Literacy Volunteers Help Bring New Voices To Local Life

By Jan Howard

Several Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) tutors from Newtown have been providing English as a Second Language training for refugees from Kosovo who are living in Newtown.

The intensive training started in June, with meetings taking place three times a week at the C.H. Booth Library, tutor Ellen Parrella said last week.

The team of tutors consists of Theresa Brown, Pam Dimitro, Darlene Jackson, Jane Golenbock, Mrs Parrella, Fred Parrella and Duane Trevail.

“At first, all the Kosovars came to lessons together,” Mrs Parrella said. But soon, she added, most of the men found employment, and the classes were divided. The women met on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11:30 am and the men on Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 7 pm.

During July the team of tutors met 24 times with their students and tutored 36 hours. In August, September and October, 37-1/2, 36 and 14 tutor hours were logged, respectively.

Mrs Parrella said LVA provides instructional materials and guidelines on what the tutors should work on to achieve various levels of competency. The volunteers have also been using some “hands-on” learning tools with their students.

Mrs Parrella said the training provided by LVA concentrates on the immediate needs of the students and teaches subjects that are relevant to their needs.

“We use real things and conduct our lessons around them,” Mrs Parrella said. “We use a variety of hands-on tools for use in the lessons.

“We use things that can be seen and touched right there,” she said, such as restaurant menus and other items that the students would need to know about in going about their daily lives.

The first lessons covered filling out forms, such as for employment, school or doctors’ offices. They also used the driver’s manual, and four of the five men have since passed their driver’s tests, she said.

Mrs Parrella said the Kosovo refugees have also proceeded through other requirements for adult competency by LVA, such as identification and communication, food and money, health care, transportation, housing, clothing and fabrics, looking for a job, and banking and postal services. The group visited the post office as part of the hands-on approach to learning.

 In addition, lessons in grammar were conducted.

When the refugees arrived from Kosovo, they were at a level zero, meaning they spoke no English at all, according to Mrs Parrella. “After two and a half months of tutoring, the assessment of the women showed a perfect bell curve,” she said. One remained at a level zero, two were at level 1, and one student had progressed to level II.

“The men in the group are out in the workforce and have more opportunity to practice their English with other Americans,” Mrs Parrella said. “The women, who stay home and watch their small children, speak Albanian with one another and have little opportunity to interact with English-speaking folks.”

The school age children, Besart Behluli and Armend Ramadani, are doing well at Hawley and Middle Gate schools, Mrs Parrella notes.

“Four-year-old Egzon Behluli is attending Children’s Adventure Center in Sandy Hook and loving it,” she said.

Because of the men’s work schedules, “There is no more time to squeeze in further English lessons,” Mrs Parrella said.

Fadil Behluli and Reshat Behluli work days in a factory in Danbury and evenings in restaurants. Bardhyl Limani has been employed since arriving here with his family, and Yiber Ramadani works for the Stony Hill Inn in Bethel.

Mrs Parrella added that Bashkim Limani works days in Hawleyville and is looking forward to attending ESL classes at the college level.

Newtown residents Al Goodrich and Mary Mitchell provided transportation to and from the library for the students, Mrs Parrella said.

LVA provides student centered tutoring to adults in both English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL), which is better described as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) because many immigrants already speak more than one language, and Basic Literacy, which attempts to teach American born non-readers to read and understand the written word.

“The Kosovars all speak Serbian, Croatian, and maybe one or two other languages,” Mrs Parrella said.

Other LVA programs include Family Literacy, in which mothers of Head Start children are taught to read to their children, and Workplace Literacy where training is given at a workplace to turn employees into tutors. These employees can then work one-on-one with other employees to help improve their performance through understanding English and the written word.

There are approximately 50,000 literacy volunteers in the United States who are helping other adults improve their literacy skills. In 1998, 68,000 adults received help from LVA volunteers. Currently 300 local volunteers are tutoring 850 students.

Volunteers are always needed. Interested persons who can give two hours a week are encouraged to call Literacy Volunteers of America at 203/792-8260. The Danbury affiliate covers the 15 towns in the Greater Danbury area.

Training classes are scheduled on a regular basis and are usually held at 5 Library Place, Danbury.