Give
the Gift of Reading and Writing
Altadena Library~Know It All: Jan 2016
The new year is a great time to be grateful for the
things you can do. But maybe there is room for a new challenge. If you can read
this, imagine someone who cannot. Do you have time to help? We need volunteers. At the Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center, the
Literacy Department's goal is to help adults improve their reading and writing
skills. Our Literacy Coordinator, Edward William, matches a volunteer tutor to
a learner and that's when the work starts.
Tutors help learners with a wide range of skill building: learning the
alphabet, letters and sounds; reading a book, newspaper, or magazine; writing a
letter; learning to type; filling out a job application; preparing for the GED
test; basic computing skills and more.
The tutor and learner arrange their own study sessions –
deciding how often to meet, when to
meet, and where to meet. Typically, one tutor is assigned to one learner and a
tutor and learner meet once a week for an hour. We also offer print and online
study materials for the tutors to use for their teaching sessions or for
learners to study on their own. Edward is available to offer support to the
tutors and there are tutor workshops during the year so that the tutors can
meet each other and share ideas and tips.
If you would like to give the gift of reading and
writing by becoming a volunteer tutor, you need to attend a six hour online
training workshop. Volunteers learn about literacy, teaching methods, lesson
planning, and learning styles during their training sessions. Volunteers may
train on their own computer or use one of our library computers. Many of our
volunteers have expressed the joy it gives them to see their learners making
progress.
The Literacy Center also offers a small group ESL class
that meets Monday & Thursday mornings. As students of the ESL class make progress,
they can advance into the Literacy program and work one-on-one with a tutor. READ MORE @
