Interview with a Volunteer

Editor’s note: Today’s post comes from tutor and board member Allison Matthews.

I met up recently with one of our newest volunteers, T.V. Weber, to observe him tutoring his learner and to chat about his work for Turning Pages. Although he and his wife, Alida, have only been with us a short time, he brings with him a long history of service to adults who are learning English as a second language.

When I arrived, the learner, an advanced ESL student from India, was reading aloud an article about methods for reducing carbon emissions. T.V. listened patiently, jumping in from time to time to correct her pronunciation and make sure she’s comprehending the passage. Some of the new words she encounters lead to interesting discussions about the English language’s roots in other languages. When he notices she’s beginning to feel frustrated by a difficult-to-pronounce word, he stops to offer her an additional dose of positive feedback.

After they complete the article, T.V. has his learner read from a high-interest textbook he’s brought about the Egyptian pyramids. Throughout the session, the two maintain an easy rapport. It’s clear they respect each other and enjoy learning together.

At the end, T.V. asks her, “What do you still want to ask me? You’ve got that look on your face…” His learner just grins. Now it was my turn to ask some questions! Here’s what I found out:

How long have you been working with Turning Pages?

I think it’s already been 2 months, but it doesn’t feel like that long!

What prompted you to volunteer as an adult literacy tutor?

TESOL has always been a “hobby” for me. I have one student from Puerto Rico I’ve worked with for 5- 6 years. I’ve seen her go from speaking virtually no English to using it on her job. My wife Alida and I are considering moving to another country to teach English, so we decided to volunteer as a team for Turning Pages to gain teaching experience.

What past experiences have prepared you for the work you’re doing now?

My great-grandparents immigrated here from Czechoslovakia when they were teenagers. My grandparents spoke only Czech, and if you wanted to communicate with them, you’d better speak it, too! So, my father grew up bilingual and bicultural, and he passed on the family expectation that we kids be fluent in more than just English.

What’s the most important insight you’ve gained from the time you’ve spent with adult learners?

To teach ESL right, you need to have tried to learn another language yourself so you can understand the difficulties people face when they are learning a second language! Last year, I was in Chile and accidentally told a clerk that I was going to hit her when I was trying to say that I would pay the bill. Experiences like that remind me of how important it is to be precise with your vocabulary!

What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about becoming a tutor for Turning Pages?

Do your best to put yourself in the shoes of your learner so you can prioritize the weaknesses that need to be addressed in order for her to communicate successfully in our culture.

Happy New Year

Photo via

Wishing you a happy and healthy start to 2014 full of family, friends, and good books.

We at Turning Pages are looking forward to continuing our work in the new year. We envision a Midlands in which all adults will have the literacy skills to participate productively at home, at work and in our community. We see it as our mission to help adults in the Midlands read and write better to improve their incomes and lives.

We invite you to join us in whatever way you can, whether it be attending a tutor training and working one-on-one with a learner, donating some old books as you do your January cleaning, or starting off the year with a financial contribution. (It’s easy – we have Paypal!) As always, thank you for what you do to support literacy in the Midlands!

Help for 73,000 illiterate adults

Editor’s note:(This editorial first appeared in the Lexington County Chronicle June 13, 2013)

How many illiterate adults do you know? How many who can neither read, write nor even count change? What if you were in the same fix? Imagine what your life might be like — filled with shame that even your children are learning skills that you don’t have. You can’t help them with their homework, or  read the Bible, as many of the learners we work with in the Turning Pages tutoring program are motivated to do. Adults who struggle with reading are among an estimated more than 27,000 Lexington County residents — 10% of the county’s population.

They are not alone. Richland County has 46,000 adults who read below a 6th grade reading level. That’s 12% of Richland’s population. In all, 73,000 functionally illiterate adults live in our two counties and studies indicate that  19% or more of the population are below this threshold, in parts of the Midlands. Functional literacy is the ability to read, write and speak proficiently in English, use technology, solve problems, be a life-long learner and effective in  life.

Illiterate adults are not stupid. Many have learning disabilities that make it difficult for them to read and write. Many have mastered skills the rest of us would find daunting. Some are like the short order cook who holds a dozen orders in memory and prepares them without being able to read written orders from the wait staff. Or the driver with a perfect on-time delivery record who cannot read the addresses on the packages he handles. But he can follow a map and his spatial memory is exceptional.

Last week, 60 public-spirited people came together for our first Reading Between the Wines dinner, hosted by Main Street Cafe owner George Trifos and Palmetto Wines & Spirits owner Sandi Patel. The dinner raised almost $1,500 to help Turning Pages tutors make a difference in the lives of their learners.

At the Chronicle, we were happy to be among the dinner’s sponsors with the West Metro Rotary Club, Lexington Young Professionals, AGG Advisers and Pine Press Printing. We hope to arrange a similar fund-raising dinner soon.

Walk In Our Shoes

Once a week, Turning Pages director Chris Mathews spends a few hours at the Transitions shelter in downtown Columbia. Through this partnership, Turning Pages provides literacy services to any interested residents at the shelter.

Last Saturday, Transitions hosted “A Walk in Our Shoes.” Residents of Transitions gave walking tours of downtown Columbia, sharing a different perspective than one might usually see. Chris took the tour and snapped a few photos.

These two, below, are places where homeless people sometimes sleep.

Chris’s tour guide, pictured outside of Oliver Gospel Mission.

Want to join Chris at Transitions on Wednesday mornings, or any other time? Give us a call at 803-782-1210. We are always looking for caring, open-minded volunteers to help with literacy tutoring. No experience needed.

Signs of progress

Many Turning Pages learners have their sights set on attaining their GED diplomas. Their reason: They can qualify for better jobs with higher pay and careers with a future.

The latest good news is that tutoring with us and through other Adult Education programs has raised the GED test passing rates to an all-time high of 77.6%.

According to Jay Ragley at the S.C. Education Department, enrollment in adult education programs has steadily declined the last 10 years due to several factors. The federal government has been emphasizing student performance, not program enrollment. The United States Department of Education is more interested in the students we serve making progress toward their education goals than how many students are served.

Since State Adult Education funds are based partially on student performance, not just head count, more adult education programs are concentrating on keeping students longer in their tutoring programs. Increased high school graduation rates and reduced dropout rates may have had an impact on the number of individuals enrolling in Adult Education.

Even though Adult Enrollment has declined, the number of individuals earning a GED diploma and the increased GED pass rate is an indicator that student performance has improved.

This does not mean we can sit back and relax.

The latest figures on functionally illiterate adults in Richland County is 12% of the total population and 10% in Lexington County. We are talking about more than 70,000 of our friends and neighbors who are reading at below sixth grade level.

If you would like to become a tutor or know someone who needs tutoring, please call us at 782-1210.

Bring ’em Back Alive

Editor’s note: Today’s post comes from community leader and Board member Jerry Bellune. We find Mr. Bellune’s enthusiasm to be infectious, do you?

One of my favorite books in the 6th grade was big game hunter and animal trainer Frank Buck’s biography, “Bring “Em Back Alive.”  One of my teachers complimented me for reading a high school level book. Such compliments mean a lot of anyone learning to master reading skills.

Mr. Buck led a colorful life on many continents. That fired my imagination and made me think of adventurous career choices. That was relatively easy for a budding writer as storytelling was a staple in our family.

Thinking back on those early days makes me realize how fortunate many of us are to have been born into families of readers, surrounded by books and encouraged to aspire to any career our little hearts desired. Unfortunately, about one in 10 of us has no such privileges. They grow up in homes with no books, only TV sets, the electronic baby sitter.

Award-winning speaker and business philosopher Jim Rhon (pronounced Rone as in bone) observed that successful people have large libraries. Unsuccessful people have large TVs. My purpose is not to disparage TV. Sesame Street and many other educational programs for children are far better than nothing.

But we should never forget that penologists project how many prison cells will be needed within the next 8 to 10 years by the number of 4th graders who cannot read well.

Turning Pages has played an inspiring role in the lives of many of these unfortunates who some how slipped through the cracks of our great public education system. Your support as a donor or volunteer tutor is welcome. We invite you to join us.

But Seriously, Folks.

With the comedy night coming up, we’ve been tending toward the humorous over here.

But, we’ve got to keep in mind… Literacy is no laughing matter.

In South Carolina, about 25% to 30% of adults read below a sixth grade reading level. What was your favorite book in 6th grade? I checked the Barnes & Noble book suggestions for children ages 9-12. (Sixth graders are usually 11, turning 12.) Here’s what they recommended:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl.  The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle.  From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg.  Have you read any of these?

OMG, you guys, these are a few of my FAVORITE books from childhood. When talking about Turning Pages, I have repeated that sixth-grade reading level benchmark over and over; it’s considered the defining line that denotes “functionally illiterate.” (I hate that phrase.) But this is the first time I’ve dug deeper into the real meaning of  the “sixth-grade reading level.” Here’s what I’ve found…

As I reflect on these books, I’ve realized just how much each one has impacted my life, even into adulthood. I have read them over and over.  I’ve wished for my own chocolate river and everlasting gobstoppers. I’ve seen the movie adaptations– after high school graduation — ie. well past sixth grade. (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was pretty creepy at the drive-in).

As a child, my dad read From the Mixed Up Files to my brother and me, a chapter at a time, at bedtime. (We would beg him not to turn the light out, to keep reading…) I’ve gone to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, for the express purpose of looking for the fountain where Claudia and Jamie took baths when they ran away from home to live in the museum. (Yes, I found it.) And when my youngest brother was 7 or 8, I made sure the book was read to him.

I remember discussing The Phantom Tollbooth with a friend, when I was 19,  in the cafeteria of our college dorm. I read A Wrinkle In Time last summer on the beach. I was in sixth grade when the very first Harry Potter book came out, but now, as an adult with a Master’s degree, I’ve added a visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to my bucket list.

They may be “just” children’s books, but clearly the reach is farther than that.

Adult education tends to focus on the practical. At Turning Pages, we do learner-led instruction, which means that often, learners want to cover material related to getting their commercial drivers license, or balancing their bank account, or making some healthy recipes. But other times, they want to read what their child is reading in school, or want to read something to their child. We can never predict the true meaning of helping someone bring reading into their life, but we can be sure that the meaning is there.

Read more about becoming a tutor, or other ways you can help.

Telling the Story

It is a genuine pleasure to be able to share the message of Turning Pages and all it is doing for the thousands of adults whose reading, writing, math and life skills keep them from realizing their full potential. All of us want to be the best we can be. Turning Pages board members  Bruce Donatelli and Jerry Bellune recently visited the Lexington Rotary Club to share a few of our success stories.

Rotarian Paul Scott wrote his membership that Jerry talked about Rotary’s commitment to promoting literacy and related three stories about adults dealing with literacy issues, promoting literacy and related three stories about adults dealing with literacy issues. Turning Pages also known as the Greater Columbia Literacy Council,  serves a four-county area.

“It began as a Christian mission in SC in 1968, and has served over 6,000 adults,” Paul wrote to his membership. “The mission is to help adults reach their full potential by helping them improve reading, math, computer, and English language skills through customized learning plans. Tutors work one-on-one or in small groups, and volunteers are always being recruited. Turning Pages provides opportunities for lifelong learning, and is learner-led. The services and materials are free and different levels, approaches and subjects are offered for different abilities, needs and individuals.”

The Lexington Rotarians are considering a three-year commitment of financial support for this vital literacy program as are other civic, business, educational and religious groups.

An opportunity for you

If you would like Bruce and Jerry to bring this inspirational message to your group, please contact us at 803-782-1210.

Guest Blog: Ami Foote

Editor’s Note: This post comes to us from intern and USC journalism student Ami Foote.

Among obvious social concerns like disease, poverty, violence, and drugs — there is one problem that often goes unaddressed — low levels of literacy. Education is essential to the quality of life in human beings. So how does an adult get through twelve years of school without being able to read a street sign?

I had the pleasure of interviewing an adult learner who has become a regular at Turning Pages over the past 3 1/2 years. Assumptions and percentages can only explain so much, so I went straight to the source to find out where he thought his educational problems came from. “When I was young, school didn’t interest me. I was making money with my hands, so my brain didn’t matter as much,” he tells me. The source of immediate income for this learner came from his physical abilities, so it made sense to blow off intellectual goals, which could only provide monetary gain later in life. He ended up dropping out of school to lay bricks, paint, and work in construction. It was only when he was diagnosed with diabetes that he realized how unreliable his skills really were. His disease was so severe that he almost lost his legs and had to retire from the work he had spent his entire life doing. Suddenly, he had nothing but free time on his hands, and nothing to do with it. The only thing that didn’t require literacy skills was television, which quickly lost his interest.

So he started coming to Turning Pages to finally learn how to read — one of the “best things he has ever done with his life.” He now enjoys his newly gained independence. He is able to go to restaurants, take road trips, and go to the doctor’s office without having to ask others for help. The most simple things that we take for granted every day require the ability to read and comprehend. “I am more confident in myself, and I am able to be somebody my kids can look up to.” I couldn’t help but smile as I shook hands with this man and told him how nice it was to hear his story. His positive attitude about life and education surprised and impressed me. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t make excuses or feel ashamed. He is proud of his new literacy skills; skills that cannot be taken from him. As he puts it, “The more I learn, the better I feel.” It makes me happy to know there is a center in my community for people who are excited about learning. Turning Pages is a place that strives to give opportunity to those who would love to improve their lives, but were never given the chance.

Guest Blog: Marie Snider

Editor’s note: Today’s post comes to us from an experienced English as a New Language tutor, Marie Snider.

Learning a new language, especially when it is important in your life, is sometimes a very daunting and often frustrating experience. Our ESL learners at Turning Pages live in a country where English is the language spoken by the majority of people, and because of this, they feel more of a sense of urgency and a direct need to learn English. Turning Pages helps to fulfill that need while also easing the stress on students who may sometimes feel like outsiders in a very large and intimidating country.

Teaching ESL is a multi-faceted undertaking in which, to the teacher, actual teaching is one of the smaller parts to the teacher/student relationship. That’s not to say, that at any point the student is learning nothing, what I mean is proper English learning is often disguised by friendly conversation, sharing anecdotes, or discussing one’s favorite TV show. I’ve had an entire one hour lesson stem from the question “Do you know the song lyric, ‘take me on, take on me’? What does that mean?” Where did that take us? To an hour long lesson on phrasal verbs with a small emphasis on deciphering song lyrics! Without a strong rapport and understanding of each other’s cultures and personalities, teacher-student relationships would suffer numerous blocks with which good questions like the one before would not exist!

Our ESL students at Turning Pages suffer from a specific fear that is at times quite difficult to break through. Not only do they have low confidence because of their language barrier, but they also live in angst over the possibility of losing a job or even their family because of the United States’ tough immigration laws. It’s up to the teacher to ease the student’s fear, therein making them comfortable with themselves and their situation, if only for 90 minutes a week. Once a person lets down their barriers, they are much more likely to take more from the lessons, and of course enjoy language learning more. I’ve had students, who never really want to discuss their private lives, which is fine; having a rapport with someone doesn’t necessarily mean knowing everything about their family and private life. It means that they feel free to ask any question and not embarrassed to make any mistake.

Our job at Turning Pages is to teach ESL as a way to spread literacy (although most of our ESL leaners are at least partly literate in their native language). But a student can learn English whilst talking about anything and/or listening to anything, the difference comes in whether or not the topic is important to their life or close to their heart, and a healthy rapport will always make that difference.