Literacy Volunteer

[Yppej]

Has anyone worked as a literacy volunteer? I sent an application in a week ago to my local affiliate of Literacy Volunteers of America but have not heard back yet.

[nswef]

I took the training and was assigned a person, but it was up to me to find a place to meet...I was uncomfortable with that. The person dropped out before we ever met in person, so I just withdrew my name. I have a friend who did it in another city and made a good friend out of her client.

[flowerseverywhere]

I arranged to meet my people at the library. The first was a woman who was really not all,that interested. I had several more who tried and we made some progress. I never felt unsafe. I stopped when they assigned me people who were far from my home, as it did not make sense for me to travel thirty miles each way to volunteer.

[Yppej]

The library is used in my area. I would not go 30 miles either.

[oldhat]

I volunteered for LV for two years. I found it very gratifying. In my area LV volunteers mostly teach ESL, which is what I did. Most of the students in my class were Guatemalan laborers. I really admired these people, most of whom work crappy jobs 12 hours a day and then spend two evenings a week sitting in a classroom (or in my case, a corporate cafeteria) trying to learn English.

The teaching was a challenge, since the students, although they were supposedly tested, were all over the map in terms of English speaking ability and level of education. I had one guy who had two years of formal education, but who was as dogged as any student I've ever seen.

I've been taking a break for the past year and a half, but will likely resume after I'm retired. Unfortunately, I'm no longer alert enough to teach an evening class after a full day in the office. In the meantime, though, I am teaching myself Spanish. Hopefully, I'll be more effective when I start again.

[iris lilies]

You guys who are dong this work, bravo! It is important.

[KayLR]

I did a stint of ESL tutoring for a while through our community college's community ed. program. I loved it. I tutored a Japanese woman who was a nurse in Japan. She wanted to improve her English enough to be able to practice here in the U.S. Her story fascinated me. She and her husband met in Canada; he was Iranian. They practiced Baha'i and had two beautiful children who could speak English, Japanese and Farsi. They invited me to their home before the end of our time together and we had the most wonderful dinner where I was introduced to sumac!

She loved reading folk stories together and also learning the names of parts of trees and plants, natural things.

[razz]

I took the training and was assigned a person with whom I was previously acquainted. She demanded that we meet at her home at her convenience rather than the Literacy council building at specific times as was the norm. When I refused, she failed to show up for her scheduled appointment and then simply dropped out. I felt the screening process was flawed as others had problems as well. I declined any further involvement. Not sure how it is working now, if available at all. I have not heard any info about it for a number of years.
May I suggest that you speak to a current tutor?

[Yppej]

Good idea razz.