Literacy Links
The Newsletter for Volunteer Tutors
March 2021
PLC Online Tutor Conference Registration Opens
Meet Conference Presenter Gracie Freeman
Student Spotlight ~ Rosaura Cabello
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The Tutor Conference is Back!!!
Dear Readers,
The Board of Directors of Portland Literacy Council is pleased to invite you to join us at our upcoming tutor conference. This will be our 26th conference – and our first virtual conference.
Please review our Conference Program for the schedule, workshop descriptions and presenters. Workshop titles include: "Finding Balance: Assessment Skills for the Tutor”; “Providing Meaningful Feedback to Adult Learners," "Design a Virtual ESOL Class That Your Students Will Love," "Cross-Cultural Communication," and more.
Dates: Friday, April 9, 1 pm to 4:45 pm and Saturday, April 10, 9 am to 12:45 pm
Fee: $25.00
Registration is now open: Register here! We look forward to seeing you again – it’s been a while.
Best Regards
Peggy L. Murphy, President
Portland Literacy Council
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Meet Conference Presenter:
Intercambio Group Volunteer Manager
Gracie Freeman
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Gracie Freeman (3rd from left) is teaching two workshops at PLC's Online Workshop this year: "Pronunciation for Adult ELLs" and "Getting to the Conversation--In English."
She works for one of the Conference sponsors, Intercambio, a non-profit, which trains volunteers to teach English to immigrants locally and provides resources to organizations across the country.
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As an English major, everyone used to ask Gracie if she was going to teach. Her answer was always a vehement no way! But, once she went on a short- term trip to Thailand where she taught small groups of college students conversational English, she was hooked. "I loved seeing students progress, and the very nature of teaching English required conversation and getting to know one another, which I loved and still do. I love hearing about my students lives and culture, experiences and ideas. The people I admire most have all been ones I met in the classroom."
She also had an excellent mentor who taught her about teaching literacy. Currently Gracie is the Group Volunteer Manager at Intercambio. She now helps train and support volunteers, many of whom have no experience teaching English to adult immigrants.
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Gracie (at left) teaching student
After college, Gracie taught English as a Foreign Language in Thailand for 2 years. She taught conversational classes, trained volunteers and provided resources for the classes. She enjoyed working with volunteers from around the world (Germany, New Zealand, and England to name a few) and building relationships with her students. It gave her a love for karaoke and a deep appreciation for other cultures. It also gave her a lot of empathy for emigrants to the U.S. who struggle to learn the language. Thai was challenging and required discipline to acquire it.
Several years after she returned to the U.S., she began to miss working with students and slowly began teaching English to adult immigrants at Focus Points, a nonprofit in Denver. She also taught pre-GED classes and met one-on-one with adults who struggled with reading--and the students were the best part. Gracie also met her husband while teaching.
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Student Spotlight ~ Rosaura Cabello |
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Meet adult English learner, Rosaura Cabello. Having lived and worked in the U.S. for 17 years, Rosaura started her in-the-classroom English learning journey in the Winter of 2019. Although Rosaura had some English skills from living and working in the U.S., she learned no English during her high school education in Guanajuato, Mexico. Rosaura set her sights on learning English to pass the U.S. citizenship test.
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When Rosaura decided she was ready to start the U.S. citizenship process, she signed up for SOAR's Citizenship classes, taught by Barbara Williams (a PLC Board Member), at Multnomah County Library.
The three-hour citizenship classes were offered from 10am-1 pm, but because Rosaura does not drive, her husband dropped her off around 9:30 am, and picked her up at the end of his work day at 5:30 pm. When Barbara learned that Rosaura was spending over eight hours at the library, she offered to tutor Rosaura one-on-one for an extra 45-minutes, after the regular class ended. Rosaura also filled her day by getting to know other Spanish-speaking Citizenship students and learning what other opportunities the library had to offer her.
Rosaura took Citizenship classes throughout 2019 and also started ESL classes in Winter 2020 at Clackamas Community College. Fortuitously, Rosaura, who did not own her own PC at the time, reached out to the Midland librarians who got her started with some introductory computer classes. She listened to audio programs like DuoLingo. Rosaura also participated in a Library Group, called "Time to Talk," a conversation class for English learners that gave her the opportunity to practice conversational skills, which would be critical for passing her Citizenship test. Her citizenship examiner, in fact, asked Rosaura the questions she practiced: "Who drove you here today?" and "How's the weather?"
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In the spring 2020, the Pandemic hit, halting in-person classes. Luckily, in April, many Metro literacy programs joined together to plan how to transition their programs to online. By late Spring the SOAR Citizenship classes restarted on Zoom. Although Rosaura still did not have a personal computer at home, she signed up for, and took the classes on her cellphone (although the Zoom classes, and "Screen Shares" were tiny!).
Since the Summer of 2020, Barbara Williams has also tutored Rosaura in her ESL grammar classes. Rosaura's son and daughter have also been taking classes in-person and remotely at Clackamas Community College.
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When asked whether she preferred online, or in-person classes, Rosaura explained that while she appreciated the opportunity to continue her learning online during the Pandemic, she missed in-person learning. She enjoyed meeting and interacting with other students, being able to ask other students questions, and to compare notes. While Rosaura was originally intimidated about going to spend the day on her own at the library, now she misses going to the library!
Rosaura's perseverance and hard work paid off. In January 2021, Rosaura finally got her appointment, and took her citizenship test in person, and passed with flying colors. Rosaura explained, now that she has passed the test, she feels a boost in confidence, not only with her English skills, but in branching out and trying new things--she is now eager to learn to drive, to take the bus, and go and do errands and shopping by herself. Now, she has also set new career goals, and hopes that one day she might apply to become a childcare worker, or work to care for seniors. To do so, she will now work on meeting her next goal: to earn her GED.
Outside of learning English, and raising a family, Rosaura is also a gifted craftswoman: before the Pandemic, she was even approached by the school where she worked to create some artwork for the school. Her work turned out so beautifully it was used to decorate more than one school space (see photo above, and below). She hopes one day she could share her love of arts and crafts with others.
Talking with Rosaura, now that she has attained her U.S. citizenship, it is easy to see the pride she takes in setting and reaching her goal. When asked what advice she has for other adult English learners she had this to say: "Study and do the best you can." Fortunately, Rosaura's teachers, friends, and family were always encouraging, she says. She recalls her teachers, husband, and kids always telling her, "you can do it." But now, she adds, she has learned that the best advice is: "Trust in yourself."
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Rosaura's artwork brightens a common space at a school in Clackamas County |
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