Success Stories

Tutor Carol:

For a very long time, I had been thinking about becoming a Literacy Volunteer. As I listened to a friend’s experience with tutoring, I felt drawn to also become a tutor. I had always had an affinity to teaching the English language and thought I could share my knowledge. However, having had a challenging and time-consuming career for a long time, I put it on hold until I retired. I live in Somerset County and wanted to contribute in my home county so Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County seemed the perfect choice, and I enrolled in the training program.

I feel very lucky to be a Literacy Volunteer and very lucky to have an inquisitive student who is willing to learn and share. I have been working with her since January 2013, and it has been and continues to be an extremely rewarding and educational experience. Each week we meet, I learn something new – about her culture, about better ways to tutor, and even about my own culture and language through her interest and questions. There is always something new to teach and/or to learn. I think that through our interactions and social exchanges, my student has made a great deal of progress in not only learning our language but in understanding our culture that will help her in navigating through various situations she comes into contact with in our society. And through these same interactions and social exchanges, I have also made a great deal of progress in understanding another culture and implementing a lifelong interest in teaching.

Overall, I have gained as much as I hope I have given through this experience. I am happy that there is an organization such as Literacy Volunteers for people who speak other languages to come and learn. It provides not only the formal learning experience but also the personal social interaction so important to them. And it provides rewarding experiences for people such as myself who wish to contribute in an area that they feel fits their talents.

Learner Junghee:

I came to the United States from South Korea 5 years ago. My children are learning English and I wanted to have more opportunities to talk with someone in English. So I decided to learn and improve my English.

About 3 years ago, my tutor and I had our first meeting. It was a little awkward at first. But now my tutor is the breath of life. She is a troubleshooter to me about USA life, culture, kids education. She is best friend to me. I always pray for the well-being of her.