Teaching and Honoring

I want to talk about two things today, and I will keep it brief because I am a busy busy girl!

First I want to talk about using games in ESOL tutoring.  For my third week, I decided to try a couple of games with the students.  To shake it up a bit.  I created a bingo game using pictures and words for grocery store vocabulary.  I used a great website that has a bingo card generator on it:

 

Here is an example of one of the cards:

I gave them pennies and buttons to use as their markers.

Observation 1: Normally when you play bingo you only have to get a whole row across, down, or diagonal to win; but when the cards only use 16 pictures, the game ends too soon.  I suggest using the rule that you have to fill the entire card to win.  We played about 5 games of bingo, in about 10 minutes, too fast!

Then I played a response game with them, to try and teach them the words under, over, beside, etc.  I gave each student a piece of paper with these two pictures on it:

Then I told them to put an X on the table, put a check under the table, put a circle in the box, and put a plus sign beside the box.  Then I showed them my sheet of paper and told them it should look the same:

 Most of them understood, and those who didn't would ask their neighbor to help them, so they all got them right.  I wanted to do this game because my partner N and I noticed that they were getting confused with the words on, in, and at.  N told me that in the Spanish language they say "on top of" as in "Put the X on top of the table."  English speakers say this also, but most people say the shortened version "put the X on the table" and I want my students to understand what that means.

This brings up a good point.  There are many idiosyncrasies in the English language that can not really be translated well to other languages.  Whenever possible it is good to try to explain and teach these to ESOL students, the more they use the "real" American language, the more they will feel at home.  In my opinion anyway.

So we did those two games, which took me about 4 hours to prepare, and in class they took about 20 minutes to finish.  That left 40 minutes of open non prepared time.  I sort of panicked and looked helplessly at N when I realized I had nothing to do for the next 40 minutes.  She suggested we go over some emergency words, so we talked about the different times you would call 911 or go to the ER versus calling a doctor.  Like I have said before, the students are all so easygoing and they never missed a beat.  This is why I love teaching this class!

ESOL tutoring week two

So being an ESOL tutor is tons of work and reaps tons of benefits, it is the ultimate in satisfying deeds.  This past week, our second class, I had help, a student teacher named N who is minoring in Spanish.  We divided the class up into two small groups and worked on grocery store vocabulary and questions and phrases you might use while in the grocery store.

There were less students this week, only about 10.

First I had the students go over their introductions.  I had them first introduce themselves: "Hi my name is Carlos, I have 3 children, this is my friend Maria, she has 4 children."  I had created a chart from the information I gathered in the first class.  Name, how many children, children's ages.  I hung the chart up and pointed to each name as they went around.  

Observation 1:  I noticed that the students tend to want to say the phrase backwards which makes sense since in Spanish most sentences are reverse.  They also shortened the phrases, for instance they often said "This my friend", or "she my friend."  I am not sure if this is right, but I corrected them and had them say the phrase as a complete sentence.

Next we went over grocery store vocabulary.  I created large pictures that I found on google and put the word in English on top.

The words we started with were:
Aisle
Shelf
Cashier
Deli
Bakery
Produce
Meats
Frozen Foods


Observation 2:  Many of the pronunciations of words and phrases are completely new to the students, and some of the digraphs and blends are new also because they are not used in the Spanish language.  For instance, the sh.  The students pronounced it ch.   Or the letter j.   In the Spanish language this letter is pronounced like a y as in you, but in English it is pronounced as a g as in giraffe.  I took the time to help them try to sound the words out the right way.  Not sure if that is correct either, it just felt right.

Here is a list of sounds not found in the Spanish language that I found on a fabulous website called  ¡Colorin´, colorado!  This is "A bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners."

This is such a great website!

Next we split into small groups and worked on questions and answers they might use in the grocery store using TPR and Response Drills.  "Where is the juice?" "The juice is on aisle four."

Observation 3: I had them practicing these phrases and questions for a few minutes and then I realized they seemed to be repeating them fine, but I sensed they didn't really understand them.  I asked them if they understood what they were saying and one woman asked "What is aisle?"  So when we had gone over the vocabulary it had not clicked with her exactly what an aisle was.  So I got up, went between the desks and showed using my arms that the whole space was an aisle, then they understood.  I knew they understood because they started saying what the word was in Spanish.

Then another woman asked, "What is shelf?"  So I went to a bookshelf in the room and pointed to one of the shelves and said this is a shelf, the book is on the shelf.  They nodded and said the word to each other in Spanish.

I am starting to question the whole process of using pictures to explain things.  Especially with grocery store terms.

Observation 4:  Ever wonder why in the English language we say, at the back of the store, or in the back of the store and they mean the same things.  Or, "Can you help me in produce",  and "How many packets are in this box?"  Or what about the word ON.  "The juice is on the third shelf", and "The pharmacy is on your left."  To us it makes sense, to ESOL students it is very confusing.  I had a hard time trying to make them understand, so basically I said, "The English language is tricky, one word can have many meanings."  Which is true but doesn't make it any easier for them to understand.  Unfortunately they are going to have to figure it out as they go along.

The class did such an amazing job and again they are so accomodating and open to learning.  I love that enthusiasm for understanding.  If only we all had that desire.

Next week I am going to try a bingo game and a response lesson.  Stay tuned!

Tips for Visiting the Doctor

So I was browsing through the current issue of Parenting magazine (early years), and came across an article called How to Talk to a Doc. This article offers tips, given by doctors, about how to prepare for your next Dr. visit. The article is geared toward parents and offers advice about well visits, but what I found was that the tips actually apply to anyone preparing to visit a doctor.

Presumably when you are an adult you are visiting for some sort of health problem. It isn't like when you take a baby to the doctor every month in the first year, and then every year after that for check ups. But regardless of the reason, visiting a doctor is a lesson in time management. Generally you get about 15 minutes with a doctor. Sometimes less. Their schedules are usually back to back, and your schedule is probably pretty tight too. It is important to not waste each others time. So we need to be prepared, and sometimes we need lessons on how to do that.

I know that any time I visit a doctor, whether it is for my daughters' check ups or my husbands medical problems, I have to write down questions before I go. Here are some more tips offered in the magazine about how to arrive prepared.

Number 1: "Find a go-to health care provider." So the magazine says you should create a "medical home" for your child. A place where they have records about everything to do with their health care since you started going to them. I have been taking my kids to the same practice for over 10 years now. While I don't really know them all by name and do not really have a close relationship with them, they always have my kids charts, and when we go for a visit, the chart is right there for them to look through and check on things. When my daughter was about 8 she started suffering from ear infections quite often, and the doctor warned me that because she had taken antibiotics quite a few times for them she might build a resistance to them if we kept giving them for every instance. If I had taken her to a clinic or ER, they might not have known she had been on meds so many times. They would not have had her history, and I might have forgotten to mention it in my worried state.

My youngest after getting blood taken at the doctor.

Number 2: "Know your child's medical history." The magazine suggests keeping a folder or even a smartphone app with all your child's immunizations, etc. This would be a great way for me to keep track of the number of times my daughter has been on antibiotics for something, and so if we ever do need to visit an ER you have all that information stored and don't need to remember it all. With three kids, and multiple Doctor visits it can become very confusing for me to try to remember everything. I would suggest going one step further and maybe even keeping a journal, writing down each visit and what the Dr. said each time. I am going to start doing that, it will be nice to look back even for nostalgia's sake and see how they have changed over the years.

This tip could also of course apply to adults. I know I keep a folder with all of my husbands medical information, and I keep a list of all his meds. I never know when we will need it, so I am also going to start using a smartphone app. The one that I am trying is called "My Medical". This is through iPhone and is only $1.99. The thing I like about it most is that I can keep track of the medical info for everyone in my family. This app takes down all the information, from height, weight, blood type, to allergies and medications you are currently on, and even medications you have taken in the past. I will keep you up to date on how well it does.

Screenshots from my iPhone of the My Medical app.

Number 3: "Arrive prepared." Basically, don't forget the folder with your child's (or spouse's) medical information. Be sure to bring the questions you have been thinking of with you also.

Number 4: "Take notes." Yeah, I always forget what the doctor said. I take notes all the time at the doctor, especially regarding medications. Sometimes I even have the doctor write it down, if they will, because they know the names and dosages more readily. I always write down what the doctor said about medications because the pharmacy can make mistakes. This is where the journal would come in handy. The iPhone app has a notes section for each patient you are keeping track of.

Number 5: "Don't be afraid to second-guess." This is seriously not a problem for me because I already don't completely trust doctors. Especially in Er's. But some people really find it hard to go against what a doctor tells them, even if their gut feeling is really telling them it is wrong. Trust your gut. And if you are still concerned, get a second opinion, or even a third opinion. Remember that you are your own best advocate, and when it comes to your children or your spouse, you are their best advocate also. A nurse friend of mine told me recently about my husband "you are his best nurse." That is so true, who better to provide the most personal care possible than your own mother or spouse.

Anyway I thought these tips were important, and that tutors could easily make a health literacy lesson out of these. Let me know what you think!

Fun Finds For Funky Tutors

One thing I have learned since officially becoming a "blogger" is that bloggers read many many blogs. I have a blog roll on my page that lists my favorites, but I read so many more than that. I get ideas, both for content and for style from my fellow bloggers.

One thing I have picked up while strolling across the 'net is this obsession most bloggers have with Etsy.

Etsy is awesome. It is a website where crafters and artists and sculptors and thrift shop junkies can sell their wares.

I recently purchased that really cool necklace above from Etsy. I wear this thing every day. I have a thing for bumble bees and have decided this necklace is just a first for my collection. To add to the variety of my posts I have decided to post some cool things, all literary, that I come across on Etsy.

SO... This week we have:

This really cool print, I want it!

Wouldn't these be cool to teach an ESOL student the alphabet

Yes Please!

Yes Yes Please!

Ok, the description for these says "for your child" (which actually is cool too) but I could see using these for a student also. They are super cute!

And last but not least, I so need one of these!!

Have fun shopping ya'll!

Children as Literacy Partners

On a completely non-tutoring note, I changed my blog colors to make them more Spring like. I love Spring, it is my second favorite season. Fall is my first, but of course there are some wonderful things about Spring that you can not get in any other season. At least not in the North East.

As you can see from the picture of me above, I have always loved Spring! When Spring is here, I feel so peppy and ready to work.

I am hoping my student starts feeling that way also. Lately she has really lacked motivation and she seems to be in a funk.


Back to business: Last week I ended up bringing my youngest daughter to our tutoring session. I had to pick her up early from the sitter because the sitter had an emergency. I didn't want to cancel my session with D, because we had missed the week before. So I said to myself, I am going to bring Ally with me. She is three and LOVES books, so I immediately decided this week, D would read to Ally during our session.

Of course, D was late, again. But I didn't say anything negative to her about it. I am always positive with her, which is not easy because she is a generally pessimistic person.

When she walked in she saw Ally right away and smiled big. She seems to really like children, and Ally is cute and sweet and easy to like so there was an instant attraction.

I told D she would be reading to Ally and she got nervous. I reassured her that Ally is only three and has no expectations about how well or not well she can read, so she relaxed.

I actually took a video of her reading to Ally. I will post it at the end. It is hard to hear her, but hopefully you can understand.

The book Ally picked was a rhyming book about a rabbit family. In the beginning she stumbled over many of the longer words, and I had to correct many of the words for her, but by the end of the book D was reading more fluently. It just confirms for me that with more practice she will be able to read fairly well.

The hard part is getting her to practice at home when she is not being pushed. She really has a hard time pushing herself.

I know some libraries use dogs to help young struggling readers. They have dog volunteers come in and the children just sit and read to them. The theory being that the children can relax and just read, there is no pressure because dogs do not judge. Well neither do three year olds. Ally was an easy audience for D because there was no pressure, no judgement, she could just read.

I wish I could bring Ally to more of our sessions. It would be very difficult logistically. I know D has some nephews that live with her and her family. I am thinking about donating some of my kids' books to her and having her, as an assignment, read to them each week. I am going to bring it up to her this week, I will let you know how that goes.

The picture above is of my two oldest girls. Maddie the 10 year old is a great reader and will often read to her sisters, if they can convince her. Children make great literacy partners!

Now here is the video, I edited it to make it shorter. Enjoy!

From A to Z: Weekly Treasures

From the Oak Cliff Advocate, a story about a literacy tutor helping to make a difference in Texas. I LOVE stories like these!!

The Open Doors program in Winnipeg Canada is helping to change the learning experience for adults who can not read. Here is the whole story from The Times website.

Ok, this is so cool. I found out about this on the BBC website. Well known personalities in South Wales were approached to write short novels that are aimed at new adult readers. What I want to know is when are we going to do this in the US?

Quick reads boost adult learners

Health literacy is a two-way street. Agreed Agreed! Check out this blog post from the timesunion.com. It is written by a doctor who seems to understand that improving health literacy comes from both sides. I really enjoyed the "Mom's RX" list at the bottom, especially the advice: "Talk to your doctor when you are fully dressed, not while sitting in a hospital gown."

Take this test which is an excerpt from he Newest Vital Sign written by Dr. Barry Weiss. This blog post written by Joe Rojas-Burke challenges: "Are you health literate?"

This video of an adult literacy student named Edward is so awesome! Brings a tear to my eye!

"Going slow does not prevent arriving." ~Nigerian Proverb

Life is overwhelming in general for me as it is for most people. I am a mother and wife and I work part time and help out at my daughters' school all the time. I feel like every day I am going 60 miles an hour and sometimes I forget to slow down and enjoy something that I am doing. When I am tutoring D, I am forced to slow down and revel in the process of learning and teaching. I leave our sessions actually breathing slower and feeling more calm. We read a story together and talk about it and I help her learn new words and understand them and while we only get through one story in an hour, it feels like longer because we take our time. While I know I am helping to teach her something new each week, she is inadvertently teaching me about patience.

D never comes to class prepared. I have been asking her to buy a cheap spiral bound notebook and maybe a little journal and some pencils since the first week we started. She has never brought them. I never say anything negative about it, I just keep reminding her to bring them. She also does not do homework most days, but I still try and give her at least one small assignment to do each week.

D is still a child in many ways, she lives at home still, relies on her family for most things like transportation and she actually whines sometimes to me about how hard the reading and writing is for her. I finally brought her a small examination booklet to use as a journal, just to get her writing. I asked her what she might be interested in writing about, she shrugged her shoulders. I asked her what her favorite t.v. shows were. She started naming some shows that my 10 year old daughter watches. She said "I am still a big kid." I smiled and said, we all have a kid in us.

I tell her all the time, "you CAN read, and you are very capable of learning to read more, you just need to practice, and they only way to practice reading, is to READ." She usually looks at me and smiles and says, "yeah I know."

So how do you motivate a student who has never been motivated to learn to read or write fluently. They teach us all about goal setting in tutor training, using the SMART goal system. But she has only one goal in mind, to pass her online masseuse course and get a job. It is not going to happen that way. The goals need to be broken down into smaller pieces. This is something I am determined to work on with her next week. Otherwise she will never be motivated to do the work in between now and her ultimate goal.

Some new things I have learned: 1. She really enjoys reading magazines. We tried with some People magazines for a couple of weeks, because she told me she is really into gossip and entertainment news. But she stumbled over so many of the words that I knew it was too advanced. So I thought about some kids magazines. I pulled a National Geographic for kids and a Girl's Life magazine out and let her choose. She picked the Girl's Life magazine and did much better with the reading. She really enjoys reading human interest stories and I noticed that once she got into the story she was reading much more fluently, and sounding out words without me having to remind her. She would stop after each paragraph and ask me questions about the story and I would smile and say, "let's keep reading and find out."

2. Also as you can see in the picture above I have her use a pencil point to keep track of the words while she is reading, and it has helped so much with helping her keep track of where she is and to focus on really reading each word. When she gets to a word that she doesn't immediately recognize she often tries to guess at it, but I make her sound it out. I use my thumb and finger to cover parts of the word to help her break it down.

I will continue to push her, though I have learned it can not be too much. I will continue to push myself and keep learning new things and new ways to help her learn. Next week we will be working on some short term goals, and I am going to try reading a play with her, I think the back and forth of the dialogue will be an interesting change.

The business of tutoring continues everywhere, everyday, and I am really enjoying being a part of the process. I am reminded each week that patience and caring can go so far. Until next week...

From A to Z: Weekly Treasures

In my ongoing quest to know as much as I can about the world of Adult Literacy, I have uncovered more thoughtful and insightful blogs and articles on the subject. Enjoy!

A. From Suite101.com, this blog written by Jacqui Taylor, a literacy tutor in the UK, is about one of my newfound biggest pet peeves. Finding good reading material for adult literacy students.

b.

From the Richmond Confidential website out of Richmond, CA, this article describes a great new program being started by LEAP. The Literacy for Every Adult Program received a grant to start an adult computer literacy program geared to helping adults learn about all that the WWW has to offer.

C. Watch this very cool video clip from the blog of Eva Gilliam, a videojournalist in Africa. This short documentary describes how adolescents in Mozambique are helping to combat adult illiteracy.

d. From a blog spot on the ReadingHorizons at home website, find out about some great new resources for using technology in tutoring adults.

e. Amazing article about a man who learned to read and write at the age of 98. “And he got out his pen and started writing his name. He had never written his name before.” From the Ann Arbor Chronicle website.

A must read!

F. From the American Observer a piece about the state of adult illiteracy in Washington DC. The numbers are staggering, especially the contrast between white and black residents.

G. We have all heard about the tragic events that took place in Tucson, AZ, but did you know that Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) is a supporter of Adult Literacy and is actually a member of the House Adult Literacy Caucus. I learned this from the sympathy statement posted on the ProLiteracy website.

In this Associated Press photo, mourners and supporters gather near a memorial in front of the University Medical Center in Tucson.

h. We all know adult illiteracy is a very serious problem especially since funding is being cut everywhere we look. Crying won't help, so we might as well laugh. From the Canadian show This Hour Has 22 Minutes here is a funny clip to help us all keep our sense of humor.

Tutoring Is Not For The Weak at Heart

Yes I know it’s been a while since I have posted anything. Frankly I have been just too busy to do anything but the absolute necessary; sorry to say the blog was not absolutely necessary especially during the holidays.

I did get matched with a student, about a week after my last post. I was really excited when I found out, I mean I had been waiting for a while, but I was also really nervous. Let me introduce you to D: She is a young woman, 26, she was born and raised in the states and graduated high school with a special degree. So she is a basic literacy student which is what I requested after training. I really like her, she is sweet and energetic, and seems motivated.

We have met 4 times so far, first time we met in a coffee shop, I told her about my family and I asked her about her life and what her dreams in life are. She really wants to become independent and have a good job, and help to take care of her family. She signed up for an online course to become a masseuse, she has to finish by June 2011 or she will miss the deadline. Here is the reality, she can’t read the workbook. This workbook they sent is written on a college level and she is reading at a 3rd grade level. Also, the course she signed up for is to learn massage techniques, she won’t be a certified masseuse at the end of this course. I tried to explain this to her, but she is determined to finish the course and then look for a job after. I am still getting to know her so I don’t want to be too pushy. I am taking it week by week.

I decided to start simple; I pulled a book from the library called The Watson’s Go to Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis. It is a bit above her level, written on a 6th grade level. But it is a good starting point because the story is interesting for her. I had her read the first few pages at our last session. She did so much better than when she was trying to read that workbook. And she laughed at the story; I was so excited when I heard her laugh. Success, I picked a book she likes. I say that because the week before I had picked a book of Haitian folk tales for her to read (her family is from Haiti) and she was NOT impressed.

I have had her working on building her sight word base. I have a strong feeling that she might be dyslexic, and the best thing for her at this point is to just learn as many sight words as possible. It may not help with her writing, but at least she will be able to read more fluently. Words like Possibly, Discuss, Distribute, Explain, Diagnose, Describe, Negative are among the flashcards I created for her. We go over them every week, and I have her practice writing them as well. I am trying to follow the tutor training as much as I can but basically I am playing it by ear. I stressed about our meetings so much in the first few weeks. I read tons of manuals and researched ideas on websites, it is so much information to decipher and I usually have very little time to go over it all. So the best thing is to try what I have learned, if it doesn't work then I will try something else.

Some lessons I have learned so far:

1. Make sure you have a well defined lesson plan, but be prepared to change it, especially in the beginning. Some things you will just not be prepared for, like a grumpy student, in which case I found it is best not to expect too much from her. Or a late student which means not enough time to get everything done.

2. You can’t feel responsible for everything involved with your student. D suffers from sickle cell and has a hard time with the cold weather. She has asked me a number of times (sometimes actually whining) if I can give her rides to and from the library for our sessions. It is totally against the rules of tutoring the trainers gave to us; basically it is an insurance liability for them. I understand this and even agree with it on a cerebral level, but on the level of feelings which is where I operate most times it feels wrong. But I am, if nothing else, a rules follower and so I stuck to my guns. Having kids definitely prepared me for saying no.

3. Your student may disappear sometimes. Last week after a two week break for the holidays my student was nowhere to be found. Her cell phone had been cut off, the person who answered at her home phone said she was not there and she was not returning any of the emails I had sent to her. Then she just didn’t show up at our regular scheduled session. I feared the worst. I didn’t want to but I started thinking maybe she was giving up on the whole thing. But I kept emailing her and finally today she emailed me back and is going to be at our session today. It’s weird but I am sure she has a reason; I am just going to keep working with her regardless. We are all human anyway right?

4. Just because I like to read does not mean my student does, or ever will for that matter. I mean she had a hard time reading all through school, she has made it this far in life with only a basic knowledge of the English language, what makes ME think I am going to turn her into some avid novel reader. Still there is a small desire in me that she will one day want to read just for pleasure. I am a dreamer.

5. Like I learned in tutor training, when you are teaching the rules of grammar and spelling and pronunciation to a student, the best thing to say about the rules is: this rule applies until it doesn’t. These lessons apply until they don’t, that is what I am repeating in my head every week. Which can be exciting, because I am learning something new all the time and that is one thing I truly LOVE?

6. I am not perfect and neither is D. So perfection is not even a word in my vocabulary right now. This sets the bar low for me, so I can set it low for D, which is where it needs to be set right now. Baby steps are okay, and they will probably be tiny steps for a long time.
I am determined to do a better job with my blogging from here on out. I owe to myself and to D and it is honestly therapeutic which is definitely something I need right now.

PLEASE feel free to leave comments, I love them!

17%

You are standing in line at the bank, the older gentleman in front of you looks like any other citizen. Clean cut, dressed well, he even smiles at you kindly. He gets to the teller and holding his bank book and a check he tells the person, “I forgot my glasses again, could you please fill out this deposit slip for me.” The bank teller knowingly smiles and kindly agrees. What are the possibilities that this man didn’t forget his glasses, but in fact cannot read or write the English language and so has developed coping skills to get through life. The statistics show that 17%* of adult residents in NJ (out of a total population of 8,707,739) are without adequate literacy skills, so it is pretty likely. To me this is staggering.

The story changes only slightly if they are an ESOL adult. Maybe at their job and at home they can speak their native language, but out in the community the majority of the time they need help communicating their needs. These adults are not numbers; they are the people we meet every day, parents or grandparents of friends, neighbors, the young man who delivers your lunch every day, maybe even family members.

It is easy to be angry and say why? Why has no one helped them? If they are understandably too ashamed or afraid to get help, what will happen to them? When I first read the statistics I was overwhelmed and felt somewhat in despair for our state. But when I became a volunteer with LV of Union County, the numbers ceased to matter. I learned that the adults who come to these programs are looking for help and they have a name and a history, and that matters. If you are their tutor, it becomes all about them, making sure their voice is heard above all the noise fear and shame has created. Maybe the illiteracy numbers don’t go down because you helped one person learn to fill out their own bank deposit slip, but that person’s life has become easier, and maybe they have pride and determination to go further.

I finished my tutor training two weeks ago and it was one of the best trainings I have ever been to; well thought out, and full of great examples. I don’t mean to gush, but all of the trainers were so understanding and caring and honest. I learned so much, not just about how to teach an adult, but what it takes personally. I have developed a greater respect overall for tutors and trainers and anyone in this field who is trying to make adult literacy a priority.

I haven’t been matched with a student yet, but I know I will get one. With 1 in 6 adults in NJ needing help, there is bound to be someone who needs me sooner or later. Of course this brings on a whole new set of fears and questions. What will I say to them when I meet them for the first time? Will they be as scared and unsure as I will be? How can I make them feel comfortable and let them know I don’t feel sorry for them, I am proud of them already for coming forward and being a part of the solution? I am eager to find out the answers to these questions and to share them with everyone I know. Stay tuned!

*Estimates of low literacy developed by the National Center for Education Statistics for the U.S Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences. Their website: http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/Index.aspx

Power In Words

Last week I went to a special event hosted by LV of Union county. This is the LVNJ affiliate program whose tutor training I am going through. All of the trainees in my class were invited by our trainer who organized the event. It was a celebration for tutors and students, and a launching of the second annual student writing and art magazine called "Connections."

I had to work that day and I went right to the event from work. I was tired and a little unsure of whether I should even go. But I had said I would go and I wanted to keep my word, plus I was really curious to hear the students stories and to see the artwork done by one of their students.

When I got there I was really happy to see they were serving coffee : ). Also I saw some of my fellow tutor training classmates. I always feel more comfortable in unfamiliar places if I know at least one person. We all sat together in the audience and talked about our days and how we thought training was going, it was a good bonding experience.

Then the program started. There were the usual thanks and congratulations to the people who had made the program possible. But then the students started their readings. The first student was actually a student of our trainer S and she got up and introduced him. He was an older gentleman, a basic literacy student and he had written a short letter about what it meant to him to know how to read. He was understandably nervous, and stumbled some, but it didn't matter, the entire audience was captivated and you could almost feel the power of their support holding him up wanting him to achieve this goal. I was in awe.

Each student that came up was introduced by their tutor before they spoke. I loved this part just as much as the students' readings because you could see the pride in their faces. A few of the stories made me cry, like the woman who wrote about overcoming a fear so she could work and provide for her family. There was one story written by an older ESOL gentleman whose command of the language was very impressive. He wrote about his experience coming to America and finding the LV program to help him learn to read and write English. He ended his essay with a statement about how important it is for everyone who comes to America to learn to appreciate and understand the American culture. I was so proud to be an American at that moment and the camaraderie among the English speakers, new and experienced, was so poignant.

Public speaking is a very difficult thing for most people. I know even myself after having taken classes on how to be better at public speaking and knowing how to read and write very fluently, still get so nervous when standing before a large crowd of people whose eyes and ears are all tuned to me. For an adult, who has not fully mastered the ability to read and write English, to have the courage and determination to get up and read something they wrote, and to do so clearly and with certainty is a most commendable feat.

I was so encouraged after attending this program. When I am touched personally by something it never leaves me, and I know I will never forget this first lesson in the power of volunteer tutoring.