PRINCETON: You’re never too old to learn, or tutor, English

By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
   On a Friday afternoon in the Princeton Public Library, Laraine Schwartz and Irene Cuesta discuss poetry and gossip about the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
   What appears like a conversation between longtime friends is actually a tutoring session between Ms. Schwartz, a 63-year-old Princeton retiree, and Ms. Cuesta, a young woman who moved to Princeton from Granada, Spain, about a year ago.
   Ms. Schwartz and Ms. Cuesta are one of 290 student-tutor pairings of the Literacy Volunteers of Mercer County, a nonprofit affiliate of ProLiteracy America, providing free individual and small group tutoring services to illiterate adults, both American and foreign-born. The organization estimates there are about 60,000 illiterate adults in the county, defined as those reading English below a fifth grade level.
   Founded in 1977, the group has more than 200 volunteers who tutor or assist the tutors. They work with adults of all ages who have immigrated to the area from all corners of the world. Its services are in such high demand that the group has a waiting list of more than 400 students.
   Cheryl Kirton, the executive director, said the group trains its volunteers to create customized, goal-oriented lesson plans designed to improve basic reading and writing, computer skills, job performance and daily activities, such as making doctors appointments.
   ”We remove barriers to employment and improve the quality of life for our learners and their families,” she said. “This program is often the only option many of these adult learners have to achieve their goals of being able to communicate in English.”
   Ms. Schwartz has been a volunteer for about six years and has tutored 15 students, some as young as early 20s and some well into their 70s. Schwartz said she likes to keep her weekly lessons timely and relevant while also appreciating the beauty of the English language.
   While reading a news article about the royal wedding, Ms. Cuesta asked how to pronounce tricky words such as “lieutenant,” “colonel” and “guard.” Then the lesson switches gears to discussing interpretations of the “The Tyger,” a poem by William Blake.
   ”The speaker is asking how could God, who created the lamb, also created such a fearful beast as the tiger?” said Ms. Schwartz. Then Ms. Cuesta takes a turn reading the poem, stopping for unfamiliar words.
   More than 88 percent of the students are learning English as a second language, Ms. Kirton said.
   ”These students vary widely in level, from those who were highly educated in their countries to those with no schooling whatsoever,” she said. “Of those employed, most are working at jobs far below their educational level because of their lack of English.”
   It is a mutually rewarding partnership, Ms. Schwartz said, as she feels she has seen much of the world through the eyes of her students.
   ”I’ve worked with people from China, Turkey, Spain, Honduras, Burma, Japan, Brazil and India,” she said. “It’s been such a pleasure to know them and get to know their cultures. In our studies, they ask a lot of questions related to our culture that reveals a lot about what they’re familiar with.”
   With degrees in English and psychology, Ms. Schwartz said she has no formal training in teaching but said, “anyone who has brought up children has teaching experience – living is all the experience you need. A lot of people wonder if they can do this, and everyone can if they’re motivated.”
   Rona Altman of West Windsor has been a volunteer for nine years and has worked with seven students. The adults, most younger than 50, have been from Russia, Poland, Mexico, Ecuador, India, Chinese, Japanese and Colombia. Ms. Altman, 73, was formerly an elementary school teacher and holds a master’s as a reading specialist. But, she said, tutoring turned out to be more difficult than she expected.
   ”The tutoring incorporates much more conversation than my specialty did,” she said. “Teaching idioms in English is the most difficult because there’s no amount of vocabulary can help – it makes you realize parts of language that Americans take for granted.” Ms. Altman, who joined the group to remain active in retirement just like Ms. Schwartz, said she has recruited many of her neighbors as well.
   ”It was always something I wanted to do,” she said. “I feel like I’m giving something of myself, and it’s rewarding because the students appreciate it. They work hard and want to be there, and find each one of my students fascinating as I learn about their lives.”
   Mallika Gupta, a Jamesburg volunteer, is helping a student who immigrated from the Ivory Coast achieve his GED.
   ”Being a war-torn country, his education has many gaps in it,” she said. “He’s advanced in math, science and physics but he never did algebra, so I find myself also teaching algebra and doing more than basic literacy.” She said she is coaching him on how to take American-formatted exams.
   ”He didn’t know that on these tests, they give partial credit for work shown, even if the answer’s wrong, so he’s learning how to write everything out rather than just showing the end number,” she said.
   Ms. Gupta said the experience has been invaluable to her.
   ”It’s really something that gets you out of yourself,” she said. “It’s done more for me in many ways than what I’ve done for my learner.”
   Ms. Schwartz added that her sheer love of language and community is what she most enjoys about tutoring.
   ”We’re all on this continuum of learning English,” she said. “I don’t think anyone ever gets to 100 percent.”