December 2021
Literacy Delaware Newsletter
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From the Desk of the Executive Director |
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Every so often I get my “teacher itch” to be in the trenches working with learners. I am getting to “scratch” that itch by filling in and teaching a Beginning English class on ZOOM through December. I wanted to get a firsthand look at what is involved teaching virtually, gaining experience to share with our tutors.
I had a huge eye-opener! The usual challenges of teaching English were combined with new challenges of technology, background distractions and keeping the interest of my learners added a whole new dimension on ZOOM. There is much more work involved when teaching online! The reality that the program survived and thrived in the virtual world is a humbling feeling.
Looking back at this past year, I am filled with sincere appreciation and gratitude.
Thank you to our Literacy Champions who supported and continue to generously support us during this unimaginable season of life! Thank you to our Tutors who give even more of their time and talent teaching virtually! Thank you to our Learners who persevere to make progress despite all the roadblocks from COVID-19 -you are inspiring! Thank you to our Board of Directors for your commitment to program success through innovation and growth. Finally, thank you to our Staff for your dedication to improvement, new ideas, and those we serve!
Best Wishes for the Holiday Season
Cindy
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Welcoming New Board of Directors Members |
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Staci Price, a Professional Human Resources Specialist
Ms. Price brings a unique blend of expertise in financial services, legal and accounting. She also brings experience working in a variety of environments from customer service, banking, healthcare,engineering and non-profits.
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Mouli Ravilla is Vice President,Software Architecture at JPMorgan Chase
Mr. Ravilla is a senior technology leader with over 16 years of experience in financial services industry. His expertise includes Strategic architecture and planning, Enterprise architecture,Application architecture and design and implementing large scale software projects.
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Please remember to make your tax deductible donation to help our learners improve their lives.
Thank You!!
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Helping Students and Families – ESL Paraprofessional and Literacy Delaware Learner Maria |
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Maria has been in education for 20 years, having worked primarily with Spanish speaking students in Chicago when she moved to Delaware three years ago. She knew some English but had never taken any formal English classes. She wasn’t sure her skills were adequate to get a job in a school here as she wanted. Though she searched for English classes in Delaware, she wanted something better than traditional group ESL classes to really help her hone her skills in preparation for looking for work.
When Maria found Literacy Delaware and Kent County Coordinator Victoria explained that she would be matched with a tutor who would work just with her, she was “so excited”. Maria met her tutor Bob in person only once before the pandemic halted their in-person learning. They then continued their studies virtually.
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Maria found a "school job" as an ESL paraprofessional in the Caesar Rodney school district, She works with English speaking and Spanish speaking children and families from 1st grade through high school. She is an advocate for the students and always goes the extra mile to help ensure that they and their families understand everything about their schooling including individualized educational plans, policies, etc. “I feel I can help support these students a lot and do whatever I can do to help them for their future success.” Maria particularly enjoys mentoring “newcomer” families who come to school from other countries. “I love to help the students who come from other countries to learn English like me. It is very important to learn the language.”
“The English you hear from me now is because of the tutoring” explains Maria. “I feel more confident, and my vocabulary has increased. This program has really helped me to improve my English a lot!” Maria is also participating in an online Conversation Group with Literacy Delaware.
The advice Maria would give others in the Literacy Delaware program is “it doesn’t matter that you have an accent but if you keep studying and watching TV in English you can improve your listening and speaking and get rid of the accent. It’s been so awesome, I’m so glad I found (Literacy Delaware)!”
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Storybook Tree on Display in Historic Odessa |
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National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week Celebration! |
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Literacy Delaware continued the New Start Adult Literacy program tradition of decorating a storybook tree for the Storybook Trees: A Celebration of Reading holiday display sponsored by the Historic Odessa Foundation. Based on the book W is for Welcome by Brad Hertzog. Program Coordinator Susan Trzonkowski chose the book because it celebrates America's diversity. The tree features the 26 words highlighted in the book including "Statue of Liberty," "Ellis Island," and "Cultures."
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Several members of the Literacy Delaware staff spent time at the Downtown Farmer's market in Rodney Square in Wilmington on Wednesday September 22 as part of our recognition of Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. We enjoyed engaging with the community to share information about our program and mission. We are grateful to Literacy Delaware Board of Directors' member Diane Frentzel from Delaware Readiness for joining us and providing a variety of children's books which we distributed to community members at the event.
Sussex County Coordinator Dale Ashera-Davis coordinated events with several library partners to celebrate the week: the Frankford Library, Laurel Library, Selbyville Library and Georgetown LIbrary. Community participants engaged in activities such as making a vocabulary jar, creating a story about their families, a scavenger hunt and a read in.
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Literacy Delaware to Participate in Volunteer Literacy Tutor Research Study |
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Literacy Delaware will be participating in a groundbreaking, multi-state research study collecting perceptions and feedback from adult literacy volunteers. The organization is participating in a multi-state study to develop and validate a survey questionnaire designed to assess the perceptions of volunteers who provide one-to-one adult literacy instruction.
Robert (Bob) Craig, a Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University is conducting his dissertation project on tutor perceptions in volunteer literacy programs. Bob is no stranger to adult literacy programs. In addition to 35 years of experience working for the federal government, Bob has also served as a GED® math instructor and volunteer one-to-one adult basic literacy tutor. Literacy Delaware was invited to participate in this initiative which will garner tutor feedback for program improvement.
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The results of the survey will help inform policy, practice, and procedures, resulting in improvements in the volunteer tutor experience, thus improving learner outcomes. In addition, it will facilitate the identification of “best-practices” in the areas of tutor recruitment, knowledge sharing, and retention for programs across the country.
Community-based literacy organizations such as Literacy Delaware struggle to gain insights about how well their tutor programs are at recruiting, training, and retaining their volunteer tutors. Currently, most of the existing tools used to assess the perceptions of volunteers are broadly applicable to any organization and are not specifically designed for one-to-one adult literacy tutors.
"We are honored and excited to participate in this cutting-edge study”, says Executive Director Cynthia Shermeyer. “We constantly look for ways to obtain actionable feedback from our tutors about their experience. Volunteers are the heart of Literacy Delaware. Providing them with the tools and support to be successful instructors is of paramount importance.”
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Sussex County Summer Family Literacy Program |
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In the Summer of 2021, Literacy Delaware and the Frankford Library piloted a Summer Family Literacy program. Each Thursday evening for 9 weeks, parents/caregivers and their children attended. The program focused on weekly topical activities to help participants with their English skills. Children participated in their own separate learning activities. During the last 30-45 minutes, parents and children came together for an activity as a review of the evening's lesson. Games were especially popular!
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Adult participants were surveyed on their English Language usage pre and post participation along with their perceptions and feelings about using English. Results help to plan for next year's program. Two of the adult participants were placed with a Literacy Delaware tutor to continue their instruction while two other adult participants are currently on our waiting list for a tutor. |
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Thank you to the volunteers who helped our Sussex County Coordinator Dale Ashera-Davis deliver this program throughout the 9 weeks—Marlene Biddinger, Barbara Nelson, Carole Bailey and her granddaughter and Jackie Filak. Thank you to the Frankford Library for hosting.
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Did you know Literacy Delaware has a Facebook page?
Please "like” us on Facebook and share our posts to help us spread the news!
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Please donate to help us reach
more adults in need in Delaware.
Thank You!
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Literacy Delaware, Inc.
P.O. Box 2083
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