Literacy Council of Jefferson County

Hae Won Kim

It was ten months ago that I came here with my family from Korea. I had learned English three hours per week in middle and high school, but after I graduated in 1981, I didn’t have the chance to talk with people who spoke English. 

At first when I met people in America, I just said ‘hi’ or ‘fine.’ Afterward, my answer was my smiling face like the Mona Lisa. An acquaintance, who was the mother of my daughter’s friend, recommended the Literacy Council. I started lessons in February 2007 with Mr. James E. Rowe. I especially had problems pronouncing words such as ‘girl,’ ‘surely,’ ‘shell,’ ‘year,’ etc. Mr. Rowe pronounced these words while I watched his mouth. I practiced repeatedly and recorded his explanations. When I returned home, I listened to them over and over again while I was washing dishes or walking around the track. 

“She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells…”

I realized that I had many muscle under my tongue because I felt muscle pain. I needed sports cream for my tongue! 

Mr. Rowe advised me to listen to music and dictate the words. We listened to songs together while he graded my homework. He also encouraged me to write, so I wrote a composition twice a week. In addition, the ESL program was very helpful to me. My children heard me pronouncing words and at first they said to each other, “He must be a very patient teacher.” “I know,” I replied. I read the Bible at my family’s worship last night and my children were amazed at my improving English. “I know that too,” I said. 

I thank God that he saved me and leads me, and I thank the Literacy Council and Mr. Rowe for giving me the opportunity to improve my English. When my English gets better, I want to be a volunteer in the same field in which I worked for over twenty years in Korea.

Basic Literacy Student 

In January 2007, a 70-year-old female decided to enroll at the Literacy Council of Jefferson County. Her entrance exam scores on the TABE test were very low. She scored a 3.3 in reading, a 2.9 in math, and 0.6 in language. 

Upon meeting her, she stated that she would like to improve her basic literacy skills in order to obtain her GED. She was greatly encouraged by her daughters, one of whom is a public school teacher in Little Rock and another who works for a non-profit organization. While she shared her story, I learned that she was a divorced mother of three, had five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She has worked in various occupations and she currently works with Pine Bluff CASA and a youth organization, The Power Girls, which mentors and helps with the social development of students from ages six to twelve. 

She is a ray of sunshine in our literacy classes, setting the tone for reading skills in class; she also helps other students improve their fluency. She has recently completed her hours of instruction and demonstrated an increase in her academics using the 9 D TABE test with scores of 7.4 in reading, 8.5 in math and 6.3 in language. These scores put her on the path of having her GED during the early summer of 2008.

ESL Students 

Teaching Hispanic individuals who speak limited or no English can be a difficult, but rewarding challenge. In the beginning, it is very helpful to have someone who understands a little English to help get the group moving in the right direction. Once the group gets going, the excitement of learning new and challenging materials keep it going. One think I found to be very helpful witht eh group that met during their lunch break was to have them name in English the food they brought to eat. Soon they were going to the hospital cafeteria and ordering their lunch without help. 

With guided instruction in recognition and pronunciation of the alphabet, the group began to sound out words. The fun came when we began structuring sentences using the words that we were learning. After about three months, Christmas was at hand. The excitement of shopping in a new language filled the classroom as the ladies shared in English the gifts they were giving and receiving.