Literacy tutors wanted:A program graduates say changed their lives has a waiting list of adult students.
Press-Enterprise: January 10, 2002 by Maria T. Garcia
Seven years ago, Antonia Diaz found the courage to admit that she was illiterate.
The Colton homemaker and mother of four school-age children was fortunate, however. She turned to the city's Adult and Families for Literacy Program and found a reading tutor who was eager to work with her.
The literacy program that Diaz, 40, credits with changing her outlook on life has helped hundreds of other adults since its start in 1988.
Now the program itself needs help.
More than 30 people are waiting for a tutor, said Ruth Martinez, who coordinates the literacy program through the city-run Colton Public Library. But there are not enough volunteers.
The shortage of tutors means that people who want to learn to read and write have to wait until a volunteer becomes available, which can take months.
In Riverside County, finding reading volunteers is also an ongoing challenge, said Tracie Janis, coordinator of the county Library Adult Literacy Program.
"We always have a shortage of tutors," Janis said. "But we never have a shortage of students. That's never the problem."
Old-fashioned recruiting and the Internet, however, are alleviating the need for tutors in Riverside County.
The library system, with more than 20 branches and nearly 200 volunteers, has been successful in recruiting tutors at senior centers and on the Internet, Janis said. The Internet allows potential volunteers to sign up online and find out about training workshops. Computer-savvy reading volunteers can even submit their monthly reports online.
Janis said every effort must be made to find students a tutor. Otherwise, they may be discouraged from returning to the literacy program by the time a tutor becomes available.
"We may lose the student altogether," she said.
That's too bad, Diaz said, because people who ask for help have already taken the most difficult step: acknowledging that they can't read or that they need help to improve their skills. As Diaz knows, admitting that one is an illiterate adult is not easy.
"I thought I didn't need help," said Diaz, an immigrant from Mexico whose parents pulled her out of school so she could work to supplement the family's income. "But I couldn't help my children with their homework."
Diaz sought help from the Colton Public Library's adult literacy program, where she met volunteer tutor Lillian Alves, a retired elementary school teacher.
They have worked together for two years, sometimes meeting as often as three times a week. Alves has seen Diaz change from a shy person who struggled to read a newspaper into an inquisitive, college-bound woman.
Besides giving her the gift of reading and helping her earn her GED, Alves inspired Diaz to become a teacher.
Diaz plans to enroll at a community college this year before transferring to a university.
"Once you know how to read, you can open doors," Diaz said. "Reading is powerful."
For Alves, a Rialto resident who volunteers at the Colton library three days a week, helping someone -- young or old -- to read is a rewarding experience.
"It's the most amazing feeling because you feel like you've accomplished something," Alves said.
Friday, February 1, 2002
Saturday, December 1, 2001
Orange Co Library - Literacy program reaches many
Literacy program reaches manyThe Orange County Register: November 22, 2001 by Catrine Johansson
Simple things, such as reading a fortune cookie or writing checks are impossible feats for a large group of Orange County residents.
The same group of people often don't vote, don't get higher education and don't get well-paying jobs.
This group is the some 400,000 people who are functionally illiterate, a disguised problem that holds back some 20 percent of the population nationwide from the American dream.''
Since READ was founded in 1991, some 800 volunteer tutors have helped 1,500 students, or "learners,'' as they are called.
Tutors are available through all 28 county library branches. Eleven branches have designated literacy centers with teaching materials and study rooms. The Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach branches all have literacy centers. There are 15 tutors and seven learners at the Laguna Niguel Branch; six tutors and five learners at the Aliso Viejo branch; six tutors and four learners at the Laguna Beach branch.
Two Families for Literacy programs that teach literay to whole families are available in Laguna Beach. One meets at St. mary's Episcopal Church in the La Playa Center on Park Avenue, and the other meets at the Boys and Girls Clubs at 1085 Laguna Canyon Road.
All literacy training is confidential in the READ program, West said. Sometimes, not even family members know that a relative is in the program.
Funded through tax money and grants, the tutoring is free of charge to the learners. The tutors do not get paid.
``In fact, we ask the tutors for a $20 donation to cover training materials,'' West said.
Each tutor and learner is asked to commit a minimum of 50 hours over six months to the program. During that time, tutor and learner will work with material that is pertinent to that individual learner.
If a grandmother wants to read so she can read to her grand children, the tutoring will focus on the children's book she wants to read. If someone wants to read to follow cooking instructions, a Betty Crocker cookbook may be used.
``Learners won't learn if they aren't interested in the material,'' West said. ``Once the interest is there we can expand into different reading later.''
In instances when READ tutors work with parents to children in the Head Start program, they will donate the book they've used in the sessions to the families. Some $6,000 worth of books are donated in this way every year.
``It's often the first book in the household or the first book in English,'' West said.
Some 60 percent of the learners were born in another country, West estimated. The remaining 40 percent are illiterate due to slow development, substandard schooling or social promotion through the school system.
``Thank God we're finally getting away from social promotion,'' West said.
For more information, call (714) 566-3070, or visit http://www.readoc.org/.
Simple things, such as reading a fortune cookie or writing checks are impossible feats for a large group of Orange County residents.
The same group of people often don't vote, don't get higher education and don't get well-paying jobs.
This group is the some 400,000 people who are functionally illiterate, a disguised problem that holds back some 20 percent of the population nationwide from the American dream.''
Since READ was founded in 1991, some 800 volunteer tutors have helped 1,500 students, or "learners,'' as they are called.
Tutors are available through all 28 county library branches. Eleven branches have designated literacy centers with teaching materials and study rooms. The Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach branches all have literacy centers. There are 15 tutors and seven learners at the Laguna Niguel Branch; six tutors and five learners at the Aliso Viejo branch; six tutors and four learners at the Laguna Beach branch.
Two Families for Literacy programs that teach literay to whole families are available in Laguna Beach. One meets at St. mary's Episcopal Church in the La Playa Center on Park Avenue, and the other meets at the Boys and Girls Clubs at 1085 Laguna Canyon Road.
All literacy training is confidential in the READ program, West said. Sometimes, not even family members know that a relative is in the program.
Funded through tax money and grants, the tutoring is free of charge to the learners. The tutors do not get paid.
``In fact, we ask the tutors for a $20 donation to cover training materials,'' West said.
Each tutor and learner is asked to commit a minimum of 50 hours over six months to the program. During that time, tutor and learner will work with material that is pertinent to that individual learner.
If a grandmother wants to read so she can read to her grand children, the tutoring will focus on the children's book she wants to read. If someone wants to read to follow cooking instructions, a Betty Crocker cookbook may be used.
``Learners won't learn if they aren't interested in the material,'' West said. ``Once the interest is there we can expand into different reading later.''
In instances when READ tutors work with parents to children in the Head Start program, they will donate the book they've used in the sessions to the families. Some $6,000 worth of books are donated in this way every year.
``It's often the first book in the household or the first book in English,'' West said.
Some 60 percent of the learners were born in another country, West estimated. The remaining 40 percent are illiterate due to slow development, substandard schooling or social promotion through the school system.
``Thank God we're finally getting away from social promotion,'' West said.
For more information, call (714) 566-3070, or visit http://www.readoc.org/.
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