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LR/RI produces a bulletin roughly every two weeks in order to inform area practitioners of news, events, and calls for participation and also as a forum for posing questions, issues and discussion topics. The current bulletin is posted below. To read previous bulletins, go to Bulletin Archives.19September, 1997 Bulletin #20 Dear Colleagues, This bulletin contains announcements about research and reports, employment opportunities, information about sharing sessions and coming events, and a number of reminders. Please contact LR/RI if you have information you'd like disseminated through the bulletin. Thanks.
Janet Isserlis ____________________________________________________________ NOTICES Citizenship preparation/ESOL classes at RSVP Literacy Program, Woonsocket Registration and classes will be held at RSVP Literacy Program, Woonsocket Senior Center, 84 Social Street, Suite L-2. Registration will be held Tuesday, September 2 - Friday, September 19 from 9:30 to 3:00 pm daily, on Wednesday, September 3 and 17, and Thursday, September 4 and 18 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. Classes are scheduled to begin the week of September 22. For more information, please call Arlene or Hannah at (401)766-2300.
OCTOBER TECHNOLOGY SESSIONS AT LR/RI In response to positive feedback from the summer drop in computer sessions, LR/RI is offering computer training sessions every Wednesday in October. You're welcome to come to the Swearer Center for Public Service at 25 George, from 8:30 to 10 AM and/or from 5 to 7 PM to use our computers in order to learn what you need to know about word processing, email or the internet. If these times don't work for you, please let me know and I can try to arrange other options. You don't need to register for these sessions; however if you do know that you'll be coming, please let me know so that I can have a sense of how many people might be participating. Questions? please contact LR/RI.
From Eve Robins at the National ALLD Center "Feedback: Enhancing the Performance of Adult Learners with Learning Disabilities" is the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center's newest publication. To receive a free single copy please contact the Center at: info@nalldc.aed.org or 1-800-953-ALLD. If you are on the Center's mailing list, you will automatically receive a copy within the next few weeks.
REMINDERS
Laubach Literacy is seeking grant applications for its 1997 National Book Scholarship Fund (NBSF). Over the next year, the NBSF will distribute more than $200,000 in books & other educational materials to qualified adult literacy & educational programs worldwide. Last year the NBSF gave over $266,000 worth of in-kind grants to 147 programs. First priority is given to family literacy programs that work to improve the literacy skills of parents and their children. Grants are also awarded to programs that work with special groups, such as the homeless, refugees, people learning English as a Second Language, and adults with learning disabilities. The purpose of these grants is to enable local educational groups to expand their work or to begin new programs among under-served populations. The NBSF is made possible through the support of the Richard D. Donchian Foundation, the Patricia Crail Brown Foundation, and hundreds of donations from institutions and individuals across the country. For more information or to apply for an NBSF grant, contact Mara Roberts, Project Administrator, The National Book Scholarship Fund, Laubach Literacy, 1320 Jamesville Ave, PO Box 131, Syracuse, NY 13210-0131, or call 315-422-9121, ext.345, or e-mail mroberts@ laubach.org. Grant deadline is Monday, December 15, 1997.
* Practitioner, Learner Assistance Needed for Adult Education Research Projects Victoria Purcells-Gates and Rima E. Rudd, researchers from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, seek assistance from area adult education practitioners and learners. Purcells-Gates is conducting a study which aims to document everyday uses of reading and writing by adult literacy learners and look for possible relationships between program characteristics and changes in everyday uses of print. She seeks practitioners who will: answer interview questions re program content, activities,and materials; allow class observation by NCSALL researchers; help recruit student volunteers for home visits (visits to occur every six months and include a 45 minute structured interview), and help recruit local researchers (i.e. other teachers or administrators) for home visits. Rima Rudd's study explores the mutual benefits of introducing health topics into ABE, ESOL and ASE classes. She is interested in hearing from any practitioners who have introduced health topics into their curricula, and will be conducting a formal survey this fall. Practitioners interested in assisting in either project or would simply like to read a project overview can contact David Hayes, RI PDRN Practitioner Leader, at (401) 331-9261 or DHayes@aol.com. ___________________________________________________________________________ Andrea Parrella is working with John Comings at NCALL on a motivation study. The study will present a comprehensive picture of the factors that work against or support adult learners1 motivation to persist in Basic Literacy, ABE and ASE/GED programs. NCSALL is looking for a combination of 10-15 rural and urban programs from each New England state to work with. The study involves interviews with learners, with questions focused on identifying the various factors that work against and support learners to persist in their programs. Examples of possible factors are: family, friends, work responsibilities, classmates, teachers, and classroom instruction.The students NCSALL would like to interview would ideally comprise a combination of 3 levels: Basic literacy (0-4), ABE (5-8), and GED/ASE students who are born in this country. Learners who participate in the interviews will be compensated $10, paid in cash after each interview. Programs need to commit to a one hour presentation/class lesson on motivation to introduce the participating class to the topic, and two 20-30 minute interviews will be held with each learner in the participating class/es: one in the Fall of 1997 and one in the Spring of 1998. An optional follow-up session may be held with the program to discuss the study's findings; these findings will be used to increase knowledge about the factors that work for and against learners as they strive to achieve their educational goals. The findings will be made available for teachers, counselors, program staff, and learners as data to reflect on and discuss as they continually make decisions about how they will carry out their program missions. The data will also be made available for program directors and policy makers to aid them as they advocate for more support for ABE programs. To learn more, or to participate in the study, please contact LR/RI.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: ABE, ESOL and GED instructors - Worker Education Project Openings for part-time ABE, ESOL and GED instructors to teach in a worker education program. In addition to teaching responsibilities, instructors will assess adult learners, monitor and evaluate learners1 progress, participate in staff development activities, contribute to curriculum and materials development and maintain attendance records. QUALIFICATIONS: Experience teaching ABE, ESOL or GED to adults, background in worker education preferred, experience working with unions a plus. SALARY:$16 to $18.50 per hour. To apply, send letter of intent and resume to Jackie Anger, Director of Adult Education Programs, Institute for Labor Studies, 99 Bald Hill Road, Cranston, RI 02920.
JOB OPENING: Assistant Teacher for Children - Family Literacy Program, Monday through Thursday 9:00 to 11:00 AM The assistant teacher for children in the Family Literacy Program will help staff implement and provide classroom activities for 12 children and their parents. QUALIFICATIONS: Coursework in early childhood education, prior experience working with younger children, and experience working in a community-multicultural setting. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Assist children's facilitator in developing and implementing appropriate activities for children using a developmentally appropriate preschool model; assist in developing and implementing intergenerational activities; assist in implementing a participatory approach in the classroom to help develop second language learning as a method for scaffolding children1s learning; engage in ongoing reflection and discussion on student learning with students themselves and with other educational staff (including the use of teacher's log), and work as an effective team player. Compensation, $10 per hour, starting September 29. Supervised by the Family Literacy Program Team, Terri Coustan and Betty Simons. To apply send resume to Family Literacy Program, International Institute of Rhode Island, 645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI 02907.
From Fran Keenan at the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education:"Participation of Adults in English as a Second LanguageClasses: 1994-95." NCES Statistics in Brief (June 1997) NCES 97-319. is a report issued this summer by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). It's interesting, in part because it provides a figure--3 million--for adults in the U.S. who would like to be in ESL classes but are not participating. It also presents rates of participation in adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in 1994-95, examines how these participation rates are associated with the characteristics of adults, describes features of ESL participation, & identifies barriers to adults' participation in ESL. A copy of the report is available online at http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubs97/97319.html, and a limited number of print copies of the report are available from NCLE. Send an e-mail request to ncle@cal.org, or contact LR/RI. You may also request a print copy from the National Library of Education at library@inet.ed.gov.
On Thursday, September 25 Henry Giroux will speak about "Public Intellectuals, Cultural Studies, and the Crisis in Higher Education" at Clark Science Building, room 128, Rhode Island College. The talk is scheduled from from 4:00 to 5:30, with a reception tofollow.
Reports available Welfare Reform and the Employment Prospects of AFDC Recipients and The Impact of Welfare Reform on AFDC Recipients in Los Angeles County: Limited Skills Mean Limited Employment Opportunities are two timely reports available at no charge from the Milken Institute for Job and Capital Formation. To receive a copy of the reports, please contact Alec R. Levenson, Ph.D, Milken Institute (http://www.mijcf.org),1250 Fourth Street, Second Floor Santa Monica, CA 90401 Telephone: (310) 998-2646 Fax: (310) 998-2626/998-2627, email: levenson@mijcf.org
Workshops available - During the past few years I've worked with a team of women from around Canada, through the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women, on Making Connections: Literacy and EAL Curriculum from a Feminist Perspective. The curriculum was developed for learners in basic education and English language programs. A series of workshops have been developed and are available to anyone in the area with an interest in learning more about incorporating the curriculum and its approaches into their own work. Please contact me (Janet) at LR/RI for more information and/or to schedule a workshop. Information about the curriculum is also available online at http://www.nald.ca/canorg/cclow/EAL.HTM. While the cost of the curriculum document itself is $20, there is no charge for the workshops.
from previous issues: For the teacher sharing session on Thursday, July 10, these brief articles were reviewed: Cross-Cultural Issues in Adult ESL Literacy Classrooms, (http://www.cal.org/ncle/digests/CROSS_CULTURAL.HTML) Race and Gender in Adult Education, http://coe.ohio-state.edu/cete/ericacve/docs/race-gen.htm and Adult Eduction: Social Change or Status Quo? http://coe.ohio-state.edu/cete/ericacve/docs/dig176.htm You can link to the articles at the URLs above, or contact LR/RI
for hardcopies.
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