Join Reading Connections for its 11th annual Scrabble fundraiser which will include tournament play and refreshments for Scrabble® enthusiasts and spectators. The Scrabble Challenge will take place on Tuesday April 12th at West Market United Methodist Church from 6:00-9:00 pm. For more information visit our website at www.readingconnections.org/scrabble.asp.
Some of Reading Connections' students were proud to be part of a new advertising campaign for the United Way which will air on WFMY. The United Way provides around 20% of Reading Connections' funding each year and helps ensure that we can provide adult literacy and health literacy services in our community. Our students are featured in the first segment of the ad. You can view the spot here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdsK7xWixQc
Reading Connections would like to introduce the newest additions to our staff:
We'd like to introduce Family Literacy and Administrative Assistant Amy Bruner de Rodríguez! Amy (abderodriguez@readingconnections.org) has been working with us since September 2010. She runs the administrative end of the office, operates the front desk, and manages various aspects of our Motheread Storytelling Class currently taking place at Hunter Elementary. Amy's Spanish language skills have been a great help at the office and we're happy to have her as part of the Reading Connections team!
Beth Larson (blarson@readingconnections.org) is Reading Connections' new Volunteer Coordinator. She has experience working with volunteers and enjoys helping others connect to their community through volunteering. She is excited about being apart of such a great organization and looks forward to interacting with current and new volunteers.
Debra Mitchell (dmitchell@readingconnections.org) is our new Curriculum Facilitator. Debra has over 16 years of experience in education specifically working with students who struggle academically. She will be adding resources and activities to our Toolkits for the Literacy Roadtrip. In addition, she will be available to assist tutors when they have questions about instructional strategies and specific ways to teach skills from the toolkits. Please don't hesitate to call her at the office if you need this kind of support.
Michael Edinger (mjedinger@readingconnections.org) is currently a student at UNCG working towards his BA in Communication Studies. Michael will be working both as a part-time Administrative Assistant and part-time ESOL Program Assistant. Michael is also working with Assistant Director Marcy Ray as her intern for the spring semester. He is happy to assist in answering any questions about our programs and activities and looks forward to working with both students and tutors.
In addition to new staff, we would also like to introduce our new volunteer Master Tutor, Barbara Hayden! Barbara has been volunteering with Reading Connections since March 2009. She works one-on-one with a student and has helped us edit our Toolkits for the Literacy Roadtrip. Starting this month Barbara will be providing tutor support for our student and tutor pairs by facilitating our new Tutor Qualifying Process. She will visit pairs, observe lessons and answer questions. Please be on the look out for her call!
One of our students (who would like to remain anonymous) has a fantastic success story to share. He had worked at a printing and graphics company for 13 years before it went out of business a year ago. Although he had years of experience and had been a supervisor and press operator at his previous job, he did not have a GED and struggled to read complex information such as instruction manuals. He came to Reading Connections to improve his skills and study for the GED. He was recently offered a job, but there was a catch…he had to take a timed test to measure his basic skills and job-related knowledge. Because of his work with Reading Connections, he missed only 2 of the 60 questions and was hired on the spot with a salary of $50,000! Although he is still working toward his GED, his new job will ensure that he can continue to provide for his family while he furthers his education and career.
Since Reading Connections started our work in High Point, we have had an enduring partnership with the Fairview Family Resource Center in the Southside community. To help us continue to build this partnership and connect to more students in High Point who might not normally be able to reach us, we are looking for a volunteer who is interested in teaching a multi-level, 14 week reading class twice a week at the Southside Recreation Center. The class will be offered to students who ultimate goal is to improve the reading and writing skills neccesary for success on the GED.
Please contact Nick Foley at the High Point office (884-7323 or nfoley@readingconnections.org) if you are interested!
Department of Labor Unveils New Job-Searching Tool
The Department of Labor this week has unveiled a new online job-searching tool called "My Next Move." The tool is aimed at providing jobseekers with information on more than 900 occupations, as well as local job openings and training opportunities in a simple, user-friendly format.
The program is intended to assist all job-seekers. It may be especially useful for students, young adults and other first-time workers as they explore potential careers based on their interests. The site can be accessed at http://www.mynextmove.org/. The site features a quiz to assess skills and interests for those unsure about their career path, and searches for jobs by industry.
For those of you working with students currently seeking work, this is a great opportunity not only to potentially help your student find employment, but also to get them familiarized with computers and online listings, as employers rely increasingly on the internet to post available positions. If this website is applicable to your pair, please give it a try!
The Marshall Adult Basic Education website has a set of leveled reading passages that start at a Kinder level and go all the way up to grade 8. The stories are written with adult topics (how to get a driver's license, etc.) but are systematically leveled. There is much research demonstrating how well oral reading fluency correlates with comprehension. The stories can be read online or there is a link to print them.
These passages can be used as a supplement to the toolkits, which already include sections on Comprehension and Fluency in levels 3 & 4. For fluency, model for your student what a passage should sound like when read aloud, then let her try on her own. If you have more than one student, let them take turns reading alternating sentences or paragraphs.
To work on comprehension, refer to your toolkit for practice activities. These can include asking questions, thinking-aloud and visualizing, determining the author's purpose, using graphic organizers, etc.
If you have any questions about how to use the passages, or how to incorporate them into your toolkit lessons, contact Laura at the Greensboro office (230-2223 or ldemaria@readingconnections. org) or Nick at our High Point office (884-7323 or nfoley@readingconnections.org).
In January, members of our morning beginning ESOL group took their learning into their own hands by creating flashcards for household furniture and appliances. Aminata Bilgo, Mamie Zulu and instructors Megan Adkins and Christina Saunders cut apart advertisements from the News and Record, pasting pictures of plates, bowls, refrigerators and other items onto index cards. They then used the cards to practice learning the names of the objects.
Learner-generated materials are a great way to engage learners in their own learning-process, by empowering them to make decisions as to the "what" and "how" of lessons. Instead of passively "receiving" a lesson, learners are responsible for actively participating in their instruction. As members of the beginning class can tell you, creating materials together is also a lot of fun! This is a great way to bond and work together, as equals.
After making and reviewing flashcards, use them to create sentences, or play a "Memory" game where students pick up face-down cards, one by one, searching for pictures and their corresponding words.
Other examples of learner-generated materials include:
drawing or finding pictures to use for Language Experience Approach stories, dialogs, or role plays
creating worksheets as a way to ground knowledge
speaking to the class or tutor on a topic of knowledge, such as one's home country, how to cook a favorite dish, or family
creating a board game
drawing picture stories to spark discussion or writing on a variety of topics
There are countless ways to incorporate learner-generated materials into every lesson. Above all else, make sure that every activity and every lesson is based on what the learner needs, and check in after every lesson to stay on track. Have fun!
If you think you've received this email in error or would like to be removed from the list, send an email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line to info@readingconnections.org
One of our students (who would like to remain anonymous) has a fantastic success story to share. He had worked at a printing and graphics company for 13 years before it went out of business a year ago. Although he had years of experience and had been a supervisor and press operator at his previous job, he did not have a GED and struggled to read complex information such as instruction manuals. He came to Reading Connections to improve his skills and study for the GED. He was recently offered a job, but there was a catch…he had to take a timed test to measure his basic skills and job-related knowledge. Because of his work with Reading Connections, he missed only 2 of the 60 questions and was hired on the spot with a salary of $50,000! Although he is still working toward his GED, his new job will ensure that he can continue to provide for his family while he furthers his education and career. 
In January, members of our morning beginning ESOL group took their learning into their own hands by creating flashcards for household furniture and appliances. Aminata Bilgo, Mamie Zulu and instructors Megan Adkins and Christina Saunders cut apart advertisements from the News and Record, pasting pictures of plates, bowls, refrigerators and other items onto index cards. They then used the cards to practice learning the names of the objects.
Learner-generated materials are a great way to engage learners in their own learning-process, by empowering them to make decisions as to the "what" and "how" of lessons. Instead of passively "receiving" a lesson, learners are responsible for actively participating in their instruction. As members of the beginning class can tell you, creating materials together is also a lot of fun! This is a great way to bond and work together, as equals.