Literacy Volunteers of America, Essex & Passaic Counties, NJ Inc.

July 2020

Volume 8, Issue 7

The Insider

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The Insider, the monthly newsletter of LVA, Essex & Passaic Counties, will keep you in the loop on all of the organization’s upcoming events.

Thanks to all who joined our “Strategies on Distance Learning” workshop last month on Zoom. Please also see our page on distance learning: http://www.lvaep.org/distance-learning.html

Literacy Volunteers of America Essex & Passaic Counties

90 Broad Street, 2nd Floor, Bloomfield, NJ 07003
(973) 566-6200, ext. 217 or 225

195 Gregory Avenue, 2nd Floor, Passaic, NJ 07055
(973) 470-0039

Cristhian Barcelos      -Executive Director
                                           cbarcelos@lvaep.org
Jorge Chavez               -Data Processing Coordinator
                                           jchavez@lvaep.org
Debbie Graham           -Education Coordinator
                                           dgraham@lvaep.org
Ellen Rooney Martin -Recruitment & Training Coordinator
                         emartin@lvaep.org
Mary O’Connor          -Trainer & Tutor Support Specialist
                                           moconnor@lvaep.org
Marisol Ramirez          -Student Coordinator
                                           mramirez@lvaep.org

Greetings LVA Family. We hope you are safe and healthy.

It’s been an extraordinary year so far, with a raging global health crisis that shows no signs of letting up, a surge in unemployment, and mass protests against social injustice. We appreciate your efforts to support the mission of adult literacy despite the obstacles you face daily.

For some adult learners, like Silvia Millar, it’s been a time of deep personal loss and hardship. As her son-in-law died of COVID-19 complications at age 62, loved ones were kept away.

“It was so sad, because we were unable to be with him during his illness or his last days with us. We could not have a traditional funeral,” wrote Silvia, explaining that only 10 loved ones, with masks and gloves, were allowed to attend his funeral and burial.

Silvia described the experience in her essay, “The Virus”, which was published online by the New Jersey Association for Lifelong Learning. You can read her work, and pieces about the pandemic written by other adult learners here: https://bit.ly/2W6ojAq Noting adult education’s long tradition of involvement in social justice movements, NJALL encourages adult learners to also write about social justice issues, including police violence, for possible publication. Learners can send their work to njallmail@gmail.com for consideration. It’s a possible opportunity for publication and a conversation starter for groups.

News tip: A visit to ProLiteracy’s archived videos on topics like distance is time well-spent. https://bit.ly/2W1cxab

Please keep in mind, for tutors, students, and others, the list of agencies on our website for help with food insecurity, medical, dental, vision, mental health, addiction, and domestic violence issues: http://www.lvaep.org/health-resources.html

We’ll have a minimal presence, and can be reached by phone, at our Bloomfield Public Library office on Mondays, from 1-4 pm, and Tuesdays through Thursdays, from 9 am to 1 pm. Unfortunately, patrons are not yet allowed in the building.

In the News

To view the following stories, copy and paste the highlighted website into an internet search bar.

“Literacy NJ Celebrates ESL adult students” Tapinto.net https://bit.ly/31ZAqCM

“Undocumented immigrants pay taxes into unemployment but can’t collect. They’re asking for payments” nj.com https://bit.ly/38GoS90

Barbara, a newspaper, radio, and television reporter from France, is studying English with the goal of returning to the profession she loves: journalism.

Upcoming and Archived Webinars

ProLiteracy

“Best Practices in Digital Learning for Adult Education”
Thursday, July 23, 2020, 4:00 -5:00 pm
https://bit.ly/2ZRE4w4

Tips on how adults consume digital content and how to best present it to your students will be discussed in detail, as well as research-based strategies that allow adult learners to best move their learning from the digital screen to long-term memory.

Archived webinars
https://bit.ly/2W1cxab

EdTech Center World Education mLearning mobile webinar:

“Outreach”
Wednesday, July 15, 2020, 1:00 pm EST
Tools and strategies for establishing and maintaining effective outreach.
https://edtech.worlded.org/events/mlearning/

Archived webinar:
“Move Forward with Mobile Learning”
https://bit.ly/3f6N8Tw

Getting to Know Us
Barbara, LVA student

Barbara, an ESOL student from France, offered as her story the following engaging memoir, which was edited for length.

I was born and grew up close to Paris. The Louvre and the Orsay museum had no secrets for me when I was a child. We bathe in the middle of works of art without realizing it.

My studies took place at the Beaux-Arts in Paris and then at the Sorbonne. I lived in the Quartier Latin and in Montmartre, which is the village of Paris, where everyone knows each other. I spent most of my life in the City of Lights.

I worked as a journalist for the Nouvel Observateur, Le Monde diplomatique which are national newspapers, France Culture radio and also the Capa press agency. I mainly wrote articles on international politics, dealing with social issues and environmental issues.

My husband, my daughter and I, first moved to Sydney, Australia. It is difficult to go further. It’s the end of the world! And then after one year, my husband was transferred to New York. We had three months to get used to the idea ofchanging country again.

We first landed in Hoboken ... and then Glen Ridge for two years. So this is my third year in the United States. I had taken language courses in Australia, which allowed me to order coffee, at least. I’m exaggerating but it’s almost that. My English learned at school was pretty basic.

My daughter learned - pretty quickly - to love hot dogs. And then, I was amazed by the kindness of the people here. Welcoming neighbors, who say hello, it was very new to me.

My daughter was immediately taken care of by the staff of her school for example, so that she had a good English level. I’ve never seen that in my country.

And unlike France, one can take language courses for free. It is extremely important. Without the language, we are alone. Human beings are social animals. We need the others. It is essential to speak the language of the country in which we live. I hope to resume my job as a journalist, because I really miss it.

Literacy opens a wide door to life. Help us keep that door open with your donation!

Thanks in large part to you, we are able to aid hundreds of students each year. Please continue your efforts to improve the lives of others by giving the gift of literacy. You can contribute by mailing us a check or through our website @:

http://www.lvaep.org/donate.html

“Masks are a barrier to contagion, but can also be a new barrier for immigrants”
Generocity

By Ben Goebel, July 7, 2020

Masks are necessary for the safe reopening of the city, but they can add a layer of difficulty for those who speak English with an accent, says guest columnist Ben Goebel.

Speaking a language different than English is a strength and a blessing for the diversity of this country.

But it can also be a curse for those struggling with English as a second language.

And the pandemic makes it worse. A lot of immigrants do not speak English at home which means that, since the stay-at-home order, it has been extremely difficult for them to practice their English.

When I came to the U.S. almost five years ago, I could already speak English pretty well. However, many words are still very difficult to pronounce correctly. I used to travel a lot for work, and I dreaded questions like “How do you want it cooked?” I always ended up eating an overcooked burger because the server heard “medium well” when what I meant was “medium rare.”

Even though America is a country with millions of immigrants, Americans are not used to hearing accents, and are not especially interested in the hardship of having to speak a second language. After three years of knowing my (American) father in law, he still has to bring his ear closer whenever I start speaking while he’s driving.

Reprinted from Gererocity.org. For full story, paste the following link into your favorite web browser address bar: https://bit.ly/31UDYq4

Student Resources

Learning a new culture is more than studying a language. Tutoring is more than learning techniques. Our “Resources” webpage covers everything from legal matters, health care, & scholarships for immigrants, to professional development for tutors. Give us a look @: http://www.lvaep.org/students.html

Getting to Know Us
Terry Waters, LVA tutor
by Russell Ben Ali

In more than three decades in the classroom, Terry Waters has brought her hands-on teaching approach to students of different ages, in different subjects, even on different continents.

But, while each role brought new challenges, perhaps none were as unique as her current task: tutoring adult literacy students in a pandemic.

In fact, it’s been something of a test for Terry, a proponent of “realia” – or using physical objects and material from everyday life to help explain concepts in class. She was more than pleased to attend tutor prep classes led by LVA trainer Mary Kao, another realia advocate.

“I miss that way of teaching,” said Terry, who has three adult students in her group, including a young woman who speaks Spanish, French, and a Haitian creole, as well as the woman’s aunt. “I like to play games with the students. I believe in active learning. Computer stuff is not that active.”

Educators everywhere are grappling with converting to distance learning. Students are struggling too; some have lost jobs or housing and been thrust into poverty almost overnight.

But, with few current alternatives, all are laboring to adapt.

“I am finding things online,” Terry said. “I email them the work we will be doing. I use Zoom so I have the work in front of me and they have it in front of them.”

Terry hadn’t planned on becoming a teacher, at least not initially. Not until she spent a gap year in college working with school children in an impoverished area of Appalachia.

She returned to school to become a teacher. In a long and diverse career that followed, she’s taught pedagogy, the method and practice of teaching, to university students in Austria and China, and taught elementary school children in working-class Flint, Michigan and in West Orange, NJ.

She brings a world of experience to her role as a volunteer literacy tutor. But she mainly speaks of what the experience has done for her.

“I found that I enjoy working with these motivated adults and am grateful that I can tutor during COVID so I have something purposeful to do. I have benefited.”