The main thing to keep in mind is that no one is perfect, so don't let your hesitation to say all the right things stop you from sharing about Literacy Source. You have chosen to join this community for a reason, and that reason can help others to find their way to us as well. And if you're looking for more ways to share your time, energy, and expertise, we have a variety of ways for you to get involved with our upcoming breakfast (see below).

Next month, we'd love to shift into sharing the story about how you came to Literacy Source. Would you be willing and able to share your story? If so, please reach out to Caroline!

With gratitude,

Liz Wurster

Communications Coordinator

We are excited to gather in person for the first time in four years for a morning filled with inspiration, shared stories, and a celebration of literacy at our Empower Through Literacy- Rise and Shine Breakfast at 7:30am on April 19th at Seattle Marriott Waterfront.

Your attendance is requested either in person or virtually for this occasion. RSVP’s will be sent out in March.

We are looking for volunteers to make the Breakfast memorable. If you’re interested in helping us by being a table captain, greeting, or taking photos please contact analisaj@literacysource.org.

An integral part of Black History Month is increasing awareness about what it means - and has meant for centuries - to be Black in America. While listening to my Billie Holiday radio playlist the other night, the song Strange Fruit came on. I happened to be in the midst of writing this Courageous Conversations piece, and for the first time, I truly listened to the lyrics that I'd heard probably a dozen times before:

Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees...

I tried to imagine living as a Black person during those years and seeing such brutality, knowing that the roots of these unthinkable acts of violence lay in a system that valued White lives over Black ones. Billie Holiday, who was born in 1915, would have seen that brutality firsthand: for example, her father died when he was denied treatment for pneumonia by hospitals that refused Black patients. These experiences drove her to create powerful music, but it also took its toll on her health. She struggled with addiction throughout her life, and, sadly, lost that battle at the age of 44. But her contributions to the world of jazz were mighty, and the soul she brought to her music unparalleled.

Gabrielle Bruney wrote a revealing piece about the racist roots of the war on drugs and how that was exposed in the 2021 movie The United States vs Billie Holiday. In it, she delves into that struggle, challenging the notion that to be a hero, you have to overcome whatever adversity might plague your life: "She was still a hero,' she says, "no matter what they did to her, no matter how they persecuted her, she never stopped singing "Strange Fruit". She never let them destroy her.”

I’ll begin this teaching tip with a personal anecdote. Part of my training as a Peace Corps Volunteer was to learn French. At the beginning of each class, our teacher asked us what we ate for dinner the night before and for breakfast that morning. It helped me practice the structures for the past tenses, food vocabulary, listening (to other student’s answers), and pronunciation. This helped me build a foundation for

talking about the past, buying food at the market, and having conversations about cooking. It was incredibly difficult initially, but became so easy that the question was

boring by the end. I found out much later that our teachers were actually in charge of

ensuring that we were eating properly in a new country, so they had to ask us what we

ate every day...

To read the full teaching tip, go here!

By Laura Kalmanson, ESOL Instructor

Please Take Our Volunteer Newsletter Survey!

Final chance to give us your feedback around our newsletter. Please take this short survey to help improve the content of the newsletter in the future.

We appreciate your participation!

1. Volunteer Roundtable Discussion - Online

This school year we are following a series of free webinars from the renowned literacy program, Literacy Minnesota. (Past webinars included the White Savior Complex, Trauma-Informed Instruction, and Understanding Adult Learners) After each webinar we follow up with an online roundtable discussion with volunteers and Literacy Source staff and instructors. 

This term's topic is on Working with Materials, the training covers scaffolding techniques, modeling: I Do, We Do, You Do, and how to check for comprehension. You will have opportunities in the training to practice these techniques. 

Part A: Webinar: Working with Materials 

Monday February, 26^th 4:30 – 6:30pm 

Please Register for the free webinar here 

We encourage you to join the live webinar to get more out of the training however, if you can't make the live session you can: Register to watch a free recording here here before joining the roundtable discussion. 

Part B: Online Roundtable Discussion: Working with Materials 

Thursday, February 29th, 5:30 – 6:30pm 

Join the meeting with this Zoom link 

Everyone is welcome to come and participate in the discussion.  

2. Teaching Writing Training - In-Person

Sat. March 9th, 9 –11am

Lake City Center, 3200 NE 125^th St. Seattle WA 98125 

Snacks provided!

In this training, tutors and teachers will explore instructional strategies for low stakes writing practice routines to support reluctant writers, as well as when and how to give writing feedback during the writing process. Volunteers will practice how to support assigned writing tasks with their learners. Suitable for all levels of students. Please join the Google Classroom and complete the pre-activity.

The Winter 2024 issue of Notebook: Resources for the Adult Educator, a ProLiteracy membership publication, is in the mail.

In this issue:



• Professional Development: Using AI in Adult Education and Literacy
• Health Literacy: Staying Healthy With ProLiteracy’s “Understanding Health and Wellness”
• Writing: Creating an Autobiography Timeline
• Speaking: “Grand Café English” Video Series and Helping ELLs Who Want to Start a Business
• Student Profile: Suhrob Ahatov: Persistence Leads to New Job and U.S. Citizenship

Congratulations - and thank you! - to the following volunteers for reaching a year of service with Literacy Source!

• Philip Tse (Class/Tutor in the GED Math Lab)

Literacy Source partnered with one individual from Ethiopia who became a new citizen in the past month. Congratulations!

Barracoon: The Story of the Last. "Black Cargo"

Staff: Rob Duren

Do you Dream of Terra-Two?

Staff: Alex Olsen

The Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

Staff: Leesy Latronica

The Color of Mind

Staff: Cat Howell

Rest is Resistance

Staff: Allie Azersky

Medical Apartheid

Staff: Liz Wurster

Lunar New Year Celebration

Saturday, February 24, 11am-4pm (Seattle's Chinatown-International District, FREE)

The annual celebration held in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District will take place on Saturday, February 24th. Vendors will line up along S King St, offering food, handmade crafts, and retail goods. Visit the main stage at Hing Hay Park to see dance and music performances. Go on the Lunar New Year Food Walk by collecting stamps from 5 of the 40+ participating CID businesses for a chance to win a prize basket. With over thousands of people RSVPing on Facebook, the streets will be busy. The lines will be long, AKA an excellent chance to make some friends.

The Griot Party Experience presents: Black is Life

Saturday, February 24, 6pm (Bulldog News & Cafe, FREE)

Come join us at the Bulldog News & Café for an unforgettable evening celebrating the richness of Black culture. Get ready to immerse yourself in a vibrant atmosphere filled with music, art, and soulful vibes.

On Saturday, February 24, 2024, starting at 6:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time), we invite you to be a part of this unique event that honors the beauty and resilience of the Black community. Indulge in a captivating experience as talented griots share their stories through spoken word, poetry, and captivating performances. Let the rhythm move you as you dance to the beats of live music, showcasing the diverse sounds of Black artists.

Discover a curated selection of artwork that celebrates Black history, culture, and achievements. Engage in thought-provoking conversations with fellow attendees, fostering connections and dialogue that uplift and empower. Join us for an evening filled with love, inspiration, and unity. Let's celebrate the magic of Blackness together at The Griot Party Experience presents: Black is Life. See you there!

LANGSTON and SIFF collaborate to present: SPACE IS THE PLACE

Sunday, February 25, 7-10pm (SIFF Cinema Egyptian, $15.50-16.50)

Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, in which the pharaonic Ra and his Arkestra lead an intergalactic movement to resettle the Black race on their utopian space colony.

Presented in partnership with LANGSTON and KNKX as part of our Reel Black: SoulGenre series. The rest of the lineup will be announced at this screening so get ready to geek out!

Joy Harjo A Conversation with the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate

Tuesday, February 27, 7:30pm (The Great Hall, Town Hall Seattle, $10-$100)

Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022, the first Native American to receive the honor, and she is the winner of Yale’s 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry.

Harjo has written ten books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed, Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years, several plays and children’s books, and two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior.

Our next New Volunteer Orientation (via Zoom) will be on March 6 at either 1pm or 7pm. 

Potential volunteers are invited to register online here. 

Miss any of our past volunteer newsletters? You can access archived newsletters at the bottom of the Volunteer Resources of our webpage.