Spring 2014

Literacy DuPage News

In This Issue

Acknowledgement of Donors

Tutoring Tips

LDP Board and Office News

THANK YOU
FOR HELPING US WITH OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL

Calendar

March 29

In-Service Workshop #1

Wheaton Public Library

10:00 AM- 12:00 PM

April 12

In-Service Workshop #2

University of Illinois at Chicago

8:30 AM - 1:30 PM

April 17

LDP Board of Directors Meeting

LDP Office 7 PM

April 26

The Human Race

Join Laps for Literacy!!

May 5

Tutor Training Workshop Begins

Lisle Public Library

6:00 PM- 9:00 PM

May 15

LDP Board of Directors Meeting

LDP Office 7 PM

Save the Date!

October 4, 2014

Recognition Celebration

WELCOME 9

NEW TUTORS!!

Naperville Tutor

Training Class

Angela Amato

Diane S. Cunningham

Jane Fraser

Christine Groves

Barbara Langfeld

Amy Lullo

Jack Ryan

Elena Taylor

Stan Walton

THANK YOU TO:

Grace Bersted Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee for a $10,000 grant for 2014!

The City of Naperville for a $5,000 grant for 2014!

Our vision to be recognized as a leading provider of customized English literacy skills that will literally change the lives of adult learners and impact future generations is being fulfilled.

Every day, students' lives are being changed as they accomplish their goals and achieve life skills.

Together we are making a difference.

We want you to know how much we appreciate your interest in Literacy DuPage!

This newsletter is dedicated to our generous supporters listed below who are enabling our volunteer tutors to help change someone's future.

We had a great 2013 and nearly reached our fundraising goals for the year. We're certain that 2014 will be even better!

**Don't forget to either register to participate in The Human Race on our Laps for Literacy team on April 26th, or sponsor one of the participants. It's easy, just Click here**

Literacy DuPage Board of Directors and Staff

We Gratefully Acknowledge Our

2013 Supporters!

Literacy Leaders

Patron Level -

$2,500-$4,999

Steve Laughman

Partner Level - $1,000-$2499

Sandra Teague
Stephen & Betty Smith
Thomas McSherry
Vincent & Elisa Carter

Sponsor Level - $500+

Ada & Tim Zingelman
Dave Moser
James & Barbara McLean
Jean & Frank Demas
Joe Sarnicki
John Dainauskas
Lia Rubino
Linda Nolten
Lisa & Sheridan Lam
Michael C. Reese
Nancy & Bryan Deaton
Terry Thomasson

Individual Donors

$250+

Anonymous
Barbara & Kenneth Intihar
Bernie & Sergio Steiger
Brad & KerryTeague
Christin Flavin Burek
John Krallmann
Kimberly & James Mills
Susan Phillips

$100+

Alice & Stephen Blount
Arthur Nicholas
Barbara & James Hiner
Bill & Carol Forssander
Carl Fausey
Carol Alsip
Carol& Bob Garcia
Cathy & Jonathan Gottlieb
Charles Carey
Chuck Lederman & Jan Litvene
Coleman & Deborah Tuggle
Daniel & Carol Wobby
Deborah Gaither
Doug Portmann
Douglas & Loretta Rusky
Elaine Scarborough
Eve McBride
Gail Brown
Gloria Clancy & Lawrence Jostock
Harry& Barbara McPherson
James Harris
Joan Baltusis
John Covington
John& Pamela Kaprales
Karen& Tom Pulver
Kate Mallon
Kelly & Holly Kost
Ken & Annabel Bergman
Kenn Miller
Leona & Fred Conforti
Linda Kulikowski
Lisa & Mike Thackeray
Liya & Ding Cheng
Lynn & Dave Robertson
Marina Natsis
Mark James
Mark Munoz
Mary Jarvis
Matthew Ericksen
Michael Huseman
Nancy & Thomas Gray
Reed & America Bible
Ronald & Elizabeth Chin
Russ Horn
Stephanie & Thomas Marsh
Susan & Steve Hotopp
Tom Parkin & Elizabeth Murphy
Wanda Mitchell
Wen-Feng Liu

Friends

Alonda Smith
Andria Beusse
Anne Stickley & Mark Michel
Bernadine& Donald Krueger
Betty& Jim Butridge
Beverly & Michael Frett
Bonnie Kendall
Brady Webster
Brian Harris
Carol& Lloyd Hendrickson
Ching-Chong & Shou-Yien Huang
Christine Bean
Cindy Schwartz
Dave Giesen
David & Vania Rodriguez
David Davies
Debra Broxterman
Diane Michelson
Donald Deegan
Earl & Denise Thompson
Edward & Georgia Osowski
Ernesto & Josephine Manuel
Falyon Ligon
Gregory Shaw
Grizelda Salazar
Heidi Thorne
Jacki Peterson
Jackie Poole
James & Dorothy Shaffer
Jan & Dennis Wencel
Jane Edwards
Janet Bailey
Janet& Bruce Petsche
Jean & Knox Williams
Jeffrey & Janet Zavoral
Jessica Unruh
Joanne Corpus
John & Molly Sheahan
Joyce Grier
Julie & Bruce Specht
Kathleen & Mark Loszach
Kathy & Steven Strange
Kathy Marcus
Kay & John Schuller
Kevin& Jennifer Van Vleet
Kim & Leo Tierney
Kristina & Alan Breiseth
Laurie& Joseph Margotta
Leonard & Jennifer Novak
Linda& Harvey Segal
Louise Grobl
Madeleine Mulroy
Marilyn Harpham
Mark & Barbara Turner
Marlene Bartels
Mary Ann & Lester Sommers
Mary AnneDoran
Mary Joyce & Leroy Pickett
Mary& Richard Reuss
Melodee & Stanley Yohe
Michael Sittinger
Monika Miraldi
Nancy Gardner
Nancy Nicholson
Naomi Pollard
Neil & Marilynn Ringquist
Nina Gauri
Norma Gonzalez
Pamela Merker
Paul Teppema
Paul& Katherine Chesters
Paula Ledbetter
Pete& Becky Rundquist
Peter& Lanette Dockery
Ray Skowron
Reiko Tsunashima
Renee & Geoffrey Silver
Renee & Peter Gough
Richard Yang
Rick Lochner
Rita & Tom Mathern
Rochelle & John Walwer
Ruth LaCroix
Sandra Sansone Brenna
Stacie Heintze
Stephanie & Jeff Bryk
Steve& Barbara McClarty
Susan & Dennis Payne
Susan Appleyard
Suzanne Gagner
Thomas Oddo
Troy Gooding
Wendy Elmer
William Bychowski

Public Library Partners

Addison

Aurora (Eola)

Bensenville

Bloomingdale

Bolingbrook

Carol Stream

Clarendon Hills

Downers Grove

Elmhurst

Glen Ellyn

Glenside

Helen M Plum (Lombard)

Hinsdale

Indian Prairie (Darien)

Itasca

Lisle

Naperville

Oak Brook

Plainfield

Roselle

Villa Park

Warrenville

West Chicago

Westmont

Wheaton

Winfield

Wood Dale

Woodridge

*We do our best to ensure that all names are listed. If yours was missed, please contact us at 630 416 6699.

Community Partners

American InterContinental University

Arthur J. Gallagher
Blistex Inc.
Burr Ridge-Hinsdale-Oak Brook Lions Club
Advisors, Inc.
Community Memorial Foundation
Darien Rotary Club
DuPage County Human Services
First United Methodist Church
I Support Community
Illinois Tool Works Foundation
Indian Head Park Women's Club
Jones Lang LaSalle
Lisle Library District
Mastercare Rehabilitation Services
NewGen Business Solutions, Inc.
PEO Sisterhood-Chapter H.F.
Ronald L. McDaniel Foundation
Rotary Club of West Chicago
RPC Leadership Associates
Secretary of State Literacy Office
The DuPage Community Foundation
The Grace Bersted Foundation c/o Bank of America
The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
West Chicago Lions Club
West Surburban Retired IEA/NEA

Letters for Literacy

Sponsors

Chicago Tribune

Daily Herald

Partners

Aramark
Caton Commercial Real Estate
Corporate Concepts
Design and Promote Inc.
Dr. Mark Wright, D.M.D.
Edward Jones
Illinois Roofing LLC
K. Peterson Associates, Inc.
Lisle Library
Mark James
Michael E. Bond, D.D.S., P.C.
Neville Engineering Service, Inc.
NorthStar
Partners In Technology, Inc.
Prime Meridian Insurance Group
Quality Back Office Solutions
RPC Leadership Associates
Sequoia General Contracting
Tom Oddo
Wolf & Company LLC

Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce,Team B2B

Caton Commercial Real Estate

Coman and Associates

Design and Promote

Edward Jones

Expense Reduction Consulting

Illinois Roofing LLC

K. Peterson Associates, Inc.

KDI Design Inc.

Mark James Associates

Neville Engineering Service, Inc.

NewGen Business Solutions

Partners in Technology Inc.

Prime Meridian Insurance Group

Quality Back Office Solutions

RPC Leadership Associates Inc.

Sequoia General Contracting

Sound Incorporated

Wolf & Company LLC

Ladies for Literacy

Alyssa Heidrich
Dawn Schubert
Jan Bucheit
Lydia Poczatek
Maggie Nilles
Misty Alvis
Pat Dahm
Rhonda Brewer
Vicki A. Heise
Celine Lilli
Cyndi Vivoda
Terry Fawell

Recognition Luncheon Sponsors

Ball Horticultural Co.
Cabot Microelectronics
Capstone Financial Advisors
NewGen Business Solutions
Nicor Gas
Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products
RPC Leadership Associates, Inc.
Suresh Thiruveedhula

2013 The Human Race Sponsors

Access Health Care
Drendel and Janson Law Group
DuPage Attorneys
Fancy Free Holiday, Inc.
Greatland Home Health Services, Inc.
Intuitive Solutions
Law Offices of Louis A. Plzak & Associates
Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products
Rockford Foundries
RPC Leadership Associates
RTL Enterprises, LLC
Sharon McGuire
Stellco Properties
Dr. Teresa A. Gorno-Reid
Wolf & Company LLP

In-Kind Donations

Chicago Tribune Company
Henry Liu
LDP Board of Directors
Magnifica Photography
National Engravers, Inc.
Starbucks
The Ink Well - Wheaton

If you are a gmail subscriber, you may need to click on "view entire message" to see tutoring tips.

Tutoring Tips

Is There Room For One More?

When you hear the term small group tutoring have you wondered if this would benefit our students? Literacy DuPage believes the answer to that question is "Yes!" However, small group tutoring is less common in the Literacy DuPage Volunteer Tutor program. Last fiscal year just 22% of our students were tutored in small group settings of 2-5 students. Small group tutoring can be very rewarding for both the tutor and students. One-to-one tutoring is self-centered on the learner by nature while small group tutoring provides natural opportunities to develop cooperative attitudes and work skills.

The benefits of small group tutoring to adult learners can be many. Among them are a reduction in the feelings of isolation, increased self-esteem, accessibility to a peer-based support system, increased sense of belonging to a community, and growing feelings of ownership of the learning process. Learners experience an increased sense of responsibility and respect for diversity of thought and action. All of these benefits tend to result in greater enthusiasm for learning and can greatly influence the rate of language development.

Small group tutoring provides many different methods and techniques to develop the learner's communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) that aren't possible with one-to-one tutoring. Adult students learn many things best when they can interact with and learn from their peers. Small groups are natural settings for adult learners to exercise and expand their communicative skills. The small-group learning format accommodates and supports a variety of learning paces, needs and styles. The small-group tutor's role is different from a one-to-one tutor. Many times the small-group tutor acts as facilitator of learning and other times the tutor enables the learners to be teachers, and the tutor becomes a recipient of their teaching.

Once compatible student and tutor availability are confirmed small group matches are made by considering each student's level of English language proficiency, their primary language and culture, their level of education in their primary language, their need to use English, their age and length of time in the United States, and other commonalities such as number and age of children and type of employment.

For tutors, small group tutoring offers an alternative to the one-to-one tutoring format and positively expands their realm of experiences.

If you still need more convincing about the many benefits of small-group tutoring, please see the tutor testimonials below.

Linda Lewandowski, a longtime LDP tutor had this to say: "In my fifteen years as a Literacy Du Page tutor, I have worked with students one-to-one, and with small and large groups composed of unrelated students. I also have had the pleasure of tutoring two married couples.

I'm currently working with a married couple from Mexico. They are required, as a term of their employment, to take English classes. We meet once a week, the morning after their only night off work. They both share the goals of improving their workplace and community English and working toward citizenship.

The couple's shared experiences - both good and bad, at work and at home - provide a broad base for meaningful conversation at our weekly meetings, and aid me in choosing future topics to design lessons from. I believe they benefit from their shared lesson by being able to talk about what new English they've learned in day to day context.

As with any small group, a tutor may be presented students with different educational levels and life experience where slight adaptations in curriculum or presentation may need to be made. And, as their tutor, you may have to accept and respect the hierarchy in the marriage that may not be similar to your own. This has been the case with both the married couples I've worked with. Despite these differences, their immediate familiarity with one another created more laughter and joking during awkward moments in our early sessions.

I've been fortunate to observe close friendships develop over time in some of the small groups I have taught composed of unrelated students. Two women from one of my classes formed a bond so strong that they began sharing childcare duties with one another to aid each other with work scheduling. In another class, two men met and formed a friendship that extended to playing soccer together on a weekly basis. As happy as I am personally to form a friendship with each student, I've been doubly happy to see them make connections with others in their community who are also new to this country and share the experience of being new to the USA.

Literacy Du Page nudged me out of my one to one tutoring 'comfort zone' about six years ago, and I've never looked back. I like the idea of helping many more students, and know LDP is always there for me if I need help."

Courtney Jordan, a recently-trained tutor shared this feedback: "Working with a small group can be extremely beneficial to both the tutor and students! In my experience, I have found that a small group allows for natural, everyday conversation rather than role-play or text book conversation. We are able to use language that students would hear in everyday situations (slang, phrases, local language) and make it fun yet, informative and very real. Eventually, the students each learn their strengths. One could be strong at reading, while another is strong at speaking/listening. You will see them start to assist each other during the tutoring session by using their strengths! As a tutor, I feel that my students and I were able to bond quickly because we were a small group.

I know that I was a little nervous when I got assigned two students as a brand new tutor but, honestly now I would totally recommend it to anyone. I think that a small group makes it much less of a formal teacher/student setting, where the student might be nervous."

LDP Board and Office News

Kimberly Mills has joined Literacy DuPage as the new Development and Outreach Manager. Kimberly has over 25 years of nonprofit management, outreach, volunteer administration and fundraising experience. She has worked in a variety of corporate, academic, government and non-government settings as well as in standard 501(c)(3)s. She earned her Masters in Social in 1988 and her Ph.D. in Social Work in 1997. For the past six years she has been a Certified Volunteer Administrator. She moved to Woodridge in July of 2012 with her husband, Jim, and completed tutor training last fall. Kimberly is interested in significantly increasing the number of LDP volunteer tutors, Board Members and funders.

Janine Orrico officially joined the LDP staff this past week as our new Executive Assistant. Janine trained as a tutor and currently works with Ben, a Basic Literacy student. Janine has a background in education and accounting. She moved to Warrenville from New Jersey in 2012. She has three daughters, twins named Isabelle and Elizabeth and a younger daughter named Laura. She is interested in organizing more social media among the tutors and is helping to improve our processes and data management.

Davaa Duusaikhan is our Marketing Intern and a senior at Benedictine University. She previously interned with the Village of Lisle and currently divides her time between school, LDP, and at least two other jobs at Zano Salon and Domo 77. Davaa moved to the US from Mongolia and lives with her parents and younger brother in Naperville. She is interested in helping LDP increase its media and social media presence and making significant contributions to our strategic marketing planning.

Please join me in welcoming these new additions to the LDP team!

For more information about how to become a tutor, our tutor training schedule, or other ways you can help Literacy DuPage, visit our website literacydupage.org.

For information about our literacy partners, visit literacyforadults.org.