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

May 2023

Volume 11, Issue 5

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.

ED Cristhian Barcelos, shown on the lower right side, led the most recent workshop discussing various topics, including cultural assimilation and the advantages of tutoring in small groups among others. Thank you!

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
Catherine Angus -Tutor Support Specialist
                           cangus@lvaep.org
Jorge Chavez               -Data Processing Coordinator
jchavez@lvaep.org
Valeria Garrido    -Social Media & Newsletter Coordinator
vgarrido@lvaep.org
Marisol Ramirez          -Student Coordinator
mramirez@lvaep.org

Greetings LVA family!

Our community is vast. And for that we’re thankful. It goes beyond our tutors and students, although certainly they are the backbone of our organization. It includes the teachers and instructors who lead our large ESOL classes, the educators who present our workshops, the public libraries that we partner with, the staff and volunteers who keep our office open, the Board of Trustee members who keep our lights on, donors, grant-providing institutions, and many more. In coming months, we hope to profile some of those community members in our newsletter. We couldn’t complete our mission without you.

The New Jersey Association for Lifelong Learning (NJALL) is holding its annual conference May 24-27. The conference offers a valuable opportunity for adult education professionals to further their knowledge and share information with peers on Listening and Speaking Exercises for ESOL, Supporting Student Writing, Digital Literacy, and many others. Registration is open on NJALL’s website at https://bit.ly/3HCwjRl. Let us know if you register so we can update you with the latest details!

We have also included a great article that discusses studies researchers with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston have carried out to understand the complex processes our brains perform while reading. real sentences, two distinct networks in the brain's frontotemporal cortex jumped into action. (...) experts said the study highlights the complexity of a task that is vital to everyday life.

And if you are looking for a local highlight, the seventh annual Succeed2gether Montclair Literary Festival will kick off on May 3 and run through May 11 with more than 90 authors and speakers who will host talks, poetry readings, a story salon, the Pitchapalooza book pitch contest, musical performances and activities for children. Learn more: https://njersy.co/44zvoL9

In the News

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

“Listening Is the Key to Teaching English-Learners How to Speak.” Education Week. https://bit.ly/3AUDpN5

“Five refugee mothers share what's most important.” The UN Refugee Agency. https://bit.ly/3nwLTak

“ProLiteracy Launches Employability in a Digital World courses” PRWeb https://bit.ly/3LCVG6M

Marie, from Guinea, has studied English in a Passaic Public Library and LVA joint program, helping her build rapport with her customers.

Tutor Training Workshops

Online Training, by Nancy Lama/Ally Evans
Platform: Zoom (sponsored by LNJ)
Wednesdays, 6 to 8 pm
May 10, 17, 24, 31, June 7 & 14, 2023

Online Training, by Barbara Hathaway
Platform: Zoom (sponsored by LNJ)
Tuesdays 6 to 8:15 p.m.
May 9, 16, 23, 30 & June 6 & 13, 2023

Tutor Support Workshops

"From Dialogs to Role Plays Developing Conversation Skills with ESL Students,"
with Todd Evans
Platform: Google Meet
Thursday, May 18, 2023
11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Coffee Hour with Tutors

with Catherine Angus

Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 4:30pm (Themed meeting)
Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 4:30pm (General meeting)

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

Getting to Know Us
Marie, LVA student
by Russell Ben Ali

As the eldest of seven children, Marie spent her childhood caring for younger siblings and working in her family’s fields in a small West African village near Macenta, Guinea.

She worked alongside her parents—and sisters and brothers as they became old enough—to grow their food and crops including cassava and coffee.

Later, as a businesswoman, she traveled West Africa buying goods like rice, palm oil, and clothing which she sold in marketplaces in the Guinean capital, Conakry.

The place she didn’t spend any time at all was inside a classroom.

“I did not go to school in Macenta,” said Marie. “Nothing, nothing. I took care of the baby sisters, brothers. I worked, I got married, I started a business.”

Marie speaks French and four West African languages but never learned to read or write. Today, she is a beginning English language literacy student.

“She’s made great progress,” said Eve Peterson, a tutor who works with Marie twice each week. “She never went to school. When she came to the U.S., she literally hadn’t had any formal instruction at all.”

The two works on a range of areas, including conversation, comprehension, reading, writing, vocabulary, even the language of numeracy.

“She gives to me a lot of things, a lot of good material,” Marie said of Eve. “She’s helping me in a lot of ways.”

Marie came to the U.S. as part of a troupe of West African singers, dancers, and drummers who performed at festivals, in halls, and at private events, in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

Today, she is a hair stylist in a salon where she specializes in African hair braiding, and that’s where her studies have helped immensely.

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

This Is Your Brain on Books: Science Reveals Secrets of Reading

HealthDay News
By Amy Norton, April 24, 2023

Key Takeaways

Researchers are working to better understand how the brain lets people read
Recordings of brain activity in 36 people identified two key brain "networks" involved in the task
While the study may not have immediate implications for addressing reading disorders, it underscores the complexity of a vital everyday task

Reading is fundamental, but it's also a complex skill. Now, a new study sheds more light on how the brain makes sense of the written word.

Researchers found that two key brain "networks" work in tandem to help people read sentences -- so folks not only grasp the meanings of individual words but also process the bigger picture of what's being said.

Because reading is such an essential daily activity, it's easy to take it for granted, said study leader Oscar Woolnough, a research fellow with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. (…)

"Reading is such a huge part of our everyday lives," Wallace said. "It's part of how we make new relationships, and sustain relationships." (cont.)

Reprinted from consumer.dayhealth.com. For full story, paste the following link into your favorite web browser address bar: https://bit.ly/3LKfF4L

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
Jalaire Carver, LVA ESOL Instructor
by Valeria Garrido

Back in 2010, Jalaire was looking for a way to give back to the community and learned about LVA from a blurb in her local newspaper. Since then, she has volunteered as a tutor and later became a part-time teacher supporting students in their literacy journey.

Jalaire has been an entrepreneur, lived in Mexico (where two of her children were born) and France for some time, and designed and implemented a garden and greenhouse program at Mt. Hebron Middle School. Her experiences inform and enrich the way she engages with her students.

“I asked a literacy student of mine (…) what his goal was for the class. He said: “to show up!” The learning process cannot happen without showing up and doing the work. With patience and humor, Jalaire encourages her students to feel safe making mistakes and feel good about themselves as they progress.

A common experience among our tutors and teachers is a learned appreciation not only for the cultures and experiences of students from all around the world, but also an appreciation for what they have gone through to be here. Jalaire shares that over her years of teaching at LVA she has specifically been impressed by the “huge sacrifices mothers (and fathers) make to get their children to a safer place.”

Many of our adult students take the initiative to learn English and improve their literacy skills in pursuit of professional opportunities and support their children through school. —- it should say “and to support their children.”

From a practical perspective, Jalaire wants to ensure her students learn the right way to use “do” with its many nuances and has noticed many struggle to pronounce the word “bus.” She truly enjoys teaching and connecting with her students. “I get a big kick out of it. I look forward to the teaching sessions, we have fun in our class.”

An Ohio native, Jalaire has a degree in plant science and horticulture with a specialty in native desert plants, and during her career, she carried out research in West Texas and started two small businesses.