Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US
KHOU: 9.14.2020 w/ Deborah Duncan
Neuhaus Education Center and the Mayor's Office for Adult Literacy talk to Deborah Duncan on how they are helping Houstonians overcome challenges with literacy. LISTEN 09:43
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Marshall News Messenger: 9.19.2020 by Wyndi Veigel
The
Marshall Rotary Club recently learned how valuable the Marshall-Harrison County Literacy Council
is to citizens in the community.
During
the Thursday, Sept. 10 meeting, Marshall-Harrison
County Literacy Council Executive Director Karen Bickerdike, spoke to the club
about what the council had been up to during the pandemic and how their new
location benefited the organization.
“We
were the best kept secret in Harrison County and we wanted to change that,”
Bickerdike said. The new location, located at 114 E. Grand Avenue, allows a
more visible storefront and for people to simply stop by.
Prior
to the pandemic, the council had 12 to 14 parents enrolled in their English as
a Second Language class and were doing better than they had in years,
Bickerdike said.
“We
hit the wall in March,” she said, regarding the shutdown due to the pandemic.
The council was shutdown for almost 100 days and then had to determine the best
way to reopen distance learning style using WiFi in their parking lot, laptops
and Zoom.
“They simply were not engaging with distance learning,” she said. This is for a variety of reasons including a language barrier and having more people than normal at home. READ MORE ➤➤
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Mountain Times: 9.16.2020 by Hal Cohen, Executive Dir - Vermont Adult Learning
Dear
Editor,
Lisa
earned her high school diploma at age 59 this past June. Born in Vermont, her
education was interrupted due to an unplanned pregnancy. Lisa spent 20 years
working as a nurse’s aide and raising her two children before being sidelined
by a career-ending back injury.
“I
was sitting at home. I knew I needed to do something,” Lisa said. “I decided to
check out Vermont Adult Learning. It was hard at first. I was the oldest
student in the classes. Today, I can read things in my mail. I can understand a
bill, something my kids used to help me with.”
Sept.
19-26 is National Adult Education and Family Literacy week. Lisa’s story
reminds us there are many talented and capable individuals among us who, for
myriad reasons, lack a high school credential.
An estimated 42,000 Vermonters do not have a high school diploma or GED. These folks face more limited job opportunities and access to training programs or the ability to continue one’s studies at the college level; they are also the most likely to lose employment during an economic downturn. The Covid-19 pandemic reinforces the enhanced health vulnerabilities of folks of limited education and income. READ MORE ➤➤
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Volunteers
at a Morristown nonprofit dedicated to helping adults learn to read and write
have not let the pandemic stop them.
Literacy
Volunteers of Morris County in Morristown provides free tutoring
services to adults in the area to learn to read and write English, as well as
GED prep. The program also teaches other skills, such applying for driver's
license or writing a resume.
"These
are real-world skills," Leon said, "maybe they're struggling at work
because their emails aren't polished. Maybe they can't make a doctor's
appointment. We teach them all of that."
Prior
to the pandemic, students and tutors were matched up geographically and would
meet in a public place. Leon said that many of Literacy Volunteers' students
had limited access to technology or high speed internet service when the
quarantine began. But she soon found a solution: Personalization.
"It really threw our students for a loop," Leon said, "but we decided to contact each one and personalize their program based on their level of technology. If you could do Zoom, great. If you only had a phone, fine. We worked it out together." READ MORE ➤➤
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