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| December 2010 | Vol 2, Issue 4
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A monthly publication of
Whatcom Literacy Council | |
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Greetings!
How is it that we are already entering the final month of 2010? Every year we seem to zoom right through October and November, and arrive on December's doorstep before we know it! This autumn was no exception as the increased demand from new learners kept everyone hopping for the last few months. We also trained around 40 excellent new volunteer tutors and we have been working hard to match them all up with waiting learners. Along the way we have been planning for Summer's maternity leave, and we managed to squeeze in a very productive Staff Retreat a couple of weeks ago. Speaking of the retreat, one thing that we discussed was how we can improve our training and resources for our volunteer tutors. I'd love to hear any ideas you may have on that topic. Please email me at rachel@whatcomliteracy.org with your suggestions. Thanks for all you've done to make 2010 such a great year for Whatcom Literacy Council. With your help, hundreds of adults have moved forward in their lives! I look forward to much more of the same success in 2011! All my best,
Rachel Myers
Executive Director
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| Tutors - We Need Your Reports! |
Just a reminder to all of you wonderful tutors that we need to receive a report from you each month to keep us up to date on how things are going with your learner. Please take a few minutes to click here and send us a report on all of the good work you do!
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Monthly Tutor Primers | |
Tell your friends, colleagues and neighbors! Each month the Whatcom Literacy Council hosts a tutor information primer on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 5pm at the Bellingham Public Library.
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| Holiday Closures in December | |
Our office will be closed December 24 - January 2. We will be back in the office on Monday, January 3. |
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Program Views by Gina Barrieau-Gonzales, Programs Manager
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Were you the one who secretly loaded up your plate with mashed potatoes and gravy for the third time? Has your wishbone wish come true? The rituals and symbols inspired by holiday traditions can make excellent starting points for conversations about family, food preferences and personal philosophy or religion. ELL tutors can capitalize on sharing their experiences with learners as a personal window into culture and American traditions. For lesson plan and discussion ideas, go to the Eastside Literacy tutor support Web page: www.eastsideliteracy.org/tutorsupport/ESL/ESLTalkTime.html
It can be a lot of fun to share these traditions with learners. However, it is equally important that learners are able to share their experiences regarding personal holiday traditions. Educators can be criticized for hegemonic tendencies, and research has proven that ELL learner attrition can be directly attributed to the amount learners are encouraged to relate their own experiences and the extent to which these experiences are validated by the tutor. So tutors, remember that enthusiasm is contagious, especially when your learners can generate their own stories to match! For more information on this topic, visit the Literacy Information and Communication System website:
http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/discussions/englishlanguage/10culture
In keeping with our own traditions, we would like to thank our partners, the board, concerned community members, learners and tutors who all make literacy possible. Tutors and learners, thanks for keeping in such close contact with us, and please continue to send us your stories! |
| Thank You Ingeborg! by Gina Barrieau-Gonzales, Programs Manager |
Please join us in saying farewell and thank you to Mrs. Ingeborg Paulus. She recently informed us that her current learner will be her last. She has been an extraordinary tutor throughout the seven years that she has graciously volunteered her time and talents adding up to over 1000 hours! She has expertly taught learners from seven different nationalities; teaching everything from Citizenship to improvement in English pronunciation to studying for food handling licenses. W.L.C. staff and her learners will dearly miss her. Thank you Ingeborg!
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Capturing Traditions in Print by Jessica Hilburn |
During the dark, cold days of winter what sustains me are the warm memories of family gatherings and long held traditions. For many people, this time of year inspires rich personal stories. I encourage you to use your learner's stories as a springboard for learning. The Language Experience Approach (LEA) is an excellent reading and writing strategy for recording family traditions.
ELL tutors and ALP tutors are familiar with the LEA as it was discussed in both tutor trainings. I am recommending you review the LEA steps by participating in a free workshop sponsored by LiteracyNetwork. It's simple to register. In fact, if you're an ALP tutor you have already created an account when you completed your prework to training and can log in at the top of the page. If you have never taken classes through LiteracyNetwork, just click on the link that says "Enrollment Instructions."
Since you are familiar with the LEA already, it's not necessary to take the entire course. However, there are several sections I believe are worth your time. Watch the slideshow of a tutoring session. You can view this slide by going to the "Creating an LEA Story" heading and clicking on "LEA in a One-to-One Setting." After watching the slide, pause and visualize yourself using the same techniques with your own learner (or a future learner) and asking the question, "What is your favorite family tradition?"
Next, go to the "Choosing Skill Building Activities" section. Here you will find examples of how to incorporate phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skill practice within an LEA lesson.
Lastly, "Keeping the Focus on the Student" discusses ways to make future topics relevant and should be noted.
I hope you will visit LiteracyNetwork
http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/TLN/courses and try the LEA next time you have a tutoring session. If your learner is comfortable sharing his or her stories with an audience, I would enjoy reading them!
Jessica@whatcomliteracy.org |
| 3 Cheers for Gabriele Martin! |
Gabriele has devoted 379 hours over 3 years to helping an adult learner reach his reading and writing goals. Thank you Gabriele! |
| We Look Forward to Summer's New Addition! | |
As you may have heard, Summer is expecting a baby girl in December. We look forward to meeting this newest member of the WLC family! Summer will be away from the office with her new baby until early April. Luckily we have a great person coming in to help out during her leave. Daniel Frlan will be working in the office 3 days a week during summer's absence. You can look forward to hearing more about Daniel - and an update on Summer - in future newsletters. |
| Our Thanks to Liz Weber! by Summer Ostlund, ELL Program Coordinator | |
A big thank you to tutor Liz Weber who started volunteering with the literacy council in 2007. In her most recent match she worked for nearly 130 hours over 14 months tutoring learner Sukhwinder Kaur and helping her meet her goals. During their time together Sukh accomplished a lot including gaining confidence and becoming less shy, expanding her vocabulary, improving her spelling, handwriting, grammar and pronunciation skills and even being able to use more humor in her second language, which is no small feat! She also increased her knowledge of computers and learned more about navigating the medical/dental system and using insurance.
Together they learned about each other's cultures. Liz shared information about navigating Bellingham streets and getting to the library, parks and other landmarks around town. Sukh sang Indian music for Liz and taught her about the harmonium, the devotional instrument of her country. Sukh also taught Liz about Indian foods and provided many delicious samples.
Thanks again to Liz for her commitment to literacy and language in Whatcom County. |
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If you have any questions or need help, please contact us at 647-3264 or by email:
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