LCoM- Literacy News July 2015

 THE LITERACY CENTER OF MILFORD

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Why Am I Reading My Daughter’s Books?

My daughter is 7 years old. She reads chapter books. She loves to read. I like to read, too. Actually, I used to go to the bookstore or library when I was in Korea. After I got married, I came to American and had a baby, I didn’t have time to read, so I stopped.

My kids grew. Now they go to school. I have time to do something for me. I wanted to read a book again, so I got some books from the library and read them. But it was hard to read: I’m not good at reading English books. Most books for adults are difficult – they have a lot of words that I don’t know, so I need a dictionary every time. If I skip the word, I don’t understand the story, and it takes a lot of time to read just one page. I felt reading was boring, so I stopped reading again.

One day my daughter said to me when she finished her book, “Mom – this book is really fun. You should read! I want you to read!” I read the book that my daughter recommended: yes, it was fun and easy to read. I could read the whole book in just one day, so I started to read books again. That’s why I am reading my daughter’s books.

Recently, I read The Lemonade War, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Now I am reading Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. I hope I can read a novel for adults someday.

Sinai Choi is from South Korea.  Her tutor is Melinda Karwon and they have been meeting every Tuesday morning at the Literacy Center since January 2015.

Congratulations!

Milford Literacy student, Jacob Lee, proudly holds his U.S. citizenship certificate, which he received on May 15th, 2015. Jacob is self-employed.  His tutor is Helen Anastasio.

Jacob’s wife, Yoon, a nurse practitioner, at Yale, also received her citizenship and is a former Milford Literacy student. They have two sons.

Congratulations to the following students who received a job promotion!  Angela Gallo-Toros, Halina Korwek and Victoria Abbaspour.  Way to go!

Volunteer to become a Tutor

A wonderful opportunity for you can make a difference in someone else’s life!  Did you know there are more than 25,000 people in Milford, Stratford and West Haven without a high school diploma?  Did you know there are more than 3,400 adults who are not fluent in English and there are 57 non-English languages spoken in these cities?   (Data taken from the Milford, Stratford and West Haven School District Strategic School Profile, 2012-2013)

The Literacy Center of Milford offers five-week volunteer TUTOR TRAINING classes in ESL (English as a Second Language).  

Classes begin Sept 16.

There is a $20 fee for course materials. Knowledge of a foreign language is not necessary. All prospective volunteer tutors will be interviewed in advance.  For further information, call The Literacy Center office between the hours of 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at 203-878-4800.

Additionally, if you are interested in working with students preparing for their GED (General Equivalency Diploma) examination, or prefer to help adult students with basic literacy skills, call the Center’s office for an interview.

The Literacy Center of Milford is part of the ProLiteracy network of adult basic education and literacy programs. ProLiteracy is working with its member programs to raise awareness of available ESL services.

Fixing healthcare in America begins with growing good readers
By David J. Bailey, MD, MBA

Reading is an essential building block of learning — but it may come as a surprise to many that reading proficiency is one of the strongest predictors of overall health through adulthood. Much of the conversation about literacy is focused on the economic impact of decreased worker productivity and lost income. In doctor’s offices and health systems across our country, we see first-hand the effect of reading challenges on our patients and its lifetime impact on health outcomes.  The relationship of literacy to health outcomes and expenditures is real, with a conservative annual estimated price tag of more than $106 billion.

In the United States today, thirty to forty percent of children are at risk for reading failure before they reach kindergarten. As a physician and the CEO of a children’s health system, I am encouraged by the bipartisan support for addressing reading failure for early learners contained within S.1177, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015.

This pivotal legislation includes several important provisions for quality early childhood education that are the foundation of improving reading readiness, providing health education, and ensuring our children have a strong and healthy start in life. These programs are highly cost effective with an average return on investment for every dollar spent of seven to ten dollars in averted costs related to special education, grade retention, health care, welfare, and crime. Changing the cost equation in our healthcare system over the long-term begins with our children and starts at infancy.   Read more.