Literacy Council of Monroe County

Crystal McCoy

Crystal McCoy is our volunteer Americorp who started working for the Literacy Council of Monroe County in 2008.  Crystal came to our literacy program wanting to help adults learn to read and write. She attended tutor training workshops and became Laubach and ESL certified tutor in January 2009 and she has recruited 5 volunteer tutors for our program and 12 adult learners who want to learn to read and write. She is now trying to recruit ESL adults and would like to work with them.  
Crystal enjoys tutoring our adults in the literacy program and working with recruiting volunteer tutors. She says she is enjoying the process of learning and is very eager to always help in any way she can.  She hopes that she can continue after the Americorp program and receive her degree in Education.

Zee House

The Literacy Council of Monroe County started tutoring Zee House in 2005 she requested to be tutored in reading and writing as she had to drop out in elementary school as a young child for family reasons. She has struggled to read and write all her life and decided it was time to learn.  When we first assessed her skills, she tested at a 1.2 grade level.  We retested her in February 2009 and she is now in 2.1 grade level.  She has made great improvement but she still struggles with some understanding of what she reads. Ms. House hopes to overcome this struggle but is very happy with her new tutor as she has gone through different tutors but now we have our Americorp, Crystal McCoy working with her and they are doing well. 
Ms. House says she is happy and grateful for our literacy program to help her with her reading and writing.

Isaac Carbarin

Isaac came to our Literacy Council last year. He could read some English, but his writing was not that good. He is a waiter at a Mexican restaurant and he wanted to learn to speak, write and read better. He has continued to improve and has met some of his goals. He has even been promoted to Assistant Manager of the restaurant since he began classes. 

This year he needed some important papers that only the Mexican Consulate could provide. He has for assistance in obtaining the phone number and then arranged an interview with the Consulate. Isaac worried about reading the directions, but we worked with him and he found the office just fine. After he got all of his papers, he stopped by our office to show them to me. The picture of Isaac is from that day. As you can see, he was very happy.

Stephanie Miller

Stephanie came to our literacy program several years ago with the goals of being able to read and write—especially her name. When she was growing up, she was unable to attend school because she had obligations at home with her family. No one ever tried to teach her to read or write. 

When she came to our program she could not even write her own name, but after working with her tutor she is now reading on a 1^st grade level. She tells her tutor that she is happy that someone has taken the time to teach her. 

Willie Williams

Willie Williams came to our Literacy council on January 2008 requesting to learn how to read better and work on his math skills. He tested at a second grade level. Since then, he has learned how to sign his name and read a little better. He is still having problems with math, but he continues to want to learn. He is very dedicated and would like to see if he can go to Adult Education classes in the future. 

He has completed Laubach Book 1 and is eager to start on Book 2. He still struggles with some spelling, but he always wants to keep reading books.

Robert Solo

Robert Solo is one our ESL students who came to our Literacy program in  

September 2006. Mr. Solo requested help with learning to speak and write English. He works at the Mexican restaurant cleaning dishes and he wanted to learn to speak and write the English Language better so he could obtain a better job in the future. He's eager to learn and is hoping one day he can attend college in the United States. He wants to learn how to use the computer so he can email this cousin in Mexico.