The health care industry estimates that $73 billion per year of unnecessary health care expense attributable to poor literacy, according to ProLiteracy Worldwide.
This is one of the many reasons PCLC is working to implement health literacy initiatives in Portage County. Thanks to a grant from the Edward J. Okray Foundation, the literacy council can start helping at risk adults make better health care decisions for themselves and their families.
The Portage County Literacy Council is currently helping over 130 adults in Portage County through ESL instruction and one-on-one tutoring, but even more could be done. According to Wisconsin Literacy, Inc., approximately 1 million Wisconsin adults qualify for adult literacy and English language services (U. S. Census 2000 and NALS 1992). Only 75,000 (less than 10%) of adults in need of services are currently receiving them.
Visit www.pocolit.org or find us on facebook to donate, volunteer or learn more about the need for literacy instruction.
The Portage County Literacy Council welcomed Mary Kneebone as the new Executive Director in September.
The Portage County Literacy Council is going through an important transition. After six years with our organization (four as a teacher and the past two as Executive Director), Sarah Halstead is leaving our staff to begin working as the Assistant Director of Human Development – Intervention Services at CAP Services in November. ”This is a bittersweet time for me,” says Sarah. ”While I am excited about the new opportunity at CAP Services I will truly miss the staff, board, volunteers, and learners at the Literacy Council. Some of CAP Services’ goals and the Literacy Council’s goals overlap (supporting people to become economically and emotionally self-sufficient) so I hope there will be opportunity for some collaboration in the future.”
If you or someone you know is interested in a great opportunity to help lead our organization, please check out the job announcement here.
Here’s a little presentation which tells what the Portage County Literacy Council is all about. Check it out!
For slightly more detailed information, take a look at this version:
Students studying to learn English and to pass their Citizenship test had a visit from First Lady Jessica Doyle on Tuesday, June 29th. Mrs. Doyle relived her ESL teacher days and practiced some simple lessons with them. She expressed her gratitude on behalf of our state’s residents for the contributions that Hmong residents have made to Wisconsin and the US. And she took some questions from the group:
The students told Mrs. Doyle that they thought she was like the mother of Wisconsin. They were very happy to meet her and felt very honored to have her come and visit.
Since coming to Stevens Point from Laos and Thailand these elderly students have learned much. More than one of them expressed through the help of an interpreter that before coming to this class they had never held a pencil before. Earlier in the class they read from a book about Independence Day. Some could read full sentences, some could read only a word or two, but all could cite the English words for things pictured in the book like flag, July and Declaration of Independence.
After visiting with students Mrs. Doyle and her assistant had the opportunity to talk with Literacy Council Director Sarah Halstead and Cheri Karch who serves on the Literacy Council’s board of directors. Karch told of the great collaboration in our community for promoting literacy and the work of Reading First, a local coalition which encourages all parents to read to their children at least 20 minutes a day.
During the brief visit the first lady commented, “No wonder your organization received an award from Wisconsin Literacy this spring. You are doing wonderful work here!” (In April Paragon Farms and the Portage County Literacy Council received an award from the first lady during Wisconsin Literacy’s Celebration of Literacy in Madison for “Outstanding Literacy Program in a Workplace.”)
In case you missed it, here is the article that the Stevens Point Journal ran in their volunteer section yesterday:
Volunteer highlight: What do 19th century British politics and gall bladder surgeries have in common? Not much, except for their terms, antidisestablishmentarianism and hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies respectively, will not fit on a Scrabble board. Many other words in the English language will, however, and the Portage County Literacy Council’s sixth annual UnScrabble on April 1 provides the perfect opportunity to use them.
You might be wondering what in the world an UnScrabble event is. UnScrabble is a fun way of playing Scrabble as a team while putting your etymology skills to test. Here’s how it works: Each team of four players creates words from their shared tiles. They play in three timed games, and the aggregate high score wins.
This unique and exciting annual event also serves as a fundraiser for the Literacy Council to support its efforts to help Portage County adults develop basic math and English literacy skills necessary to achieve economic self-sufficiency and community integration. Volunteers, players and teams are the elements that make this event a success. This year is no different, and the Literacy Council is looking for volunteers to help hand out door prizes, help with registration, sell Scrabble letters, help keep score and even wield the mighty dictionary to check word spellings.
All volunteers work in teams and have fun, while getting to understand how their assistance is helping people in our community learn how to read and write. Come see the reasons that led one player to state, “I have attended from the beginning, and it is always great to share the experience with more and more participants. Winning was secondary to having raised some money and playing the game. I love UnScrabble!”
If you would like to learn more about helping out at the UnScrabble event or to find another volunteer opportunity that fits you, call the United Way of Portage County Volunteer Center at 341-6740 or e-mailvolunteer@unitedwaypoco.org or log on to www.volunteersrock.org.
We would like to thank our sponsors for their kind contribution to the Portage County Literacy Council’s annual Un-Scrabble® fund raising event at Holiday Inn-Stevens Point. With the event a week away we continue to get team registrations every day. It is going to be a spectacular year for fun and games (and prizes). Thank you to our sponsors for your support.
Finding compelling learning materials for ESL learners can be tricky. You’re either trapped in the children’s world of Dick and Jane, or struggling your way through adult texts. The thought of tackling a news broadcast in English is intimidating. Believe it or not, English speakers often do speak quickly! This is not the case with the Voice of America Special English broadcasts. Since 1959 this news agency has been putting out news broadcasts in English, spoken at a slower pace, accompanied by transcripts, and utilizing a core vocabulary of only 1500 words.
When a tutor recently mentioned the Voice of America website in his monthly tutor report, I knew that I had to tell everyone. If you are a tutor working with someone who wants to practice listening to English, this is the site for you. If you know someone who speaks English as their second language, this is the site for them. Follow the link below and check it out. Although our tutors strike out on their own to every corner of the county, to take on a unique challenge, some of the solutions that they find can help others. I appreciate it when they share their findings. So, thank you!
Click to check out Voice of America. You simply click on a news story, and then select a prefered method of listening to the broadcast on the right hand side of the page (stream mp3 works for me). Enjoy!
