The BeaconLiteracy Volunteers of Monmouth County

Spring 2009

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Dear Friends,

Literacy and libraries. When I link these two words together thefirst thought that comes to mind is reading and books, lots of books.Today literacy and libraries are so much more than just books.Libraries are sources for many materials used in obtaining varioustypes of literacy skills and information. When our tutors meet their lit-eracy students at their local libraries they are surrounded by books,people reading books, and people accessing information that can beused to improve many literacy skills. Libraries provide opportunities formany types of literacy skills, such as:

Computer/technology literacy: how to use the computer to accessinformation and websites where they can use programs to improvetheir reading, writing and speaking skills as well as learn how toemail, type a resume, participate in Blogs, Wikis and Twitters.

English literacy: libraries provide books for many levels of readers,books-on-tape, and many libraries offer English literacy classes tothose for whom English is not their native language.

Health literacy: many libraries open their facilities for free health class-es and provide information on free immunizations and health clinics.

Financial literacy: libraries help adults with free tax preparation andoffer workshops to the general public.

Social literacy: this includes book discussion groups, storytime forchildren, gaming opportunities (like Xbox, Playstation, Wii, etc.), musicalofferings like free jazz and classical concerts, and often libraries pro-vide meeting space for nonprofit and local government groups.

LVMC relies on our county-wide libraries to provide space for ourtutor-trainings and as a meeting place for our tutors and their adultstudents. We have partnerships with several of our libraries to provideEnglish classes for those for whom English is not their native lan-guage as well as Conversational English classes.

In our current economy the need for libraries and their services isincreasing. Yes, computers can provide a lot of information (if you haveaccess to one and know how to use it) but libraries provide realhuman beings called librarians who can personally help you locateinformation; find your favorite genre of book, direct you to workshops,classes and social events, and libraries provide a quiet space for read-ing, contemplation or even a tutoring session.

If you haven’t visited your library in a while you should go and checkout everything that libraries now offer. Some even provide you with acup of coffee to enjoy while you read. Supporting our librariesenhances literacy skills for everyone.

Literacy and libraries: it’s a natural partnership!

Best regards,

Letter from the Executive Director

Rebecca Lucas

Red Bank Library’s ESL group class with students and LVMCtutors Beatriz Block, Robert Hespe and Dan Koelfhoffer.

Conversational English Facilitator Training in Neptune Public Library included(front) Carole Dougher, Suzanne Kozlowski, Madeline Alexander, tutor trainer AmyDiFilippo, Aleen Colitz, (rear) David Kuykendall, Lucy Rucker, Dan Koelfhoffer andJhanna Even. See Page 5 for information on upcoming summer training session.

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ESL LearnersvCarlos, from Freehold, would like to work on skills to get his

GED. He is free to meet Monday - Thursday from 9 am untilnoon, and any time on Fridays. He has no transportation.

vJames, originally from Taiwan, currently lives in Middletown.He would like to practice speaking and pronunciation. He isavailable to meet Monday through Thursday after 6:30 pmand has transportation to meet at the library.

vMarie Noelle is originally from the Ivory Coast and now livingin Howell. Curently at a beginning level, she would like tolearn English. She is available to meet on Monday andThursday in the Howell Library.

vGrace, originally from China, is now living in Tinton Falls. Shewants to practice conversational English and is availablebetween 2:00 - 3:30 pm and 7:30 - 9:00 pm most days.

vSerhey from Russia now lives in Shrewsbury. He wants toimprove his English and is available to meet in the morningsand afternoons on most days. He has no transportation.

vAnna, originally from Poland, is currently living in Little Silver.She would like to learn to speak, read and write English, andis available to meet between 6:00 and 8:00 pm any weekdayand any time on the weekends. Anna has transportation.

vPoochin, originally from Taiwan and now living in Middletown,would like to learn to speak, read and write English. She hastransportation and can meet a tutor between 9:00 and noon,Monday through Thursday.

vMaria is originally from Colombia and now resides in OceanShe would like to go beyond her current low intermediatelevel to improve speaking, reading and writing in English.Maria is free weekdays before 4:30 pm, but can possiblymeet at a later time if her employer agrees.

w a i t i n g t o l e a r nMany people are waiting for tutors in both Basic Literacy and ESL. Please consider

signing up for a new learner or taking on an additional one. These people need our help!

Basic Literacy LearnersvJefferson, originally from the Dominican Republic, is now living in

Long Branch. He is available to meet a tutor any day, any time.Jefferson has no transportation and is a beginning reader.

vAlberta needs to learn to read. She can meet in the AsburyPark library after 5:00 pm, but does not have transportation.

vJonathan lives in a group home in Long Branch and is a begin-ning reader. He is available to meet after 4:30 pm, but has notransportation.

vLouis lives in Howell and would like help to improve his read-ing and comprehension skills in order to get his GED. He isavailable to meet a tutor Monday and Wednesday between6:00 and 8:00 pm, and has no transportation.

vElvin, from Bradley Beach, is a beginning reader. He is availableto meet every day after 4:00 pm, but has no transportation.

vAaron, also from Bradley Beach, is available to meet onMonday, Wednesday and Friday. He is a beginning reader whohas worked with a tutor in the past. He has no transportation.

vJudy is from Bradley Beach and would like to learn to read.She recognizes the alphabet and knows the sounds, but can-not read words. Judy is free to meet a tutor at the library in thedaytime on Wednesday, or during evenings on other days.

Web-Bytes

A helpful online resource for ESL students and tutors comes from USA Learns.

USA Learns is a website that has been launched by the US Department of Education

to help immigrants learn English.

Click on Directions and choose which English level your student needs.

Their website address is:usalearns.org

Please let us know if your address has changed.

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LVMC learner accomplishmentsCongratulations to Niko and Greta Suvasi, who recently receivedtheir United States Citizenship! Greta and Niko are originally fromAlbania and they have been working with tutor Carole Dougher forthe past three years to increase their English literacy skills.

Congratulations to Valbonna Klovocista, ESL student of EllenWilliams, who also recently received her US Citizenship! Valbonna,also from Albania, has been in the United States for 13 years butshe has only worked with her tutor this past year.

LVMC was recently contacted by a representative from theIslamic Center in Old Bridge about becoming a partner to provideEnglish literacy tutoring to immigrants from the countries of India,Bangladesh, Arabia, Pakistan, etc. Eleven members of the IslamicCenter are currently taking an in-house tutor training course led bycertified trainer Amy DiFilippo. These trainees will begin tutoringimmigrants from their communities once they have completed thecourse. LVMC congratulates the Islamic Center for taking on thisservice mission!

Thirteen tutors attended this financial literacy workshop offered byLiteracy Volunteers of New Jersey and presenters Catherine Mitchand Chris Vecere (one of LVMC’s tutors who also has a bankingbackground) on Tuesday, March 31. This workshop for tutors wasmade available to LVNJ affiliates thanks to funding by the TDCharitable Foundation.

Chris Vecere explained in plain English what financial terms meant,as Catherine Mitch showed tutors how they could integrate financialliteracy into any tutoring session. Our participants left with clear infor-mation on how they could help their adult students learn aboutfinances. They were also provided with a binder of materials thatoffered tips for saving money, feeling comfortable about talking aboutmoney, savings workbooks, all types of bank account information,budgeting, credit cards, pay stub deciphering and a list of onlineresources.

Community Job FairOn Friday, February 27, volunteer Shubha Murti and LVMC executivedirector Rebecca Lucas participated in Brookdale CommunityCollege’s Long Branch Higher Education Center’s Community JobFair. While most of those attending were looking for jobs, we werethere to offer and promote our literacy services and to recruit poten-tial tutors. There were an overwhelming number of adults looking foremployment but we did have a couple of people sign up for tutor-training information.

LVNJ’s Health Literacy Summit On Friday, April 3, director Rebecca Lucas and tutor/student coordina-tor Susan George attended an all-day summit on health literacy host-ed by LVNJ. This summit was held to raise awareness of the criticalrole that literacy can play in improving health outcomes for everyone.We were introduced to several highly successful health literacy initia-tives and received ideas and new strategies for increasing the healthliteracy of our students and the health care system.

Thank You!to the following for their donations to our organization:

In honor of volunteer Sarah Stewart’s birthday: Cionna Buckley, Sandy Henning, Nancy Lobell, Becky Lucas,

Diane Spurdle and Linda Stewart

Corporate Matching Donations:Qualcomm and Krishna and Shubha Murti

Exxon Corporation and Thomas White Credit Suisse and Manuel Alvarez

Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey: a grant from the Governor’s Literacy Initiative

The Wall Library, for donating a series of used ‘Hi-Lo’ books (high interest, low literacy level) for LVMC’s library

To Joan Keleigh, friend of tutor Lydia Diehl, whose name was accidentally omitted from our last issue of The Beacon,

for volunteering at our Borders holiday giftwrapping

Islamic Center Partnership

Front: Shamsia Sharif, Fatima Masood, Entesar Soliman, Lubna Malike, QudsiaAwan. Rear: Shashanna Amhed, Shela Farooqui, Sufia Masood, Sarah Akhter,M. Jim Shaikh, Muhammed Asif and tutor trainer Amy DiFilippo.

Financial Literacy In-service/Workshop

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Tutor Appreciation Reception and Roundtable Discussion

Twenty-five volunteers gathered on Tuesday, April 29, for theTutor Appreciation Reception at the Brookdale HigherEducation Center in Long Branch. Executive director BeckyLucas and tutor/learner coordinator, Susan George greetedthe tutors and handed out sheets of free chance tickets whilevolunteer and ESL assessor Shubha Murti explained her datadisplay that documented an increase of over 1,000 hours oftutoring since last year. To ‘break the ice’, Susan invited partici-pants to join the game of Taboo, an interactive tool that tutorscould also use with their students to enrich vocabulary.

Board member Kay Amoroso invited tutors to share theirsuccesses and concerns during a roundtable discussion. Oneconcern was how to keep students on task. Suggestions fromthe group included establishing a time schedule with the studentthat allows an opportunity for casual conversation each sessionand also accomplishes the lesson’s learning goals. Another chal-lenge mentioned was obtaining appropriate resources. Kay sug-gested that a good topic for a future roundtable discussionwould be a review of online and audio visual resources.

Throughout the event participants enjoyed delicious refresh-ments and enriching conversation. Books and materials forboth tutors and their students were donated by Friends ofLiteracy and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, and were reward-ed to the participants in the free chance raffle.

by Tutor Carolyn Hogan Some of the tutors who attended the reception on April 29.

Spring Tutor Training in Red BankFront: Eleanor Linley, Erika Heiges, Elizabeth Kelly, Isabel Lopez-Kupilik and Joy WIlson.

Rear: Tutor trainer David Kuykendall, Larry Benjamin, June Hands, Kathy Finn, Betsy Peyton, Chris Heneley and Lisa Rettig.

FundingAs all of you know, the present economy has affected funding for

all nonprofits including Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County. Wehave recently been notified that we will be receiving $3,000 lessfrom the State of New Jersey Department of Labor through theWorkforce Investment Board’s Basic Skills Consortium for our2009/2010 fiscal year. In addition, we are down nearly $3,000 fromour fundraising dinner and we will receive a smaller percentage fromthe United Way of Monmouth County. There is very little fat that canbe trimmed from our budget, as nearly 85% of our funding goestoward program costs.

Knowing everyone has been affected by this economy makes usvery grateful for the continued monetary support that we receivefrom our ‘friends of literacy’ to support our adult literacy programs.The need for tutors and literacy programs is not declining in responseto the economy, but rather it is growing, and at a rapid rate! LVMC iscommitted to meeting the literacy needs of adults in MonmouthCounty. We urge you to continue your monetary support, to tutor, andto recruit more volunteers to become tutors. With your help we cancontinue to address the literacy needs of our community.

Our Library LVMC library books have finally been moved back to Long Branch

and they are currently being catalogued by volunteer SusanKuykendall (a retired librarian) and tutor/student coordinator, SusanGeorge. Although our space is limited we currently have two largecabinets that will hold most of our books. Once these books havebeen sorted, cataloged and marked we will notify our tutors aboutwhich days and times they will be available to check out materialsand the procedures and rules for doing so. If you have borrowed anybooks or materials from LVMC within the past please make a note toreturn them to the office as soon as possible so that they may jointhe rest of our materials.

REMEMBER DATES TO REMEMBERDATES TO REMEMBER DATES TO

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Summer Volunteer Tutor TrainingOur next orientation and tutor training for volunteers will be held

at the Monmouth County Library Eastern Branch in Shrewsbury. Itwill run for six consecutive Monday evenings including June 22,29, July 6, 13, 20, and 27. Orientation will begin at 5:30 pm onJune 22 with the first training session to follow. All other classeswill begin at 6:00 pm and run until 8:45 pm. Volunteers mustattend all six sessions and pre-registration is mandatory, so pleasecontact the office either by email or by calling 732-571-0209.Cost of the training is $45, which helps defray the cost of manu-als and materials. There is no charge to our previously trainedtutors who are taking a ‘refresher course’ but you must register.

2009 Anual Recognition Dinner On Tuesday, June 9 at 6:00 pm, LVMC will once again host our

annual meeting and recognition dinner for all tutors, volunteers andadult students who have 12 or more hours of tutoring. This event willbe held at the First United Methodist Church, at 91 West Main Street,in Freehold. This is a wonderful opportunity for all tutors to bring theiradult students to an event that focuses on the literacy accomplish-ments of all of our students. Delicious food, annual recognition cer-tificates and a chance to mingle with strong supporters of literacyprovide an evening of fun. Invitations have gone out so pleaserespond as soon as possible as seating is limited to 100, and last yearwe came close to meeting the maximum!

Registration for the dinner is mandatory as we need to know whoand how many are coming in order to have enough food and certifi-cates for all. We thank the First United Methodist Church Board forallowing us to host this wonderful evening and for their support inpromoting our adult literacy programs.

Conversational English Tutor TrainingAre you already a trained and certified tutor? Are you looking to

take on a new and exciting venue to help non-native Englishspeakers improve their conversational English? If so, this is theclass for you!

LVMC is currently offering Conversational English classes inFreehold and Long Branch and we will be expanding to Red Bankthis summer and to Shrewsbury this fall. We need facilitators forthese groups of students. Training consists of two, two-hour class-es which begin on Wednesday, July 15 and July 22 from 6:00 to8:00 pm. Tutors will acquire skills and materials needed to facilitategroups of ESL students in our non-stressful, totally enjoyableConversational English groups. Pre-registration is mandatory soplease contact the office. Cost for this course is $10, whichincludes a binder of materials.

LVMC Updates

New Submission Dates For Quarterly Time Sheets

LVMC operates on a fiscal year which begins in July, so our quarterly reporting is as follows:

First Quarter: Time sheets due September 20

Second Quarter: Time sheets due December 20

Third Quarter: Time sheets due March 20

Fourth Quarter: Time sheets due June 20

Record keeping can be tedious, but please help our organiza-tion continue to receive funding by submitting your time sheetsby the dates listed above. If you have any questions please callthe office to speak with either Susan or Becky. Thank you!

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Literacy for Life, an annual professional development conferenceSponsored by Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey, was held at theEnterprise Center of Burlington County College, on Saturday, April25. The day-long event was attended by volunteers and profession-als in the field of adult literacy. Workshops were given and awardspresented for special achievements during a luncheon.

Amy DiFilippo, a long-term tutor and tutor-trainer, was recog-nized with the 2009 Award for Tutor Excellence. Amy has provenherself invaluable over the last 18 years at LVMC. She has tutoredindividuals, trained over 200 tutors, assisted with program curricula,improved literacy program’s content and curriculum and volunteersher time and talents wherever she’s needed.

She became a tutor with the LVMC in 1991, and after severalyears became so enthusiastic about the program she acquired tutortrainer certification. Amy recently returned to school and earned herMaster’s degree in Education. For the past ten yeas she has beenteaching full time in the Asbury Park School system.

One of the successful and innovative tutoring techniques thatAmy developed was creating the Conversational English TutorTraining curriculum. Knowing that ESL adult students need inde-pendent practice with English, Amy created training for certifiedtutors to become facilitators of conversational English classes.

Students and fellow tutors often credit Amy with the qualitiesevery tutor strives for; she is respectful, patient, flexible, creative, sup-portive, consistent and encouraging. Amy’s current ESL studentaccompanies her to a training session so new tutors can observe atutoring demonstration and hear from a literacy student.

Also honored was Sidney Crumwell, who received the Award forStudent Excellence. Sidney has been a literacy student since 2000and demonstrates his leadership skills by serving as Student BoardMember and actively recruiting adult literacy students.

One of Sidney’s literacy goals was to learn to use the computerand since 2006, he has made progress in using the writing programand e-mail. Now he is working on writing book reviews on the com-puter and conducting searches for topics of interest.

Ellen Lospinuso has tutored Sidney for the past four years andrecognizes the tremendous progress he has made. His comfort andconfidence with reading books and writing about them has greatlyincreased. He continues to challenge himself by reading, working onword puzzles and completing worksheets on reading comprehensionand using the computer.

In addition to his role as Student Board Member, Sidney oftenattends Literacy for Life and other conferences, helps with the annu-al giftwrapping at the Borders Bookstore and is always available tolend support and encouragement to students.

At 83, Sidney’s perseverance, commitment, friendliness and will-ingness to help others has made him a true lifelong learner and aleader among students.

As a first year tutor, I was happy to receive the brochure forLVNJ’s annual professional development conference, Literacy forLife. In fact, the descriptions of the workshops being offeredmade it hard to choose among them.

In the end, I took the morning double session offering called,Sounds of Language: Helping Your Students with Pronunciation.We did not spend a lot of time on this in our local training, so Ifound the creative techniques demonstrated very helpful andright on target with the needs of my student.

My afternoon sexsion was called Health Literacy: BuildingSkills for a Healthier Life. Since my student had a doctor’s appoint-ment the very next week, I was able to use some of the handoutsto prepare her for the visit.

Meeting other tutors was enriching and the luncheon wasdelicious. I shall look forward to next year’s conference.

Patricia Welsh, Tutor

I have been an adult learner with LVMC since March of 2006when I was matched with my current tutor, Carolyn Hogan. Thisyear I was invited to attend the Literacy for Life Conference atBurlington County College.

One of the things I learned at the conference is that you canachieve what you want to learn if you set focus and try. I learnedyou shouldn’t quit. We talked about basic rights and the need formore reading programs. People have the right to learn and noone can stop you. To get involved, adult learners should contacttheir local literacy programs and help other people who want tolearn by letting them know what is available and what the pro-gram is about.

The awards ceremony and lunch were enjoyable. A man fromChina received the ESL Student of the Year Award for learningto read English. I was so proud of Sidney Crumwell fromMonmouth County who received the Student of the Year Awardfor Basic Literacy. Conferences like the Literacy for Life remindpeople to believe in what they can do and not what they can’t do.

George Johantgen, Student

Reflections on the Conference…

Literacy for Life Conference 2009

Amy DiFilippo, (left) a dedicated tutor, tutor trainer and volunteer, was present-ed with the 2009 Award for Tutor Excellence by Elissa Director of LVNJ. SidneyCrumwell, (top) a dedicated Basic Literacy Student, is congratulated by histutor, Ellen Lospinuso, upon winning the 2009 Award for Student Excellence.

Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County recipient of two awards

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Autumn 2008 Tutor Training in NeptuneFront: Marie Sheppard, Dee Vignone and Gayle Capozzi.

Rear: Jhanna Even, Marlene Weissman, tutor trainer Kay Amoroso, Flavella Branham-Benjamin and Alison Wollman.

Winter Tutor Training in FreeholdFront: Dan Koelfhoffer, Bev Guz, Judy O’Gorman Alvarez, Dawn Dayton, Linda Towle.

Second row: Claire McIntosh, Diane Biblow, tutor trainer Amy DiFilippo, Elizabeth Ehling, Joan Gordon-Chuakay. Rear: William Sirnak, Suzanne Kozlowski, Patricia Tuttle, Shlok Keshari, Ellen Williams, Ted Giza and Tom Galluci.

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The BeaconA Publication of

LITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF MONMOUTH COUNTY213 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740

Phone 732-571-0209 Fax 732-571-2474Email: lvmonmouth@brookdalecc.edu

Website: www.lvmonmouthnj.org

Rebecca Lucas, Executive DirectorSusan George, Tutor–Learner Coordinator

BOARD OF DIRECTORSJudith Stanton, President

Manuel J. Alvarez, Esq. Vice PresidentThomas J. White, Secretary

Ted Nappi, TreasurerCatherine Amoroso, Certified Tutor Trainer

Carl DeJuraCathy Sims

Ron Topham, EdDCarol Roche, PhD

Sidney Crumwell, Learner MemberAmy DiFilippo, Certified Tutor Trainer

David Kuykendall, Certified Tutor Trainer

Thank you, Boro Printing!for continuing to provide great service and printing the Beacon at a discount.

A Taste for LiteracyOn Friday, February 6, LVMC held our annual fundraising dinner

called A Taste for Literacy at McLoone’s Riverside Restaurant inSea Bright. Over 75 attendees sampled delicious hors d’ouevresprepared by guest chef James Corona and partook of variouswines donated by ‘friends of literacy’.

Although profits were down from a year ago, we were thrilledto see so many attend this event to support our adult literacy pro-grams. Many wonderful chance-baskets donated by committeemembers and other friends of literacy were taken home by happywinners. Thanks to the talents of many of our literacy-chefs, eth-nic dinners and outings helped to raise nearly $9,000. Thank youto committee members Marilyn Broege, Sarah Rossbach Fleming,Susan George, Claire Lonegan, Ellen Lospinuso, Paula Metz, JulieRichards, Lynn Spector, Judith Stanton, Sarah Stewart, ChristineStout and junior committee members Julia Alvarez, JuliaBontempo, Charlotte Fleming, Megan Kirkwood, Avery Lucas,Sophie Richards, Michele Budzyna and Rachel Stewart.

Thank you also to the LVMC board of directors, and to all ofour ‘friends of literacy’ who came, bought tickets, bid on dinnersand attended this funfilled evening!

Clockwise from top left: LVMC executive director Becky Lucas withChristine Stout; Bill and Maggie Riker; Junior Committee volunteersCharlotte Fleming, Julia Alvarez, Michele Budzyna and Julia Bontempo.