Literacy program teaches adults to read

The Jersey City Library doesn’t only provide books. It will also teach you how to read them if you can’t. In this computerized age of technology, where 10-year olds build web sites, adult illiteracy continues to burden this country. Forty million adults can’t pick up this newspaper each week and find out what’s going on around them. They can’t read a candy wrapper or a bottle of medication. “It’s amazing that these people can’t read and are able to function,” said Linda Munsell, executive director of the Jersey City Public Library Literacy Program. The program, an affiliate of Literacy Volunteers for America, Inc., pairs illiterate adults with tutors on a once-a-week basis. For two hours each week, volunteers that range in age and gender will sit with students, who are just as diverse, and teach them to read. The first challenge anyone who can’t read has is to admit to others that they can’t. Many students have come in to the office having disguised their handicap for years. Others lived life developing strategies to camouflage their deficiency. “People who can’t read aren’t dumb,” said Darnelle Richardson, the program coordinator. “Sometimes they will come up with ways to hide the fact that they can’t read. That requires a lot of creativity and energy.” In a simple, get-what-you-put-into-it environment, students are welcome to come in on their own and work without a supervisor whenever they want. On the second floor of the main branch of the library, behind walls of books, pages and words, the program has its office, where there are facilities for students to work on computers or read a book the old fashioned way. At any time of the day, the program managers said, there are people coming in to work on their reading and writing skills. Also, they said, there is a steady stream of people looking to sign up. Each day someone comes in from this city who cannot read. Munsell said that in the past, schools might label a child as “problematic” if he or she was not on par with the reading levels of classmates. Part of that made it easier for illiterate students to fall through the cracks and go through life without knowing how to read or write. Today’s teachers, who are trained to spot such deficiencies, have helped to curb the number of people who can’t read from going through school. The result is a population of fully adapted illiterates who have gone through life not knowing how to read a simple sentence. “People have come in here,” Richardson said, “and because of the way that they dressed and talked, I thought that they were coming in to tutor.” Easy to start The program works much like college. If you want to learn how to read, you can call the office or walk right in. A member of the staff will meet you, have you fill out some forms to get an idea of how much you can read already, and you get a schedule of when to show up. In the meantime, a tutor is being trained and assigned to the student. The tutor will meet with the student each week for two hours. For as long as it takes, the program will have assistance available for anyone, free of charge, to eventually gain the skills to read, write and communicate. In that time, Richardson said, the tutors and the students form special bonds. Perhaps it is inevitable that teaching someone a skill such as reading will bring two people closer together. “It becomes much more,” Richardson said. “It becomes like a mentorship.” Just last week, 23 new tutors graduated from the program’s training program. Because special skills are needed to teach reading and writing, the literacy program offers a training workshop that spans six weeks. Munsell estimates that there are around 150 students enrolled in the program right now. Over the years, however, the executive director of the program said that the numbers were countless. If you are interested in participating in helping to end illiteracy, or know someone that wants to learn how to read, call the Jersey City Public Library Literacy Program at 547-4518