Providing English language skills to help people thrive in our community since 1973
Spring Newsletter
May 2021
Welcome, New Tutors
This spring we held our first online tutor training sessions and, in partnership with our fellow Literacy Volunteers of MA affiliates, trained a total of 13 ESOL tutors and one ABE (Basic Literacy) tutor. Welcome!

Online tutor training sessions will be held again this June. The ESOL tutor training will be held June 10th through 28th, Mondays and Thursdays, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, and the ABE (basic literacy) tutor training will be held June 2nd through 23rd, Mondays and Wednesdays, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. There is still time to apply! Interested applicants can find more information and the tutor application here on our website.
ESOL Courses - Literacy Academy
Summer Trimester Starting Soon!
"Teachers are great! I very happy to attend those classes in Literacy Volunteer. I will register again in next class in the summer. I appreciate it!" - Winter ESOL Student

The Literacy Academy successfully completed another online trimester of classes this past April! A big thank you to all our dedicated and talented teachers. Spots are still available for our summer trimester! Classes will again be held online over Zoom. Those interested can register here on our website. All adults in the Worcester area looking to improve their English language skills are again welcome to join us virtually! If you have any questions about classes, feel free to email info@lvgw.org or call (or message via WhatsApp) our office, 508-754-8056. 
Recap: Scrabble Scrambler & Auction
Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 pm
Our annual game night looked a little bit different this year, but we still had a blast playing Boggle, Scattergories, and more! Congrats to our game winners and all of the highest bidders in the auction.

Maya (below), an ESOL student and now a trained volunteer tutor, shared her inspiring story. We also heard from Lisa, one of our talented and dedicated volunteer tutors, who has helped three adult learners reach their goals.
Thank you to all of our donors, attendees, volunteers, and of course, our sponsors!
Outstanding Student of the Year: Rafaela Joseph
Rafaela Joseph, Admin/Program Assistant and current student at LVGW, received the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education (MCAE) 2021 Outstanding Student Award. We are all so proud of Rafaela. This award was well deserved!

Student Spotlight: Claudia
"I want to share with you one of my personal achievements, my Early Childhood Education-Birth through Eight years old Certificate.

This has been possible thanks to the valuable support of my tutor Linda, who has been a great help with the language and motivated me to continue making this certificate a reality.

It has not been easy to me, but it is a great satisfaction to complete studies in a second language and learn about the field of early childhood education.

With perseverance and the support of volunteers like you, we can make our goals a reality." - Claudia
Congratulations, Claudia!
New Citizens
Congratulations to Ester, Santa, Fatemeh, Sevan, Melania, and Mei, who are among Worcester's newest US citizens!

You all worked so hard for this wonderful achievement, and our country is a better place because you're here.
Conversations with Clarkies
Over the past several weeks, between our winter and summer trimesters, intermediate and advanced English language learners had the opportunity to engage in conversations with native/fluent speakers just for fun and practice. With topics ranging from baking to chemistry to movies, everyone learned something new, shared about their experiences, and made friends.
From the participants...

"Every week I can understand a little more."

"My reading and writing are good, but I want to be more fluent at speaking English. When I speak my language, I don't have to think. I want to speak English that way. Thank you for this practice."
A HUGE thank you to our Clark University student volunteers: Nora, Keegan, Sky, Annie, and Ben, who all did a fantastic job planning and facilitating this project!
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
― Frederick Douglass