Literacy Volunteers To Help With ESL Education
Literacy Volunteers of Putnam has gone through the normal amount of change in the nearly three decades of its existence, but maybe none quite like 2009. First, they had to find a new director. Then, for the first time since its inception, the volunteer organization learned it could no longer call the Putnam County Library its home because the library needed the extra room. Working on a budget, the free office, telephone and Internet had been very important to the organization. As if a foreshadowing of things to come, their telephone quit working.
Immigrants to the United States can use the help offered through the literacy program. Literacy Volunteers has a program called English as a Second Language, or ESL, for people who are new to this country. They have little education in their own country and have had no classes in English must learn to write checks, fill out job applications, voter registration cards or any number of forms. Even immigrants who have had a good education in their own country and can read and write English might want help with conversational language. These students benefit from going to a grocery store and discussing what is on the shelves. The student can learn to converse in English and also learn about the culture.
