BREMERTON — Speaking English is a skill and tool that’s not to be taken for granted.
Imagine trying to set up a doctors appointment, get a car fixed, order a latte or even decipher which bus or ferry to catch without being fluent in English.
Life’s most mundane and ordinary tasks become insurmountable.
That’s the reality nearly 500 Kitsap County adults face right now. And before they can get jobs or even function as average Joes and Janes of society they must learn to read, write and speak English.
“There’s this group of Latino people in our community and what are we doing about it?” said Lorene Leider, English as a second language instructor and Family Literacy ESL coordinator for the Literacy Council of Kitsap. “What are we doing to help them become productive members of this community? Since they did come here it’s very important to learn and speak English because without that they’ll never be able to become a part of our community. They’ll always be on the fringe.”
The Literacy Council of Kitsap is a Bremerton-based private nonprofit organization that helps adults improve their English skills or earn a GED. Last year alone the council serviced 491 students — 226 students were brand new to the program — from 30 different countries ranging from Brazil to Haiti to Vietnam to Mexico.
The council offers weekly GED, basic literacy and ESL courses.
Leider said the top goal is for the students to become advocates for themselves and their children. But that’s easier said than done, as the students often have minimal education and don’t understand the American culture very well, so it’s far more than English being taught.
Leider teaches the students a little bit of U.S. history, some culture and survival basics — how to read a prescription, how to call a landlord and report a problem, how to read bus schedules, pay checks and their children’s school hand outs.
Leider had one student come to class with a Publishers Clearing House mailing promising $1 million, and the student wanted to know how to redeem the cash. So she’s even had to teach how to differentiate between junk mail and regular mail.
“Really it’s things we take for granted,” she said. “If we put ourselves in a foreign country where we don’t know the language then we might know what it’s like.”
But the students are eager to learn. They want to understand and above all they want to support their families, Leider said. Students add a two-hour class on top of working two to three jobs and raising a family just to learn. Just to belong.
And there are success stories.
Debby Fivecoat has been a volunteer one-on-one tutor for the council for four years. During her first year as a tutor she worked with a young Japanese woman. In three years she watched her go from being very shy and nervous to be around non-Japanese speakers to gaining the confidence to make appointments or deal with lawyers. She eventually passed her citizenship test.
“It’s probably the most rewarding stuff I’ve ever done,” Fivecoat said. “Very seldom in our lives are we able to do something that makes a major difference in someone else’s life, but with tutoring a student’s entire life can be changed with what you’re teaching them.”
Currently a number of students are waiting to be placed with a one-on-one volunteer tutor.
And the council is in need of volunteer tutors, they always need more volunteers Leider said, as volunteers are the backbone of the Literacy Council.
ESL and basic literacy tutors go through a series of three training sessions and are then matched with a student who lives near by.
The council is hosting ESL training sessions Sept. 15, 19 and 20, and basic literacy training Sept. 22, 26 and 27. Applications to participate in the training sessions must be requested by Sept. 10.
To learn more about the Literacy Council of Kitsap or to become a volunteer tutor call (360) 373-1539 or visit www.kitsapliteracy.org.
