Ivonne and tutor Vicki Jordan
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I have been working with the AA County Literacy Council since I retired from federal service 15 months ago and am happy to be part of this amazing group of volunteers!
For the past year, I have tutored Ivonne, an incredible ESOL student. She works so hard and continues to surpass her goals. Best of all, we are friends! Ivonne is lovely and I feel so blessed to be part of her life and part of the Literacy Council’s work.
Ivonne’s goals were to improve her writing skills and increase her involvement in community activities, and she has done both. We completed Book 3 in the Challenger Series and are now into Book 4. We also supplement with other materials, play Boggle, do word searches, etc.
Her weekly journal is evidence of how far her writing skills have come. Each week she writes about the “best or most memorable thing that happened during the week”. As we page through the notebook and look at the early entries compared to her more recent ones we can see her incredible progress. In addition to the facts, she writes about her feelings and emotions surrounding the topic, uses complex sentences, and much more sophisticated vocabulary. She has also gotten more involved in the community as a result of feeling more comfortable with her English.
I also work with GED students at Ordnance Road Correctional Center (ORCC) 1x per week. It is rewarding to see the students at ORCC improve their life skills, earn their GED, and gain confidence in themselves. Metrics demonstrate that those who earn their GED do not return to jail as often.
Vicki Jordan
