I was invited to give an address to Guilford County and City of Greensboro employees on the importance of literacy.
A few years ago, I was looking for a way to constructively spend some spare hours. Then as now I worked at a desk designing computer games and I wanted a good excuse to get away from the office. I called Reading Connections, attended their tutors' training workshop, and was soon meeting at Starbuck's or Borders or Barnes and Nobel or the Central Library, working one-on-one with my new student.
You might have seen us, or a pair similar to us, huddled over a book, reading it slowly, line by line, pausing to take notes. Or sounding out words, looking up definitions in the dictionary or practicing math equations. You might have noticed that we were not the typical study group one usually sees on school evenings at Starbuck's tables in the Friendly Shopping Center, with earbuds stuck in our heads, school bags, and flipped open laptops. That's not us.
We're the older types -- in our 30s, 40s, or 50s, sometimes younger, sometimes older. After working all day on the job or in the house raising kids, we're there once or perhaps twice a week, slowly progressing towards a goal that's often far in the future — earning a GED, taking the driver's test, becoming a citizen, reading to a grandchild, understanding the Bible. Sometimes the goal is simply to overcome the personal fear and anxiety associated with an inability to read, write and converse in a busy society that rarely tolerates mistakes, hesitation or prolonged waiting.
Employee: Welcome to Fast Meal! May I take your order?
You: (hesitation as you try to read the menu board) uhh....
Employee: (less than 3 seconds have elapsed, but already the employee has pursed her lips and looked past you, then eyes back on you, waiting. You feel the pressure of people behind you wanting you to be done.) sigh...
You: I'll have the Number 1 combo, please.
Everyone's relieved. The employee takes your order and you move aside. The people in line are glad the slow-down is over. Only you are unhappy, because you always order the Number 1 combo and you were looking forward to trying something different. If only you'd been able to more quickly sound out those letters and words under the Number 4 heading. If only you hadn't felt the pressure to answer quickly and move along.
Working with my students, I'm permitted to walk in their shoes and see the Piedmont through their eyes.
Me: So why do you wish to improve your reading?
Student: (a man in his late 20s) Well, soon she'll be going to school (glances towards his daughter) and when that happens I want to help her.
That's a good reason. In all the years teaching at universities and colleges in the 1980s and 90s, I had never heard a student say he was improving himself for the sake of someone else. Without a car, a single parent, working in one of the big box stores but living on the edge of the city, this man needed a program like Reading Connections.
Maria: Hey and Hi... they are the same?
Me: Yes, Hey, Hi, Hello, How's it going, How are you -- all the same. Last week, when you saw your friend at work, what did you say?
Maria: (big smile, reciting) Hey - whassup - how's - it - going, - girlfriend?
My maternal grandmother came to the US before 1920. She made her way from (I think) Los Angeles to Bakersfield, California, then to Chicago and New York's Chinatown, where she married my grandfather in an arranged wedding. Both her family and her husband's were educated. Her brother in law, my great uncle, had been ambassador to Mexico from the first republic of China and knew Sun Yat Sen, the president who succeeded the last emperor. She raised seven children in America — all daughters — who became doctors, nurses and teachers. And yet, her English was very limited and for many decades she had few reasons to venture beyond the few blocks that made up her neighborhood. As kids, we could only communicate with the briefest of phrases. As an adult, I look back and regret that her English was not better and that my Chinese never progressed beyond "Good morning, grandmother" and "one, two, three".
The reasons why I like volunteer teaching through Reading Connections are many. Number one is that my Spanish speakers tell me my eighth-grade Spanish is excellent, a view that would surely shock my middle school teacher if she were alive. Number two is that I had the chance to learn more about Montagnard culture through Duo. Number three is that I had the chance to work with Steven, who told me the other night that he was making progress towards taking professional classes at GTCC and has not given up. My Reading Connection students have taught me to be a better listener. They remind me that the Piedmont is filled with all kinds of people from all walks of life. But I think number four is the best reason. Reading, teaching and learning make us all better people, no matter what our individual goals are. Ultimately, studying English is about improving our ability to communicate and connect with one another — an ingredient so essential to the meaning of community that we all stand to gain from it.
—August 2008
A few years ago, I was looking for a way to constructively spend some spare hours. Then as now I worked at a desk designing computer games and I wanted a good excuse to get away from the office. I called Reading Connections, attended their tutors' training workshop, and was soon meeting at Starbuck's or Borders or Barnes and Nobel or the Central Library, working one-on-one with my new student.
You might have seen us, or a pair similar to us, huddled over a book, reading it slowly, line by line, pausing to take notes. Or sounding out words, looking up definitions in the dictionary or practicing math equations. You might have noticed that we were not the typical study group one usually sees on school evenings at Starbuck's tables in the Friendly Shopping Center, with earbuds stuck in our heads, school bags, and flipped open laptops. That's not us.
We're the older types -- in our 30s, 40s, or 50s, sometimes younger, sometimes older. After working all day on the job or in the house raising kids, we're there once or perhaps twice a week, slowly progressing towards a goal that's often far in the future — earning a GED, taking the driver's test, becoming a citizen, reading to a grandchild, understanding the Bible. Sometimes the goal is simply to overcome the personal fear and anxiety associated with an inability to read, write and converse in a busy society that rarely tolerates mistakes, hesitation or prolonged waiting.
Employee: Welcome to Fast Meal! May I take your order?
You: (hesitation as you try to read the menu board) uhh....
Employee: (less than 3 seconds have elapsed, but already the employee has pursed her lips and looked past you, then eyes back on you, waiting. You feel the pressure of people behind you wanting you to be done.) sigh...
You: I'll have the Number 1 combo, please.
Everyone's relieved. The employee takes your order and you move aside. The people in line are glad the slow-down is over. Only you are unhappy, because you always order the Number 1 combo and you were looking forward to trying something different. If only you'd been able to more quickly sound out those letters and words under the Number 4 heading. If only you hadn't felt the pressure to answer quickly and move along.
Working with my students, I'm permitted to walk in their shoes and see the Piedmont through their eyes.
Me: So why do you wish to improve your reading?
Student: (a man in his late 20s) Well, soon she'll be going to school (glances towards his daughter) and when that happens I want to help her.
That's a good reason. In all the years teaching at universities and colleges in the 1980s and 90s, I had never heard a student say he was improving himself for the sake of someone else. Without a car, a single parent, working in one of the big box stores but living on the edge of the city, this man needed a program like Reading Connections.
Maria: Hey and Hi... they are the same?
Me: Yes, Hey, Hi, Hello, How's it going, How are you -- all the same. Last week, when you saw your friend at work, what did you say?
Maria: (big smile, reciting) Hey - whassup - how's - it - going, - girlfriend?
My maternal grandmother came to the US before 1920. She made her way from (I think) Los Angeles to Bakersfield, California, then to Chicago and New York's Chinatown, where she married my grandfather in an arranged wedding. Both her family and her husband's were educated. Her brother in law, my great uncle, had been ambassador to Mexico from the first republic of China and knew Sun Yat Sen, the president who succeeded the last emperor. She raised seven children in America — all daughters — who became doctors, nurses and teachers. And yet, her English was very limited and for many decades she had few reasons to venture beyond the few blocks that made up her neighborhood. As kids, we could only communicate with the briefest of phrases. As an adult, I look back and regret that her English was not better and that my Chinese never progressed beyond "Good morning, grandmother" and "one, two, three".
The reasons why I like volunteer teaching through Reading Connections are many. Number one is that my Spanish speakers tell me my eighth-grade Spanish is excellent, a view that would surely shock my middle school teacher if she were alive. Number two is that I had the chance to learn more about Montagnard culture through Duo. Number three is that I had the chance to work with Steven, who told me the other night that he was making progress towards taking professional classes at GTCC and has not given up. My Reading Connection students have taught me to be a better listener. They remind me that the Piedmont is filled with all kinds of people from all walks of life. But I think number four is the best reason. Reading, teaching and learning make us all better people, no matter what our individual goals are. Ultimately, studying English is about improving our ability to communicate and connect with one another — an ingredient so essential to the meaning of community that we all stand to gain from it.
—August 2008
