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2022 Pro-Literacy Conference – Sheila Driscoll
After several years of tutoring, my first-time experiences at the conference in San Antonio were marvelous! In an era when watching TV news or reading the newspaper exposes us to many negative aspects of life, the conference was a positive inspiration.
Two sessions I attended stood out to me.
The City of Houston, with the support of the mayor, has formed a permanent Adult Literacy Department. Among their achievements were the distribution of 35,000 new books to families and children during the height of the pandemic. They were able to do this by pulling together all the literacy groups in Houston to work for the book distribution and other goals. It made me wonder if our area, under the leadership of DVLC, could profit by banding together with other English as Second Language groups in Concord, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek?
Another session on “Civics is Everywhere” presented ways to incorporate civics into teaching sessions. This prompted me to ask my students to read an article from the newspaper during our sessions. I encourage them to choose an article that discusses issues involving our government processes, such as the recent election, or one that focuses on a community issue. The feedback has been positive and the students tell me they take the information home to their families.
The large variety of sessions and conversations with participants offered new ideas and insights into increasing one’s teaching skills. Thank you to Diablo Valley Literacy Council.
2022 Pro-Literacy Conference – Daly Young
Daly reported on several sessions of the conference. She attended the Burlington English vendor presentation. Burlington offers “standards-based, blended curriculum for English language acquisition” to be used by tutors/instructors. It includes lesson plans, listening activities, pronunciation activities. It is a subscription-based product that made Daly think of our free Google Classroom, but with a more commercial bent.
Daly says, “One of the sessions I attended had to do with helping your student with their citizenship process, test, form. Just what I needed to learn and share with my student who is interested in gaining citizenship. The site is based in Sacramento and it is called USALEARNS.ORG” [listed on page 2.7 of our Tutor Manual].
Daly also expressed her gratitude for being able to attend the conference.
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