Health & Fitness
Literacy DuPage
I hear something like this all the time, “Mom, I wanna go to the store so I’m gonna stop on my way home from work.” While this makes perfect sense to me it can be mystifying to someone just learning English. Wanna and gonna are not real words … yet. But I think they should be. I’m also a fan of the more obscure imma. But I digress.
On the Literacy DuPage website is this message: “There are over 200 adults on our waiting list who need your assistance.” I read this and on a whim, I signed up for a tutor training class beginning the very next night at the Wheaton Library. And I’m glad I did.
There were approximately 30 volunteers in my class, ranging in age from early 20’s to retirees. A few mentioned that their parents had been helped in the past by tutors. We attended 6 three hour training sessions, aptly led by Kathy Conrad. We also had homework which included reading our textbook and watching videos on the Literacy DuPage website.
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On the 5th night of training we received the name of the student we would be tutoring. Some tutors were assigned two students! The meeting room was abuzz with excited chatter as we read the background of our students. We were told to meet with our new student before the 6th meeting so we could discuss any problems that arose.
Nobody had any major problems and it was fun to hear about the first meetings. While all the tutors had been apprehensive about meeting their student everything worked out fine. Many tutors commented on the determination to learn English their student showed.
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Most of the students are English as a Second Language Learners but my student is a Basic Literacy learner. He is a fine young man and thanks to the training and tools I received from Literacy DuPage I think I can make a difference in his life. I will meet with him for two hours a week at a local library.
If you think you would like to be a tutor you can go to the Literacy DuPage website and view videos of tutors and students working together.
http://www.literacyvolunteersdupage.org/RealTutorsRealLearners.html
A new training class is starting in Elmhurst on September 4th. Please consider becoming a tutor.
