centre County’s
Office of Aging, Wilson said the council was able to gauge interest in the
program, and with $10,000 in funding, the MSLC turned the idea into a reality.
“It’s so powerful to have those skill
sets, and children use them in school constantly,” Wilson said. “Grandfamilies
deal with all kinds of paperwork and forms, vaccinations, finances. There’s so
many things that they have to deal with, and without computer skills, it
becomes very difficult. We’re very excited to take someone who has never used a
computer and teach them the skills in order for them to use them competently
and effectively.” WATCH 01:41
Grade Level: 12
Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.
Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. Old
(Twelfth graders)
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Finding The Words, Reducing Illiteracy:
New Dimension Literacy Council Director Pushing For More Awareness, More Locations
In 2020
Ardmorite:
1.13.2020 by Michael Smith
Now that the holidays are over, men and
women of all ages are getting back to their normal routines of work and school.
It was no different this week for New
Dimension Literacy Council students in the basic adult education class.
On Thursday afternoon, two men sat
across from each other at a table with their tutor at the head of the table.
All three had 26 blue letters in an arch that spanned the entire alphabet
sitting in front of them. Since this was their first regular class back from
holidays, they started off their lesson slowly.
“Let’s spell the word ’sip’,” said tutor
Brenda Jagger. Her two students then slid individual letters out of the arch to
spell the word, sounding out the vowel sound and connecting it with the proper
consonants. The brief phonics lesson that followed recapped how vowels interact
with each other in most instances.
“Let’s put these up and let’s spell the
word ‘mud’,” she continued. The students each picked out more letters from
their arch and this back-and-forth lesson continued. Within an hour, the two
men were back up to speed, now joined by a third student, and all started to
make headway in understanding how certain groupings of letters can represent
sounds.
“It’s a very big help. They’re very easy
to get along with, and she’s really fun,” said Cody Black, who has been taking
the free literacy class for a few months. He earned a high school diploma as a
teenager, but the ability to effectively read has eluded him into his adult
life.
“I just didn’t comprehend how to read,”
he said.
The program is more one-on-one compared
to Black’s high school experience, and he said his tutor can take smaller steps
when he needs it. “She doesn’t rush into it. If you’re having trouble with
something, she’ll break it down,” he said.
READ
MORE >>
Grade Level: 8
Reading Level: fairly easy to read.
Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. Old
(Seventh and Eighth graders)
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