Randomly enough, it all started on a pool deck:

Mary: “What do you do?”

Suzy: “I’m an ESL teacher at Lafayette High School.”

Mary: “That’s awesome! I’m jealous! I work at Literacy for Life.”

Suzy: “That’s awesome! I’m jealous! Let me tell you about Word Nerds…”

What a fortuitous conversation! Fast forward a few months, and ESL Word Nerds is flying off the shelf as a go-to curriculum for Literacy for Life’s English language learners.

Suzy Sylvester and her colleague at Lafayette High School, Jenny Marzana, were not satisfied with existing curricula for their English as a Second Language students--so they wrote one. (Sound familiar? This is how Literacy for Life’s HEAL, On the Money, and TechConnect curricula came to be!) 

Suzy and Jenny found that structured phonics-based literacy programs did not provide enough visuals and controlled vocabulary for new speakers of English. Meanwhile, ESL curricula taught vocabulary and sentence structure but did not provide the type of phonics instruction that research shows learners need. And so – over countless summer, evening, and weekend hours – ESL Word Nerds was born! 

Excited about the Word Nerds concept, Literacy for Life sprang into action.

• In January, LFL staff members Mary Lynch, Fiona Van Gheem, and Ellen Plaskon visited Suzy at Lafayette High School to learn more about Word Nerds.
• In February, Suzy presented an in-service workshop to LFL’s tutors and generously shared links to digital copies of the materials. A dozen volunteer tutors attended and were dazzled both by Suzy’s energy and the materials themselves. (One of the tutors who attended offered to underwrite the cost of printing 20 copies of Word Nerds Book 1 for LFL’s learners!) Meanwhile, Mary contacted the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALCR) and encouraged them to meet Suzy.
• In March, Suzy presented a webinar through VALRC so that adult education practitioners throughout Virginia could learn about Word Nerds. (The webinar recording is available on YouTube.) 

LFL tutor Kim Gerdes attended Suzy’s workshop at LFL and immediately began using Word Nerds with her learner, a French speaker from Ghana. “Suzy's enthusiasm for the process she developed was amazing," Kim raved. "I was especially impressed by her focus on establishing basic understanding of commonly used words, then repeating those words in exercises and stories. Keep it simple!! One take-away that has stayed with me is that repetition may seem boring to the tutor, but it builds confidence. My learner is so pleased and more confident as she gets a firm grasp of the vocabulary. Suzy's presentation helped me re-focus my tutoring, and the progress is significant.”

Staff ESL instructor, Ellen, has begun using Word Nerds in her New to English class in Williamsburg. “I’m really excited,” Ellen says. “Phonics lessons are so important for learning the complicated spelling patterns of English, but it can be difficult to make them engaging, especially in a multi-level classroom. The exercises in Word Nerds really grab the learners' attention—I see so many smiles in class! The lessons give the learners plenty of opportunities for creativity. That means they are having fun, and they can also show off their vocabulary and bring in things they’ve learned outside of class.”

Even intermediate and advanced ESL learners—especially those who never studied English formally—appreciate going back to basics with Word Nerds. The vocabulary may be simple for them, but they are building mastery of those notoriously difficult English vowel sounds and report that their spelling and pronunciation are improving.

To date, Suzy and Jenny have completed three Word Nerds books in a planned series of eight. Those first three books are now available on Amazon. The topics are Short Vowels; Consonant Blends, Digraphs, and Trigraphs (like the sw- in swim); and Welded Sounds (like the -ng in song).

Upon hearing about the popularity of Word Nerds at Literacy for Life, Suzy and Jenny shared, “We couldn’t be more excited that LFL’s students and tutors are benefiting from Word Nerds! Seeing it come to life in your community is exactly why we created it!”

Often, the most exciting developments at Literacy for Life come about because of our relationships with talented individuals in the community who share our passion and energy -- and in this case, it came about because of a conversation at the pool!

Thank you, Suzy and Jenny, for sharing the fruits of your talents and hard work with Literacy for Life!  

Give Local 757 is Coming!

Support us on Tuesday, May 5, 2026

"Every year, for 24 hours, the Hampton Roads spirit shines brightest during Give Local 757. Hosted by the Peninsula Community Foundation, this annual online giving day is a powerful call to action, encouraging everyone to invest in the local nonprofits that make our community thrive."

Please support Literacy for Life on or before May 5, and help us reach our goal of $10,000!

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