Literacy: Spanning the US
Volunteer To Tutor An Adult Student
Library users may have noticed several pairs of
adults in the Reference section, deep in quiet conversation, poring over books,
laptops, and papers together. In many cases, they are student-tutor pairs,
working with the Adult Tutoring program based in the Chester
County Library.
The program is a
partnership between the library and Chester
County OIC, a non-profit organization located in Coatesville, serving
Chester County by providing free adult basic literacy education, life skills,
and English as a Second Language programs that prepare individuals for
employment and economic self-sufficiency. CCOIC is funded entirely by grants
and fundraising dollars. READ MORE >>
Redlands
Celebrates Newest Anthology Of Work By Adult Literacy Program Members
On
June 15, 135 adult learners, their tutors, their families and members of the
community gathered at the Contemporary Club for the Celebration of Authors, an
event that honors the original work of adult learners from the Redlands Adult Literacy Program.
At
the celebration, the authors received copies of “Our Stories, A Collection of
Writings, Volume 2,” the second anthology of adult learner writings.
The
anthology provides an opportunity for adult learners to write stories from
their hearts, choosing just the right words to express themselves, and then to
share those stories with the broader community.
Over
40 adult learners and three tutors contributed works for the anthology. The
works focused on the learners’ inspirations, journeys to literacy, personal
reflections, family and friends, memories and adventures and reflections about
books the learners had read. Tutor Sharon Regalado, who served as one of the
editors of the anthology, noted the tremendous growth she saw in the adult
learners’ writing skills.
Adult
learners wrote about a myriad of experiences. Sisters Yesenia Jimenez and Ma,
Isabel Vidrio participated in an adult literacy book club where they read “A
Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park. The sisters could identify with the
book, as they also had to carry water to their home as children. Yesenia
recollected an incident where she and her sisters passed by a tree laden with
huge, spikey caterpillars. Isabel recounted a story about collecting water one
dark morning before her mother awoke.
Maria
Luz Moreno wrote about her granddaughter losing her first tooth. Zita Valdivia
wrote about the pride she felt when she first voted. Wen Sung Hsu wrote about
her love of reading.
The
authors were given the opportunity to read their works at the celebration and
to sign each other’s’ books. READ
MORE >>
Adult
Low Literacy and How The READ Center is Making a Difference
CHPN:
8.14.2019 by Megan Rickman-Blackwood
Can
you read this sentence? If so, you should take a moment to thank whoever taught
you.
The
statistics are staggering. For more than 72,000 adults in the Chesterfield,
Henrico and Richmond areas, literacy is a struggle.
Low
literacy impacts more than just the classroom. Low literacy costs the U.S. at
least $225 billion each year in non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and
loss of tax revenue. 70% of welfare recipients report low literacy levels.
Additionally, an excess of $230 billion a year in health care costs is linked
to the issue. -Proliteracy
This
issue hits communities of color disproportionately. While only 48.18% of
Richmond is Black/African American, that same racial group makes up 81% of the
READ Centers students.
Today,
we want to highlight how The READ Center
is recognizing this need in the Richmond area, and is rising to meet it.
The
READ Center is a community-based nonprofit that helps adults with low-level
literacy develop basic reading, math, digital and communication skills so they
can fulfill their roles as citizens, workers, and family members. The READ
Center was founded as the Literacy Council of Metropolitan Richmond in 1982,
serving the Richmond community for 35 years.
READ
MORE >>
Monterey
County Free Libraries Play Matchmaker In The Interest Of Literacy
If
you wander through one of our local libraries, at some point you may encounter
two adults sitting together at a discreet spot, some shared reading material
between them, chatting amiably, laughing mirthfully, leaning close, intimately
engaged with each other. Chances are that’s a literacy tutoring session.
Sarah
Hoeffel has been a librarian since 2003 and has worked as a teen librarian at
the Mission branch of one of the 27 San Francisco Public Libraries. Last August
she came to Monterey
County Free Libraries where she is the literacy and volunteer services
manager, and as such runs the system’s adult literacy program.
When
she gets enough recruits into the program, she begins with orientation. That’s
where she talks to aspiring tutors about the people they will be paired with
and their motivations for trying to improve their English.
“Some
people are working on citizenship,” Hoeffel says. “A lot of people want to
speak better to support their kids in school. They can help their kids with
homework, be present in teacher conference meetings, sometimes they want to
[better] understand letters from school. [They want to] communicate with employers
and text [better] in English. Sometimes it’s just a personal goal.”
Some
learners, she says, are native English speakers who have slipped through the
cracks of the educational system. The Foundation for Monterey County Free
Libraries reports that half of them are wanting to perform better at their jobs
or get better jobs. READ
MORE >>
Posts
