SWADC Literacy Council

Darrin Frasier

The SWADC Learning Centers serve all different levels of adult students—some of those come from backgrounds of sheltered living environments. Darrin came to the SWADC Learning Centers two years ago. His tutor noticed right away that he was different from many of our “shelter living” students; he had goals and enthusiasm that is not often seen with many students. Darrin’s goals were to first get a drivers license, move into independent living and learn how to repair computers to get a better job. 

Darrin had attended our program previously and was disappointed when he was introduced to the same old curriculum used for lower-level students. We immediately changed him to a higher-level curriculum that he found interesting and enjoyable. He quickly displayed more ability than his entrance exam showed. He had been protected for so many years that he came to believe he could not accomplish many of the things he had the ability to do. With encouragement from the center and me he soon came to believe in himself and that he could achieve his goals. 

Getting a better job and continuing to higher education were goals Darrin had always hoped for, but having always been in a sheltered working and educational environment, moving into the “real” world was frightening. We contacted a guidance counselor at our local college and obtained the information he needed to begin his mission. Darrin surprised me one day by coming in to tell me that he had taken his placement test and had begun the process of enrolling in college; he plans to begin this summer. He told us he would be having one-on-one instructions in his computer class. 

We started working with Darrin on how to pay bills, follow recipes, who to go for when he needed help and other skills needed to move to independent living. Being a quick learner, Darrin moved to independent living three months ago and is very happy with this change. We soon learned that his hard work and need for independent living had more motive than we originally understood—he was ready to walk down the aisle! He had become aware that he was quite capable of doing whatever he set his mind and heart to. After dating for a long while, he and his lady exchanged their vows (which we wrote during one of our tutoring sessions) in a wonderful ceremony on March 24^th. The bride is also one of our students and they are now extremely happy. 

It is with pleasure that we share this adventure and the joy of watching a young life change right before our eyes. To know that we had a hand in guiding someone’s life to help him achieve his goal is a remarkable feeling.

Hipolito Jimenez

Hipolito (Poli) speaks English well enough to be able to communicate fairly well with others. He has a good functioning vocabulary, but he is unable to read or write in English. This is not the norm for most of our ESL students; most can read and write before they speak. 

Poli came to the SWADC Learning Centers because he was recently promoted to the position of line supervisor at his job and was having some difficulties. Part of Poli’s job as line supervisor is to document why the line is down. He can write it in Spanish, but not in English. Poli began by using a survival skill shared by one of our basic literacy students: he wrote down the information he needed on an index card so it would be available the next time the line was down. Common occurrences such as, “the line belt broke,” “the line was down from blank to blank for cleaning,” and others were put on index cards. Poli loved this idea and it is now helping make his job easier and making his workplace safer. After only a few times of using the cards he can discard them because he quickly learns how to write the information from memory. 

Writing number words were one of the first things Poli and his tutor, Pat, worked on. This allowed him to open a checking account, which he had not done prior to enrolling in the literacy program because he did not know how to write number words. 

Poli is an enthusiastic learner and an asset to our council and his community.

Catherine Monk

Catherine came to our council with a great desire to learn. She was matched with one of our best tutors and they went to work. Catherine was very insecure about her abilities, but was willing to work hard to improve her reading skills. Little did she know that she could improve so much in such a short amount of time. 

Since beginning her tutoring, Catherine has not only improved her literacy skills, but she has flourished in so many ways. One of her early goals was to be able to take part in the Mother’s Day Celebration at her Church. This had been a desire for her for a long while. But her lack of reading skills hindered her participation. That is no longer the case.  Catherine not only participates, she now writes the programs for Mother’s Day as well as Father’s Day.

Following is a small list of things Catherine can now do: Write checks, read and write notes, read the newspaper, read signs, she is also learning to use a calculator and, with help, she is reading a novel. Catherine is always quick to volunteer to speak on behalf of our council in an effort to encourage others to come forward and get help. She volunteers at fund raisers as well. Catherine received the honor of being the Arkansas Adult Student of the Year 2007.

Rosalva Black

Rosalva came to our council with the ability to speak English rather well. She is employed with the local hospital and felt a great need to have a better understanding of the common words and phrases she heard on a daily basis, not only on her job but also in the general public. Our ESL tutor quickly realized that she had very good skills and a willingness to learn. They went to work on common words that Rosalva wanted clarification on and their proper pronunciation, spelling and meaning. They also work on the idioms common to our region. Rosalva is a great asset to our ESL class as she helps those that do not understand make sense of the new language they are endeavoring to learn. This also helps her to better understand the English language as well.  One example of this was following our Christmas party the lesson for the next class was to write the recipe and instructions for the dish they had prepared and brought to the party. Rosalva explained to them in their native language the concept we were trying to get across.  She is pleased with the progress she is making and we are pleased to have her as one of our students.