New DVLC Tutors



Diablo Valley Literacy Council Newsletter
Volunteers teaching English as a second language (ESL) to non English speaking adults
Calendar

April
Board of Directors Meeting 
Thursday, April 13
10:00 am

Tutor Followup Meeting
Saturday, April 29
9:00 am


May
Board of Directors Meeting 
Thursday, May 11
10:00 am


June
Board of Directors Meeting 
Thursday, June 8
10:00 am 


Remember to Pay Your Membership Dues
If you haven't already done so, remember to pay your 2017 membership dues. It's a great way to show your support for DVLC, and we use the dues to pay for items needed to support our tutoring program.  Please send a check for $10 to DVLC, 4000 Clayton Rd., Concord, CA 94521
 

Time Again to
Report Your Hours
Please take a moment to report your quarterly hours from January thru March. You can call in your hours to 925-685-3881 or email to dvlc4esl@gmail.com

Report your Tutoring hours and Nontutoring Hours (time spent for preparation, travel to student and tutor training). 
DVLC Directory
Email:   DVLC4ESL@gmail.com  
Voicemail: 925-685-3881
 
Officers:
President and Hours Coordinator: Lucy Goodell 
925-682-3388 
lucygoodell@gmail.com 
 
Vice-President and Publicity: Loretta Morrison
925-798-5393
 
Secretary: Mary Thomas
925-372-7744
    
Treasurer: Joanne Hill
925-943-5545
jhill@astound.net            

Board of Directors: 

Rochelle Fortier:
Newsletter Editor 
925-330-5396

Marie Kidwell:
Membership Coordinator
925-676-1089
marie.kidwell@yahoo.com

Marion Keibel: Workshop Registrar
925-676-1818
marion48@live.com

Mary Nash: Librarian
925-934-3793
mpnash@aol.com

Pamela Newacheck:
Hospitality Coordinator
925-285-4179
pamela.newacheck@gmail.com

Holly Sprague: 
Tutor-Student Coordinator
925-939-4448

Kris Torske: Workshop Coordinator
925-283-2428
fitzkris@pacbell.net 


Board Members at Large:  
Wendy Bojin-Liston: Board Member
925-451-4231
wendybojinliston@gmail.com


Ed Chambers: Board Member
925-686-4589
chamberseb@aol.com

Denise Coyne: Board Member
decocvx@gmail.com


Spring 2017
Vol. 31  No.2
Dear Members and Friends, 

This quarter I need to acknowledge changes to our Board of Directors. We were sad to lose a long-time Director. At our Annual Meeting we voted in four new Directors as welcome additions to the Board.
 
We celebrate the life of Yvonne LeGear who passed away  February 7. Yvonne managed the database for the Literacy Council for many years, including the information from the Tutor Data Sheets and the student Intake forms. Each quarter she emailed the quarterly newsletters via Constant Contact and the quarterly reminders for tutors to submit their tutoring hours. Annually she tracked the dues payments of our members. She was a very active participant on our Board, soft-spoken but thorough.
 
In memory of Yvonne we have made donations to the local Hospice and to the San Francisco Opera, which Yvonne had strongly supported as an opera buff herself. We will miss her presence greatly.
 
We have obtained the Access database file from Yvonne's computer and one of our newest tutors, Jim Keenan, has been familiarizing himself with how Yvonne organized the data. We will be deciding whether to continue maintaining the data in Access or convert to Excel. If we go forward using a tool that more people know how to use it will be easier to fill the Database Manager position.

Our Board has been exceptionally fortunate with our newest Directors. What a crew of go-getters!
 
Marie Kidwell has a standard secondary teaching credential and taught High School many years ago. Joining DVLC several years ago provided her with an opportunity to use her teaching skills once again. Marie has taken on the responsibility to track the dues payments as they come in this year.
 
Wendy Bojin-Liston, a transplant from Toronto, Canada, has resided in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1980. In November, 2015 she retired from Special Olympics Northern California after 15 years as the Director of Volunteer Services.  She volunteers her services as a Special Olympics Bocce Coach, at Kaiser Permanente, and with the Diablo Valley Literacy Council. Wendy jumped right in to the daunting task of matching our newest tutors with students from our waiting list. There has been very positive feedback from the tutors thrilled to be working with the students assigned to them.
 
Pamela Newacheck recently retired after working as an Administrative Coordinator for Contra Costa ARC, a local non-profit serving adults and children with developmental disabilities.  Volunteering in an administrative or board position has been an important aspect of her adult life.  Pamela has filled our long-vacant Hospitality Coordinator spot and carries it off with ease. She has eagerly offered her help in several other areas as well.
 
Denise Coyne retired from Chevron in 2014 as the CIO for Chevron's Global Corporate Functions, responsible for the Information Technology efforts of 24 Corporate Departments and Services Companies.  While living in Cape Town, South Africa, she worked with a non-profit Children's Choir and locally has donated time to Million Women Mentors and the Animal Rescue Foundation. Denise brings a strong can-do attitude and has investigated various opportunities for DVLC as we grow and develop.
   
Sincerely,
Lucy Goodell
 
Tutor Training Workshop Was a Great Success!
Like a tidal wave came the applications from volunteers who wanted to attend our March Tutor Training Workshop. We had trouble keeping our balance with the tasks of responding to the registrants, preparing the binders, accounting for the fees, setting up the Fellowship Hall for FORTY attendees, assigning students to the new tutors, and all the many other details that go into conducting the training (yes, the microphone did work!).
 
There was a great deal of energy in the room. A large percentage of the participants held advanced degrees or had teaching experience (or both). Others had no teaching experience and were looking for all the guidance and tips they could get.
 
For the first time ever, we had to take the group photo in two pictures!
 


 
 
 Tutor Followup Meeting
For tutors who attended the March Tutor Training Workshop, the Tutor Followup Meeting will be on Saturday, April 29 at 9:00 am. It will be in the smaller Fireside Room at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Concord.  This is a wonderful way to get re-acquainted with the other tutors who were in the March tutor training workshop, as well as to ask questions and to exchange ideas. 
Shining Stars
This quarter we shine the spotlight on three tutors who have reported more than 300 volunteer hours in the last five years. 

This does not include Board members some of whom have logged over 1,000 hours.

Kathy O'Toole started in 2012 and has reported 355 total volunteer hours in five years.

Pat Pomidor started in 2011 and has logged 466 hours of which 374 were in the last five years.

Amazing Elsa Fiore started in 2014 and has accumulated 395 hours in three years!

Thank you, Honorable Tutors, for the impact you must have with the students you instruct.

Success Story: "Good Morning Teacher"
"Good Morning Teacher. How are you? I am fine."
 
Jamila greets me this way every Tuesday morning at 9am as I'm taking off my shoes on her porch. I am offered water or tea as I enter, and she sets up a table for us to sit at in her sparsely furnished living room.
 
One year ago Jamila knew her name and address, but didn't know how to say, "My name is Jamila." She knew the months of the year, but didn't know which month we were in. She knew the names of the letters of our alphabet, but didn't understand that each letter corresponded to a sound. She could tell time, but couldn't talk on the telephone. Her daughter had to set up our initial meeting.
 
We are about the same age, as are our children, so one of our first lessons consisted of sharing pictures of our children and learning their names. This taught her words such as 'son, 'daughter, 'granddaughter' and 'grandson'. It was a thrilling day when she was able to convey that her daughter, who had given birth to three daughters, was finally pregnant with a boy. For this auspicious event, I crocheted and presented her with a blanket for her first grandson. She reciprocated at Christmas with a beautiful silk scarf from Kabul and then taught me how to wear it appropriately--no hair showing.
 
We began to add basic vocabulary to Jamila's repertoire, but suddenly became very focused when we came upon the picture of the human body in the "Laubach Way to English Illustrations 1". This was something she wanted to learn NOW.   Over and over we practiced 'elbow', 'knee', 'ankle', 'nose', 'wrist' etc. until she knew them all. Why was this so interesting I wondered? I finally discovered that she had arthritis in most of her joints and wanted to explain this to her doctor.   She also wanted to be able to make an appointment over the phone with her doctor instead of relying on her daughter.
 
So off I went to write out a few phone call scenarios. With me playing the role of receptionist, we rehearsed how to make a doctor's appointment for two meetings. While I sat next to Jamila on her couch, she finally called to make the appointment. Though I had to coach a bit from the sidelines, she was able to do it. What a day! Her grin was worth every moment of practice.
 
Jamila continues to progress and is currently working hard to understand weather and build her meteorological vocabulary. She was so very pleased with herself when she could explain, and I could understand, that an uncle who lived in Kabul had once been hit by lightning.
 
Though the concept of assigning a sound to a letter continues to be a challenge, Jamila's comfort with communicating in English increases weekly. I am so honored to be a part of her progress.

~ submitted by Pamela Newacheck 
     
Please Return Unused Books to the DVLC Library
Please return DVLC books that you are no longer using so that we can keep our library stocked and avoid the need to purchase more books. The Laubach, Side by Side and Azar books are in demand!   
   
Books may be returned to the DVLC self-service library during the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church office hours from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday thru Friday. Alternately, you can email our librarian, Mary Nash, at mpnash@aol.com and make arrangements to drop the books at her home in Walnut Creek.
   
   
Donation to ProLiteracy
Lucy Goodell's daughter and son-in-law recently made a generous donation of $250 to ProLiteracy in Lucy's honor. 

ProLiteracy sent this note of thanks to them: " Thank you so much for the generous gift to ProLiteracy in support of Women in Literacy in honor of Lucy Goodell. You are helping ProLiteracy make a difference in the lives of women adult learners through both our domestic and international initiatives. Your generous donation gives them the literacy skills needed to support themselves and their families."

The donation was directed to ProLiteracy's Women in Literacy program. ProLiteracy's website says: "Two-thirds of the world's non-literate adults are women. Women are also more likely to live in poverty and suffer from disease. This initiative emphasizes giving women the literacy skills they need to fight poverty, stay healthy, and confront discrimination."

More information can be found at the website:
https://proliteracy.org/What-We-Do/Programs-Projects/International/Women-in-Literacy       
We'd love to hear from you!  Email your questions or comments to Diablo Valley Literacy Council at:   dvlc4esl@gmail.com 
   
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