July 2022 |
Volume 10, Issue 7
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The Insider
The Insider, the monthly newsletter of LVA, Essex & Passaic Counties, will keep you in the loop on all of the organization’s upcoming events.
In Lauren Randolph’s workshop “Language and Beyond” tutors enjoyed a conversation that explored cultural values, differences and common misunderstandings.
Literacy Volunteers of America Essex & Passaic Counties90 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
[email protected] Catherine Angus -Tutor Support Specialist [email protected] Russell Ben Ali -Social Media & Newsletter Coordinator [email protected] Jorge Chavez -Data Processing Coordinator [email protected] Marisol Ramirez -Student Coordinator [email protected] |
Greetings LVA family!
It’s finally summer. We hope that you’re enjoying the weather and the opportunities to enjoy all the outdoor events that were likely limited or canceled over the past two years. It’s been quite a year for Qingling Guo, an artist and language student from Shanghai, China. First she became a U.S. citizen, which she called a very important moment in her life. She expressed her gratitude for the support of her tutors, Harry Moskowitz, who met her outside the courthouse at 7 a.m. when she arrived to take the citizenship oath, and Hedda Maleh. Then, Qingling was awarded a 2022 Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant, a prestigious grant of up to $36,000 awarded to artists over the age of 45 whom the foundation feels deserve greater recognition for their work. Judges from the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, which provides the grant, cited Qingling’s “Backgrounds II” series of paintings which they said represent “a kind of feeling of interpersonal alienation between people and highlights the living conditions of women of different racial and cultural identities.” Congratulations, Qingling! You’re amazing. One in five Americans struggles to read and ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest, wants to know why. The journalism team has made an appeal for educators, literacy advocates and others to help them understand what it calls the root causes of America’s literacy crisis: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/literacy We look forward to its findings. Congratulations to all of our new tutors who completed training on June 30, 2022. Welcome aboard! In the News
To view the following stories, copy and paste the highlighted website into an internet search bar.
“Never too late: Troy woman earns high school equivalency diploma at age 79.” Times Union. https://bit.ly/3yzG2T3 “The language of dreams.” Harvard Gazette. https://bit.ly/3amBozP “Struggling to learn a language? 6 tips on how pop songs can help.” The Conversation. https://bit.ly/3I9wum5 |
Esdras, a student from Guatemala and a chef at an Italian restaurant, dreams of opening his own eatery one day.
Tutor Training WorkshopsOnline Training, by Barbara Hathaway
Platform: Zoom Tuesdays, 6 - 8:15 pm September 13, 20, 27, October 4 & 11, 2022 Online Training, by Barbara Hathaway Platform: Zoom Tuesdays, 6 - 8:15 pm November 1, 8, 15, 29, & December 6 , 2022 Tutor Support Workshops"Using The Language Experience Approach,"
with Darnelle Richardson Platform: Google Meet Tuesday, September 20, 2022 11 am - 12:30 pm "Teaching Listening Skills," with Carol Cochi, Ph.D. Platform: Google Meet Tuesday, October 18, 2022 11 am – 12:30 pm Monthly Coffee Hour with Tutors |
Getting to Know Us
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How teaching English classes has taught me to live with dignity, tenacity, and courage
SALT LAKE CITY — When I walked into the classroom as a volunteer English teacher for the first time, I was unprepared for the examples of courage, determination and grit I would be learning from week after week.
This class, for adult learners with limited proficiency in English, is one of dozens offered by the English Skills Learning Center based in Salt Lake City. The center evaluates learners' English literacy levels and places them in classes according to their learning needs. The center serves people from more than 86 countries; and the class I help teach consists of individuals from Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sudan and Ukraine. The curriculum in our class is for emergent readers, so I was surprised at the variety of educational backgrounds represented. Some learners are proficient in multiple languages, but are new to this country and want to learn English. Others have little to no literacy in their native languages (often due to limited educational opportunities); and, because some of them are new to formal education, they are learning basic literacy concepts — like letters, words and sentence formation — for the first time. (cont.) Reprinted from KSL.com. For full story, paste the following link into your favorite web browser address bar: https://bit.ly/3uvSAti 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
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Getting to Know Us
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