Save the Date
Our fourth-annual fundraiser BOOK FAIR will be on Saturday, September 28, at Westfield Annapolis Mall. The mall kindly donates its Community Room and Crate & Barrel Court space for this wonderful event.
We’ll share news on book donations, sponsorships, and plans soon.
Join our book fair team
We need even more volunteers as the event grows and grows — please be on the lookout for detailed sign-up opportunities coming via email this spring.
We will form a book fair planning committee in the weeks ahead. Let us know if you’d like to be part of the fun leading up to September 28!
Celebrate Arab American Heritage Month at Local Libraries
April is Arab American Heritage Month. AACPL is celebrating all month with events, book lists organized by reader age group, and STEM activities. Visit the library’s website for full details.
Glen Burnie Library to Host Trade School Fair
On Saturday, April 20, the Glen Burnie Library will host a Trade School Fair from 11 am until 2 pm. Several organizations will be represented. Attendees can explore options, including apprenticeships and training certifications. High school juniors, seniors, and adults are welcome. Please visit this webpage for more information.
Fifteen new tutors joined the AACLC team of volunteers on March 2 at our spring tutor training session. Many of them are already working with students. Thank you to our training team, these eager new volunteers, and our hosts, Woods Church in Severna Park.
The next session will be scheduled for June, and it will focus on training new ESL tutors. Stay tuned for details.
Please continue referring neighbors or friends who you think could be committed AACLC tutors to us.
Interested trainees should contact Jane at director@aaclc.org.
We’re Launching an English Conversation Group in Eastport
On Friday, March 29, from 5 until 7 pm, the Literacy Council is hosting a conversation group at the Seeds 4 Success office in the Eastport Shopping Center. Participants will be welcome to meet other adult English language learners, practice English in a friendly environment, and enjoy games and light refreshments.
The group is most suited to Spanish speakers, and space is limited to 15 people.
AACLC tutor Mary Waters will facilitate the evening. Mary has experience as an ESL tutor with the Literacy Council and with Catholic Charities, where she volunteered as an ESL teacher for many years.
Thanks to Seeds 4 Success for hosting this fun event, which we hope to continue offering on the last Friday evening of every month.
Literacy Council tutors or students should email Wendy if they plan to attend.
AACPL (Anne Arundel County Public Library) is giving free Chromebooks to eligible low-income residents of Anne Arundel County. Visit the library’s website for information on qualifying for the opportunity and Giveaway dates at various branches.
(En Español: Computadoras Gratuitas)
Adult Literacy Affects All of Us
Approximately 48 million adults in the United States can not read above a third-grade level (ProLiteracy). According to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, 54% of adults struggle to read, write, and comprehend proficiently, which impacts their daily lives.
“This crisis affects all of us—lying at the core of the multigenerational cycles of poverty, poor health, and low educational attainment that impact our families, businesses, communities, and our nation as a whole” — Barbara Bush Foundation.
The AACLC’s programs address adult literacy needs in Anne Arundel County, where the low literacy rate among adults is 14.9%. To see what literacy looks like in our communities, Maryland, and surrounding areas, visit the Barbara Bush Foundation’s Literacy Gap Map. (The Gap Map will be updated at the end of this year, revealing the impact of the pandemic.)
ProLiteracy publishes an adult literacy fact sheet that highlights some of the costs of low literacy, including the challenges faced by immigrants.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been busy welcoming students, matching them with tutors, and training new volunteers. These are all worthy reasons to celebrate National Reading Month!
March is also Women’s History Month. Did you know that the Literacy Council was founded by a small group of women who saw the need for local literacy tutoring back in 1977? We’ve been impacting local adult education and opportunity ever since.
Thank you for all you do,
Jane
Jane Seiss, Executive Director
Anne Arundel County Literacy Council
ProLiteracy has supported the Anne Arundel County Literacy Council through its Literacy Opportunity Fund. The grant we received will support operations and our ESL program, allowing us to better serve Anne Arundel County adults who are working to improve their English language skills.
ProLiteracy is an international organization that has been empowering adults through literacy for more than 60 years. The AACLC is a member, and we rely on ProLiteracy for training opportunities, student coursework materials, and more.
In case you’d like to know more about how reading is taught in American schools and how things are changing, check out this listen:
Hard Words: a podcast from American Public Media (APM) and journalist Emily Hanford. What happened in Bethlehem, PA, when the school district adopted methods of teaching reading that honored research findings?
On January 23, the Maryland State Board of Education called for the statewide adoption and implementation of literacy instruction based on the Science of Reading starting with the 2024-25 academic year. “Our goal is to ensure that more Maryland students have foundational literacy skills that equip them for lifelong success,” said Interim State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright.
