Each month AACLC tutors submit volunteer hours and student progress reports. Here is a sampling of those reports drawn from November submissions:
• Nicole has recently passed all but the writing and math portions of the GED!
• Joy is very close to finishing the material critical to passing the NEDP entrance exam.
• In October Ken shared with his son and daughter-in-law that he is unable to read and told them about being tutored. He said they were very proud of him! Neither his family nor friends knew about his lack of literacy skills. Until his wife’s death 4 years ago he relied on her to handle all his paperwork. She went to doctor visits with him and took care of all the forms. She was also responsible for all the paperwork for his business. Basically, she was his reader and writer. We are meeting twice a week for lessons. Ken is making progress with his reading and writing each week and even went ahead in the workbook when we missed a session. He is a hard-working student and we are both proud of his progress.
• Jessica passed her GED math test this month!
• Daiquill often asks if we can have more sessions per week and is getting more and more motivated to read and learn. He now gets that reading is a key to his future. We have finished Frankenstein and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which are 2 more than he read in the last 20 years. We have moved on to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Daiquell is quickly engrossed in the story. Despite the story being a continent away and a century in the past, he’s into it. I praise him each session for improvement in reading speed and accuracy. Last session, I reminded him that when we first met, he acknowledged that reading bored him and put him to sleep! He has made great progress in his reading comprehension and confidence.
• Only one more book to go for Ida to finish the Algebra curriculum! Things are going well.
• Wilfredo is such a pleasure to work with, even when he comes to class after what I know is a very long day of tree work. He has completed Laubach LWE 1 and is becoming much more talkative and feeling better about going into stores and speaking in English.
• Maria is working to take the citizenship test in 2019.
• Gary completed Sounder – the first book he’s ever read! We have also gone through medical information pertaining to medications, appointments, and a discharge summary. Gary also met a goal to sing a solo with his church choir. Now, if he forgets the lyrics, he can read the lyrics rather than having to memorize the entire song.
• Michele is completing a review for the Math GED Practice Test.
• Nelsy is working through comprehension and vocabulary activities. She is doing well and making progress.
Tutor Cathy Phillips and Charles Rowell
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Charles Rowell has lived in Glen Burnie for over 60 years. He remembers this area when it was still a small town – he could go hunting in his neighborhood and the only vehicle his family owned was a bicycle. He stopped attending school very early in life, but it didn’t stop him from succeeding. He was a machinist at an air-conditioning shop and later a custodian at Baltimore-Washington Medical Center – always doing well at work.
When he retired and had more time, he decided that he wanted to learn to read. Charles and I have been meeting twice a week for about a year and a half and his improvement is amazing. We have worked through all the long and short vowel sounds. He has learned to write all the numbers, so now he can write checks without using a cheat sheet.
We have done a lot of practice on the 300 most commonly used words and he knows most of them by sight now. We often practice by reading things he receives in the mail like medical forms, housing letters, insurance statements, and tax forms. We had fun one time when I brought 3 different carryout menus to practice reading. His work ethic is second to none.
When I asked him why he wanted to learn to read, he said, “so he could read the paper and see what was going on in the world”. He enjoys reading books and puts in a great deal of time in reading. He is currently reading The Black Stallion and it has brought up a great conversation about a pony he once had.
His recommendation to anyone who wants to learn to read: “It’s never too late!”
Tutor Sharon Jolie and Cameisha
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“I met Cameisha in the Spring of 2018 when the Literacy Council started tutoring at the Chrysalis House for women. Cameisha wanted to work on improving her math skills overall, but early on I found her to be ready and willing to work on any problems I presented to her. She always did “homework” during the week and was ready to have it checked the next week.
When my fall semester of classes began at AACC I had to relinquish my students at Chrysalis House to other tutors and found out later that Cameisha had been accepted into a college nursing program! Cameisha reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to continue tutoring her in math. I agreed and we have been working together almost every Tuesday all semester.
I look forward to my time with Cameisha on Tuesdays. If we don’t meet, I miss talking with her. She is such a positive person. Her little one often sits with us and I see how motivated Cameisha is to be successful in her college pursuits but also in her role as mother. It’s a juggling act and she’s succeeding!”
Sharon Jolie
Tutor:
Elsa wants to write grammatically correct sentences. She can write the first sentence correctly, then she runs all her words together. Part of the problem is that she does not have a clear understanding of the major components of a sentence – subject-verb-object. We are starting at square one and I think she is getting frustrated with the grammar. Any ideas on how to approach this from another angle?
Sarah:
The articles on the website www.newsinlevels.com are written in three levels, and the sentences show good examples of subject-verb agreement. One can read the more complex statements of level 3, and simplify them by reading level 1 to show students the difference. (And the video/audio is read in matching levels).
I also REALLY like the free educational website: http://interactivesites.weebly.com/ There is a dropdown menu for Language Arts that include games for ABCs, GRAMMAR, and SENTENCES, and more.
This site should help students build proper sentences. The graphics are amazing and make learning interesting. I’ve tried several games: “Does it make sense?”, “Kung-Fu Sentences”, (ESL Do You Want to Be a Millionaire?), “What is in here” puzzle pieces, “Who, How, Type, What, Where” building silly sentences… etc. These games are fun!!!!
Tutors should take time playing with the games to find the ones that they think their student will enjoy. I like clicking on the WRONG answers to get an explanation of the RIGHT answers on the interactive weebly site.
Also, when writing a composition it’s okay to put all your thoughts down (even in run-on jumbles). BUT you do have to go back, cut and paste, drag and drop…, to create and make proper sense out of those thoughts to make them understandable to your readers. When practicing for writing essays, one should take 2 to 3 minutes to brainstorm ideas to create an order for writing your final passage.
News-in-Levels is a good example of simple sentences and thoughts (level 1) to adding lots of adjectives/adverbs/ details in (level 3).
GRAMMAR:
The way we speak and write can be very different. All of us have to learn to speak and write correct grammar. There are games for that, too, on the Interactive Weebly site. This site is free and wonderful!
Sarah Gardner
Here is a sample of our motivated new students who would like to receive free tutoring in reading and/or math:
T. is a young woman who was referred to us by her parole officer. She dropped out of school in 11th grade and would like to get her GED.
L. is a client at Chrysalis House who needs math help to complete her GED.
H. is a mother of six who dropped out of school in 7thgrade and would like literacy and math instruction to get her GED.
M. was just one class short of graduating from high school in 1994 and would now like to get her GED.
D. was referred to us from People Encouraging People. He dropped out of school in 9th grade and wants to sharpen his reading and writing skills to improve his job opportunities.
D. spent his earlier years as a seaman and would now like to get his GED.
D. is a young mother who wants to enroll in Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), but first needs to improve her reading skills.
A. was referred to us by another student. He would like to improve his English skills in order to advance at work.
D. is a young man referred to us by TIME Org. who is eager to get his GED but first needs help with his reading and comprehension skills.
K. graduated from high school but would like help with her reading/writing skills to improve her chances of getting a job.
G. was referred to us by Sarah’s House. He dropped out of school in 10th grade and would like help to pass his driver license test.
B. is in her early 40s and needs help with her math skills to complete her GED.
Tutor Suzy Ochs and Sonia Kaur
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Congratulations to Sonia Kaur for successfully earning her high school diploma in January! Tutors Phil Tawes and Suzy Ochs have worked with Sonia since 2014 to help her achieve her GED and gain her CNA and LPN certifications. During this time, Sonia worked 2 to 3 jobs while also raising her three young children. She has passed the Nursing Assistant and the Medicine Aid class at Anne Arundel Community College, and now works as a patient technician at Crofton Rehabilitation and privately as a caregiver.
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Great opportunity!
Our next tutor training is scheduled for
Saturday March 16th, 2019
8:30 am to 5:30 pm
Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in
Severna Park, MD
and will include basic literacy, math, and English Language Learner (ELL) instruction.
We have a class size limit of 35. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in attending this training, please email Lisa Vernon at director@aaclc.org or call 410-269-4419 as soon as possible to reserve a seat.
Left to right: ELL tutor Joan Spring, student Marina, and ELL tutor Jane Felsentreger
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March 20th 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Woods Memorial Church
Severna Park
This workshop is designed for tutors who work with English Language Learners (ELL) and would like to help them improve their spoken American English pronunciation. This interactive workshop will improve their ability to understand the place, manner, and voicing of articulation for many of the speech sounds of spoken American English, both consonants and vowels.
An explanation will be given of the differences between a letter, and the sounds represented by that letter. Hand mirrors (provided) will be used to provide a visual of the appearance of parts of the mouth when producing speech sounds, and we will practice. Handouts of worksheets for some commonly mispronounced sounds will be provided, as well as a handout of useful websites to use with our students.
Tutor Joan Spring, a speech pathologist, will lead this valuable workshop. Please be sure to RSVP to Jane Seiss at janeseiss@gmail.com or call our office at 410-269-4419 to leave a detailed message.
