Chris Vecere, a volunteer tutor with Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County, chats with students during an ESL conversation group at the Monmouth County Library’s Eastern Branch in Shrewsbury on July 15. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR Navigating through everyday life involves innumerable small tasks that many take for granted.
Signing forms, filling out bank deposit slips, reading information about one’s health care or sharing a bedtime story with a child are just a few examples of the kinds of activities to which most people don’t give a second thought.
For 30 million adults throughout the country, however, those tasks are insurmountable. According to the nonprofit Literacy New Jersey, that’s how many individuals lack basic prose literacy skills. In New Jersey alone, 17 percent of the adult population lacks such skills, the organization states.
“There are 13,000 people in Monmouth County alone who do not read and write above an eighth-grade level,” said Rebecca Lucas, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County (LVMC), another nonprofit organization.
And it’s not a matter of a lack of schooling, according to experts.
“There are adults who may have graduated high school but still read at a very low level,” said Melissa Bernstein, program director for Literacy New Jersey in Middlesex County.
According to Lucas, some students slip through the cracks of a school system, somehow skating by until graduation.
“It happens a lot — especially in the lower economic regions of our county,” she said.
For some, survival — whether working to help with household expenses or the need to care for a child or other family member — forces them to drop out.
“It’s so sad,” Lucas said. “In today’s economy, you actually can’t make a living for a family unless you have a two-year college degree or a trade certificate.”
Fortunately, organizations like Literacy New Jersey and LVMC are there to help.
Offering one-on-one tutoring and group instruction by trained volunteers, the organizations assist students in starting a new chapter of their lives, at no cost.
Literacy New Jersey’s Middlesex County branch served 399 students through 96 volunteer tutors over the past year via its Metuchen headquarters, with instruction hours totaling 5,741; LVMC served more than 600 last year, with the help of about 120 volunteer tutors.
Literacy New Jersey asks both students and tutors to make a minimum yearlong commitment. Tutors undergo a 12-hour training program, and need not have previous experience.
“We do see a lot of retired teachers who would like to continue teaching,” Bernstein said.
Training involves lessons in formulating lesson plans, cultural sensitivity, finding resources and working with groups, she added. The next training sessions are set for fall and spring.
At LVMC, tutors take an 18- hour training course that is offered five times throughout the year. The next session is slated for fall.
Both groups are always seeking new tutors.
“The volunteers we have are our greatest resource,” Bernstein said. “It really does take a special person to give their time to other people in their community.”
Classes take place in donated spaces, at area libraries and other locations.
While the organizations accept students with open arms, it’s not always easy for those lacking literacy skills to step forward and ask for help.
“There is quite a bit of stigma for that; people are embarrassed,” Lucas said.
Bernstein agreed, saying a feeling of shame is common among new students.
“With having an individual tutor, they’re not in a classroom setting where there could be the opportunity to get embarrassed,” she said.
Both women said tutors treat students with the utmost respect, meeting them where they are in terms of their literacy needs.
“We are not here to judge anyone,” Lucas said. “Individuals who can’t read and write — it doesn’t mean they’re stupid; they have incredible coping skills.”
Students run the gamut in age from 20-somethings to senior citizens.
“We have one gentleman who’s 78,” Lucas said. “He just enjoys learning, and he enjoys working with his tutor.”
She said the man started 12 years ago at a third-grade reading level, and is now at a fifth-grade level and has learned to use a computer. His goal is to get his GED, and while his progress may be slow, he is gleaning a great sense of accomplishment from the work, Lucas said.
“It’s really overwhelming to see [students’] progress,” Bernstein said.
Those seeking to obtain GEDs can take advantage of LVMC’s newly launched pre-GED course, offered at Brookdale Community College’s Long Branch campus.
The programs are not just for native speakers. Both organizations offer instruction to those for whom English is a second language (ESL), along with citizenship classes for Green Card holders. Literacy New Jersey’s citizenship course is newly offered as a pilot program this year, and whether it continues will depend on funding, Bernstein said.
Vivian Hao, who receives individual tutoring and took Literacy New Jersey’s citizenship class, can attest to both programs’ value.
“It changed my whole life because I passed the U.S. citizenship test. And I love English now,” said Hao, who first learned of the programs through the Edison Township Public Library.
Carmen Chan, a student in the organization’s Metuchen Conversation Group, has also seen success.
“My first time at the Edison library, the tutor taught me about the names of … coins and about the name of the town of Edison, the county of Middlesex and the state of New Jersey,” Chan said. “In the Metuchen Conversation Group, I learned simple sentences and to talk with people. Also, I learned reading, idioms [and] writing correct sentences, and sometimes we played games to help me learn more words. The tutors help us when we don’t understand English.
They find new material for us. They teach us dialogue that we could use in our lives. They are friendly.”
Since becoming a student, Chan is more comfortable speaking with people in the community, she said, and has also obtained her driver’s license. She is now studying for the naturalization test.
Bernstein pointed out that many of the ESL students are isolated because of their lack of English skills.
“[It] opens up a whole new world of opportunity for them,” she said. “Just being able to read letters or forms sent home from school [with their children] can be monumental for the students.”
Literacy New Jersey’s conversation groups run parallel with the school year, two hours per week, September through June.
Conversation groups also run through the summer at LVMC. According to Lucas, ESL students comprise the largest population in the organization’s classes. She said students have hailed from 36 different countries.
“We help them with colloquialisms and idioms … Unless you immerse yourself in speaking it, you’ll never really learn the language,” Lucas said. “We expose them to as much as we can about our culture, our country, our manners [and] our mores.”
She added that some ESL students have doctorate degrees and work for corporations, but need to polish their language skills.
Both organizations are funded through grants, donations and an annual fundraising event.
“I think [the programs] are important, because an educated community is the most important thing a state can have,” Lucas said, adding that it an educated populace enhances the economy, health care, schools and the next generation. “We’re always looking for donations.”
For more information on Literacy New Jersey and its programs or to donate, visit www.literacynj.org or search for the organization on Facebook for updates.
To find out more about Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County, visit www.lvmonmouthnj.org.