May 2019
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Volume 7, Issue 5
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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.
Cristhian Barcelos, LVA EP’s executive director, answered tutors’ questions during ‘Who We Are and What We Do.’
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] Jorge Chavez -Data Processing Coordinator [email protected] Debbie Graham -Education Coordinator [email protected] Ellen Rooney Martin -Recruitment & Training Coordinator [email protected] Mary O’Connor -Trainer & Tutor Support Specialist [email protected] Marisol Ramirez -Student Coordinator [email protected] |
Greetings LVA Family,
We’re so proud of our students who recently won awards from Literacy New Jersey and New Jersey Association for Lifelong Learning. Read on to find about Gloria, Martha and Sara, whose works were honored. We learned a lot at the recent conferences held by Literacy New Jersey and NJALL that we hope to pass on to you. For instance, Duolingo, a free language learning app, has a classroom function with homework options. It’s an easy way to have your students practice their English beyond your sessions and you can track their progress. Many students already have the Duolingo App on their phones, the classroom function is available through the website https://schools.duolingo.com/. Stop by the office if you have any questions. The U.S. Department of Education also has lots of resources for tutors through LINCS, Community, Courses and Resources for Adult Education. There are discussion groups and a learning portal with links via their website. https://courses.lincs.ed.gov If we begin to think of mobile devices and computers as mere tools to help teach something new, they become easier to understand. And, if homework is assigned via students’ phones, they might be more apt to do it during down time at home or work. Can you imagine learning to read at middle age? Find this and other stories in the links below. In the News
To view the following stories, copy and paste the highlighted website into an internet search bar.
‘Learning to read, at age 55,’ Nashville Public Radio, https://bit.ly/2E7kHVL ‘How a CSR pilot program became a key business imperative at Tyson Foods,’ Forbes.com, https://bit.ly/2LD7o5z ‘Talking jobs: lessons from ENB’s 2016 ESOL student employment survey,‘National Skills Coalition, https://bit.ly/2LGwVLj ‘Literacy Coalition Seeking members for literacy Americorps plan,’ South Florida Sun Sentinel, https://bit.ly/2HjCICi |
Student Ben is building his English skills and an in home music studio all while working barely a year after leaving his native Haiti.
Tutor Support Workshops
“Coffee With Friends,”
with LVA Staff Bloomfield Public Library 90 Broad Street, Library Theater Bloomfield, NJ 07003 Tuesday, June 11 2019, 1:00 pm -2:30 pm Tutor Training Workshops
Hilton Branch, Maplewood Memorial Library
-by Carolyn Van Doren 1688 Springfield Avenue Maplewood, NJ 07040 Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9:00 am-12:00 pm June 4, 6, 11, 13, 18 & 20, 2019 |
Getting to Know Us
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“Running Out of Children: South Korea School Enrolls Illiterate Grandmas”
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Getting to Know Us
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Literacy New Jersey
Literacy for Life 2019 Awards
Student Excellence
Gloria arrived in the U.S. with beginner English and in her own words, progress hindered by one factor: fear. There was the fear of asking for help, even for directions on the street; the distress of answering the telephone; and the everyday anxiety of knowing that someone might say something she didn’t understand, and react unkindly when she couldn’t respond. But much has changed for this Bogota, Columbia native since arriving in the United States in 2017. She now routinely speaks with strangers, as shown by the daily calls she places as a volunteer in our office. She is much more confident in meetings with her daughters’ schools. And her verbal proficiency reading and writing skills have improved immensely. In two years, she has gone from a beginner’s ESL class at LVA to the highest level of proficiency in the New Community Corporation Adult Learning Center’s high school equivalency program.
Gloria had three basic goals when she entered the program. She wanted to be involved in her daughters’ lives at school, to work in an office setting and contribute to a company that requires a worker to communicate in English, and to overcome her fear of speaking in English on the telephone. She met these goals by immersing herself in the tasks of the offices of her English programs.
Gloria earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in Columbia and became a budget coordinator, the third-highest position of a company of 5,000. A similar position in the U.S. requires a CPA designation, a difficult undertaking for most holders of accounting degrees earned oversees,
but Gloria is determined to do whatever is required to resume her career.
No doubt about it, Gloria has the same fears as any learner of a foreign language. What makes her unique is that she confronts those fears daily, inspiring all those around her.
Gloria had three basic goals when she entered the program. She wanted to be involved in her daughters’ lives at school, to work in an office setting and contribute to a company that requires a worker to communicate in English, and to overcome her fear of speaking in English on the telephone. She met these goals by immersing herself in the tasks of the offices of her English programs.
Gloria earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in Columbia and became a budget coordinator, the third-highest position of a company of 5,000. A similar position in the U.S. requires a CPA designation, a difficult undertaking for most holders of accounting degrees earned oversees,
but Gloria is determined to do whatever is required to resume her career.
No doubt about it, Gloria has the same fears as any learner of a foreign language. What makes her unique is that she confronts those fears daily, inspiring all those around her.