10 adult learners joined 2 volunteer tutors on January 6, 2010 at the Cooper Memorial Library for a 26 week ‘Fast Track to Reading’ class…6 learners and 2 tutors celebrated their success at a graduation party held on June 24, 2010.  Through the tears, awards, speeches, and food the literacy team*, and learners reflected on all of their accomplishments!

 Everyone felt it was an amazing class and really enjoyed learning phonics in this innovative and ‘fast track’ way.  The blending of in-class activities, at-home studying, determined learners, and extremely motivating tutors created a winning combination.  This will be the template that future ‘Fast Track to Reading’ classes are built on.

 *The literacy team consisted of Sandra Lara, Reference Librarian/Literacy Contact and Paul & Ann Hornberger, tutors extraordinaire!!  Thank you for making this such a successful pilot program!

Volunteer tutor Jim Briggs does it again…facilitates another successful citizenship class at the Cagan Crossings Community Library, that is!!

 6 adult learners joined Jim every Saturday for 5 weeks of intense citizenship study.  On the last day they ran through the flash cards one last time and proudly received their completion certificates…ready to take the citizenship class with much more confidence.

 Jim remarked that he truly enjoyed working with the learners and was excited to work with individuals who represented a variety of countries to include Cuba, Columbia and Bangiladesh!

Shirley became a tutor in April 2009 and during her orientation at the Fruitland Park Library she expressed an interest in becoming involved with the upcoming Citizenship Class.  We were thrilled!  What we didn’t know at that moment was that she would soon be planning to become a citizen!  Here’s her story:

I came to the U.S. in 1999 and since I was born in Canada, I really saw no urgency to get my citizenship. Canada was just across the way and the two countries are allies.  In 2009, I wanted to get re-involved in literacy and came across a tutoring program offered by the Lake County Library System. I jumped at the chance to tutor again, but this time with adult learners. My first assignment was to co-teach the citizenship class with Myla Thompson and that's when the idea started to come about. While teaching, I could also learn the content for my own citizenship test. The class took about 8 weeks and ended early December 2009. 

To be honest, since I went to college in the U.S. and lived here for over 10 years, the recent events were easy to me. The hard part was learning the dates of the different wars. Once I got fingerprinted and the U.S.C.I.S. gave me an audio CD with the 100 questions and answers, I listened to the CD every day in my car for about two weeks, no matter where I was going. I only had to know 10 answers, but which 10, I had no idea!   The day of the test, I listened to it one last time and then turned it off. If I didn't know the answers by then, I wouldn't know them at all. I waited and waited and waited until the officer came to get me. He asked me six questions, including what happened on April 15 and I was done!

Shirley continues to volunteer as a tutor and is a great motivator!  Congratulations Shirley!

Pre-GED classes were launched on July 22, 2010 -- math is the first course being offered!! 6 adult learners joined Peggy Ekberg, tutor, at the Tavares Library for their first class. Over the next 8 weeks they will work together as a class and at home on their own improving their math skills in preparation for their transition to Lake Technical Center’s GED classes. In addition to class and at-home study they will also be able to attend the Learning Lab on Saturday mornings for extra study, one-to-one assistance, and peer support.

Everyone is so very excited to start this process. We are looking forward to hearing the feedback from this first group – what went well and how we can make it even better next round!

Good luck team! We look forward to our first math class graduation in September!

Maria I. Trejo has worked hard over the past two weeks preparing for the Certified Nurses Aid (CNA) certificate!  Not only has she been meeting with Mariana Landivar, a volunteer tutor at the Tavares Library, but she has been attending classes at the Florida Medical Prep program in Tavares.  It wasn't easy leaving her family at home as she studied at night -- thankfully they were very cooperative and helpful!

On Thursday, Maria took the CNA Written Clinical Skills Test & the Practical Oral Skills Test and she passed both tests! 

Congratulations to both Maria & Mariana!  Your Perseverance Made all the Difference...

February 8, 2010 -- Tavares Civic Center -- 5:30 pm...that was when over 70 adult learners, family members, volunteer tutors, Friends of the Tavares & Leesburg Libraries, and literacy staff came together to celebrate all they have accomplished over the past year!

The food -- I find it difficult to express in words the amount and variety of delicious food that everyone brought!  Salads, fruit, appetizers, main dishes, and dessert -- oh the dessert! 

It was a wonderful opporunity to share our appreciation and excitement.  An event to be repeated often, I am sure!

Thank you everyone for making this such an amazing success!

A second conversation group has been formed at the City of Tavares Public Library!  Tutor Jim Canavan and a group of learners are meeting at the library on Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m.  If you are interested in improving your English conversatin skills, they would love to have you join them!

Monday evening over 30 adult literacy volunteer tutors, adult learners and their families, and literacy staff came together to celebrate and enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday potluck!  Thanks to Paul, Ann, his wife and also a volunteer tutor, and Sandra Lara, Cooper Memorial Library Literacy Contact, for coordinating this amazing celebration.  Paul started the evening with a surprise Thanksgiving quiz -- lots of fun and good information -- and then we all converged on a delicious buffet that included a wide variety of food to include some very yummy deserts.  And, of course, laughter and story telling were the highlight of the evening!  Visit the photo gallery for more great pictures.

14 learners, 17 classes, and 2 tutors equal a winning combination at the Cagan Crossings Community Library! It has been an amazing journey that has already resulted in 1 learner passing the citizenship test, others submitting their applications & awaiting their appointments, and the rest preparing to complete their applications over the next few months. Between the efforts of Jim Briggs and Kitty Adler, citizenship tutor team, the support of the other Cagan tutors, and Maria Martino, Literacy Contact, the citizenship class was a great success. The participants were all smiles on their last night but, admittedly, sad that they would no longer be coming together as a group – they have become friends and enjoyed it tremendously! It doesn’t end here, though, they are excitedly awaiting the launch of a conversation group so that they can continue to improve their English skills. Congratulations to all!!

Cecilia Farranto, a learner originally from Lima, Peru, is learning English at an advanced pace at the Fruitland Park Library. With the help of her ESL tutor, Myla Thompson, she has improved her English from a low beginning to high intermediate level in just one year. They meet for several hours weekly where Cecilia practices conversational English, American English grammar, and learns about American customs. They also swap emails giving Cecilia extra practice in both reading and writing English. Cecilia's husband Sal has taken on the task of being Cecilia's at-home study mate. Recently Cecilia was thrilled to find that she was finally issued her official "green card" from immigration services! Although she won't be allowed to apply for U.S. citizenship for several more years, she has already begun to study American history in anticipation of taking her citizenship test. Her most current personal goal is to learn to drive a car. She says, "Driving a car in Peru is not necessary. We use taxis and buses in Lima, no need to drive a car." She also added, "Now, in America I must learn to drive." Great job Cecilia!

Mei Chen, a learner working with Myla Thompson at the Fruitland Park Library, arrived here from China about seven years ago. Soon she found herself owning and managing a local Chinese restaurant in The Villages with her husband. Even though raising three young children and working a full-time job at the restaurant she still finds time to come to the library to study. As her husband already has been made a naturalized U.S. citizenship Mei laments, "I am the only one in my family who is not a citizen of the United States yet." Not wanting to feel left behind, she began studying with her tutor in the spring of 2009 for her U.S. citizenship test and also to improve her English pronunciation. Mei has already completed the first book in the series and is getting ready to begin filling out her citizenship application with the help of her tutor and move on to the next book, "Ready for the Interview". Once she has completed the application and passed the test she plans to continue working with her tutor to improve her English pronunciation so that she may better communicate with her customers at the restaurant and help her children with their English studies… Good luck Mei!

Maria Luiza Hall joined the Lake County Library System Adult Literacy Program in January 2009 with a goal of improving her conversation skills and passing the Citizenship Interview. During the months of February and March she worked diligently with Connie Elmore, a volunteer tutor at the Tavares Public Library, and in March she relocated to Clermont and joined the Citizenship class facilitated by two volunteer tutors, Jim Briggs and Kitty Adler. In June 2009 she passed the Citizenship Interview! We are all absolutely thrilled by her success. She worked very hard, with the help of the tutors, and is so proud to have achieved this goal. But she hasn’t stopped…she plans on continuing to work with a tutor to improve her conversation skills. Great job, Luiza!!

Dozier Hanberry has been working with his tutor, Judith Mathes, at the Leesburg Public Library since March 2006. There have been many successes and some challenges along the way but he continues to be determined to improve his literacy skills and achieve his goal of using his library card to borrow books he can enjoy at home. But something I bet he never thought he would do with his tutor was make a German Chocolate Cake from scratch! Reading the directions, studying vocabulary involving ingredients, methods, and tools he crafted his way to the final product and as he frosted the last corner he stated "That was a lot of work!" Dozier has worked hard over the past few years and we are sure he will continue to surprise us and himself in the future!

We are very excited to welcome 2 new Learner Mentors to the program! We know how hard learners work with their tutors to improve their English language skills and sometimes it is difficult.  The learner mentors are available to answer questions, offer support, make changes, and anything else that will help the adult learners achieve their literacy goals. We hope that this will make the learners experience in the Lake County Library System Adult Literacy Program a better one! We are pleased to welcome Angela Rojas and Amparo Tejada as the new Tavares Learner Mentors. 

My name is Angela Rojas.  I’m from Colombia and moved here with my two teen sons and my husband. In Colombia I worked as a LabTechnician and here I’m working with Orange County School System.  I love working with people and helping others so after taking my English Class in Lake County Library System Adult Literacy Program I decided to encourage others to benefit from this wonderful program.

I’m Amparo Tejada from the Dominican Republic. I have lived in the United States since 1975. I lived in New York 15 years and have been living here in Florida for 17  years.  I bought a house in Astatula and I’m living with my husband and my adorable teen daughter.  I worked at a day care center in Minneola.  I’m an active learner of the Program and love it and think that more people should benefit of such a Program so I sign as a learner mentor to help the learners that are already in the Program and to orient others to join the program.

We are thrilled to include them in the Learner Mentor program. They are already reaching out to learners enrolled in the Tavares literacy program and getting great feedback.

Welcome Aboard Angela and Amparo!

"I (Ron) earned my CDL in January 2009. I have been working with Sue for one year. We worked on academics for a long time. I decided to make a career change and we studied for the CDL. It was difficult but the hard work paid off! I couldn’t have done it without my tutor, Sue."

Ron and Sue, congratulations on your success and achievement! They are now checking out driving schools – his next big goal! Good luck!

Hermelinda Espinoza is an excellent learner in the ESL Intermediate class at the Marion Baysinger Library in Groveland.  Originally from Mexico, Hermelinda has spent most of the last 20 years in the U.S.  She learned painting in a community education class in Mexico 4 years ago.  She paints on fabric using special textile paints from Brazil.  With a family of 3 girls, working in a nursery, and studying English, she wishes she had more time for her hobby! Some of Hermelinda's paintings are currently on display at the
Groveland Library.   If you have time, you should take the opportunity to see them, they are amazing!

We are very excited to be offering a new program! We know how hard learners work with their tutors to improve their English language skills and sometimes it is difficult. So, we are pleased to announce that we have created a Learner Mentor program. The learner mentors will be available to answer questions, offer support, make changes, and anything else that will help the adult learners achieve their literacy goals. We hope that this will make the learners experience in the Lake County Library System Adult Literacy Program a better one!

We are pleased to welcome Silvia Truyts Carey as the new Leesburg Learner Mentor. She is 41 years old and was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. She came to the United States in 2000 and first lived in Orlando but after meeting her husband, Brian, she moved to Leesburg. She works at the Waterfront Inn in The Villages as the Executive Housekeeper. Not only is Silvia working with a tutor but she is volunteering additional time to help staff and tutors communicate with learners as well as recruit new learners to the program. Silvia has been instrumental in recruiting over 15 new learners in the short time she has been a volunteer Learner Mentor! We are thrilled to have her as part of the literacy team.

The Florida Literacy Coalition recently informed Tavares Public Library ESL students Gonzalo Hernandez, ‘My Adventures with English’, and Luz Angela Vasquez, ‘How I Learn’, that their stories have been selected for inclusion in the 2008 adult learner essay book Opening a New World.  The book will be unveiled at the Florida Literacy Coalition Annual Meeting at the Regal Sun Resort, Orlando on May 8, 12:15pm-1:15pm. 

Since 2006, Gonzalo has been working with George Cooke, a tutor, and Angela joined us in 2007.  Since that time they have been working very hard to achieve their goals.  To have the opportunity to have their stories published in a statewide book is beyond their dreams!  We are so proud to have been able to support their efforts and assist them as they put their stories into words.  They are amazing and represent the dedicated group of adult learners we have the fortune of working with on a weekly basis.

It is an honor to be included in the Florida Literacy Coalition’s publication.  Established in 1985, The Florida Literacy Coalition (FLC) promotes supports and advocates for the effective delivery of quality adult and family literacy services in the state of Florida.  As a statewide umbrella literacy organization and the host of Florida’s State Literacy Resource Center, FLC provides a range of services to support more than 300 adult education, literacy and family literacy providers throughout Florida.

Want to read their essay?  Check out Opening A New World in the Adult New Reader Collection today!