Tutoring literacy skills: A great way to give back

Volunteers tutor basic skills and ESL; training to begin in Jan.

Above, Literacy Volunteer of America tutor Rita Dentino teaches English as a Second Language to students at the First Methodist Church in Freehold.  Above, Literacy Volunteer of America tutor Rita Dentino teaches English as a Second Language to students at the First Methodist Church in Freehold. BY LINDA DeNICOLA

Staff Writer

One in five American adults is functionally illiterate. The definition of literacy has expanded over the past few years and does not mean just the ability to read. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 defines literacy as an “an individual’s ability to read, write, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual and in society.”

A national organization called Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) helps adults improve their lives by teaching them basic skills or English as a second language. The nonprofit organization, with a chapter in Monmouth County, matches adults who need help with tutors trained locally.

Robert Mandelberg of Middletown owns an Eatontown business called Creative Edge Résumé Service, but he is also the public relations coordinator for the Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County. In addition, once a week he volunteers as an ESL tutor.

LVA tutor Margie Greene (r) works with an ESL student in Freehold.  LVA tutor Margie Greene (r) works with an ESL student in Freehold. “I teach about eight Wendy’s employees at the Eatontown restaurant. They are all Mexican and they all have a desire to improve their communication skills. They’re very motivated learners,” he said.

Mandelberg has been doing this for about a year.

“I’ve always wanted to get involved with the Literacy Volunteers, so I looked them up on the Web and contacted them. I took the tutoring class and have been working with people ever since.”

He said he enjoys working with people who want to learn the language. He also enjoys practicing Spanish, a language that he is teaching himself, with the help of Spanish-speaking people.

“It’s fun to talk with them and it’s fun to see them grasp English and understand it. The manager of Wendy’s says he sees a marked improvement,” he said.

Mandelberg’s positive experiences are not unique. Rebecca Lucas, director of the Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County, said she hears that all the time from volunteers.

“It is probably one of the most rewarding volunteer opportunities out there,” she said. “You can see tangible results when people learn to read or communicate in English.”

Volunteers Laura Krupp and Mary McCann agree. Krupp lives in Tinton Falls and is tutoring a Peruvian woman who also lives in Tinton Falls. They have been meeting at the county library in Shrewsbury for the past year.

“We’ve become friends,” she said.

Krupp is a retired computer programmer, so she also helps her ESL student with her computer skills.

“She wants to send e-mails, so we worked on that the other day at the library. I showed her how to create a Word document and to use spell check. We found a Spanish/English dictionary on Amazon.com that she was able to purchase.

“It’s a lot of fun for me. I get to learn about her country and what her life was like. I’ve met her children and her husband. Her kids were born here and speak excellent English.”

Krupp said her student has a basic understanding of English, so they were able to communicate from the beginning.

“I’ve been lucky,” she said.

McCann, who lives in Manalapan, tutors basic skills at the local library. Her student is a 64-year-old Englishtown man who recently lost his job and wants to be able to fill out job applications. She was surprised to realize that someone who can’t read can have a successful career.

“I’m having such a positive experience with this man. I’m amazed at how enjoyable it is,” she said.

McCann is a retired language arts and special education teacher.

“I think that he probably had a learning disability, but he only went to fifth or sixth grade,” she said, explaining that she tutors him once a week for about 2 1/2 hours. “He’s working very hard.”

McCann said she has been tutoring the man since June and he recently told her that he was able to fill in most of a job application, something that he was never able to do before.

The Monmouth affiliate of LVA has been in existence since the late 1970s. It offers free one-on-one tutoring, small group tutoring and large classroom-type situations for basic literacy learners.

The organization offers four to six training sessions per year, with the next one starting in January. The 18 hours of training take place over six weeks.

According to Lucas, there are generally 10 to 12 people per class, and the classes are held in Neptune and Red Bank.

Tutors have to be over 18 years of age, have a high school diploma or GED, and do not have to know a second language, she said.

“People can train to be a volunteer tutor in ESL or in basic literacy. We always have more learners than tutors.”

She said right now there are about 11 people waiting for basic literacy tutoring and probably 18 to 20 people on the list for ESL tutoring.

Lucas added that they try to match the tutor with a learner in their geographic area.

“We ask volunteers to tutor in a public place, like a library, school, church, coffee house. We have served close to 200 people needing literacy skills in the last year.

“Once a person is certified as a volunteer tutor, they can go anywhere in the country that has a volunteer literacy organization. We require a one-year commitment, but most stay longer,” she added.

The LVA of Monmouth County has a partnership with the Hamilton United Methodist Church in Neptune, where classroom-type situations for basic literacy are used for teaching. They also have a literacy link with the First United Methodist Church on West Main Street in Freehold.

She said tutors can join classes there and help out. In addition, people who finish the training can take a free refresher course at any time.

According to Lucas, 15 years ago most of the people asking for help needed basic literacy skills, but that has changed.

“Now 60 percent need ESL, and they’re not just Hispanics. We tutor people from Africa, Korea, China, Russia, Central America; in fact, they come from all over the globe.”

She explained that if the tutor thinks that the basic literacy student is not making much progress, the learner is assessed to see if he or she has a learning disability.

The Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County is headquartered at Brookdale Community College’s extension center in Long Branch.

Lucas explained that the program has a yearly budget of about $30,000 from a Department of Education grant, but that gets stretched. She said they are hoping to get a grant from NJ Reads.

“If we get the grant, in November we will be partnering with the Red Bank Public Library to offer conversational English groups to ESL students. We want to help them feel more comfortable in conversational English situations and more relaxed environments,” she explained.

“Our niche is to take the low-end basic literacy learners and all levels of ESL learners. Because we’re an all-volunteer organization, we have so many people that come to us because they don’t have enough money to go to a place that would hire a teacher. We have a nominal fee of $30 for books, which is actually about half the cost of the books.”

For more information on Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County, visit the Web site at www.lvamonmouth.org. or call (732) 571-0209.