We are currently looking for a full-time student coordinator, find the job posting here:  studentcoordinatorjobdescriptionjuly2021

 

Thank You for shopping at Leon & Lulu, a portion of your purchase on August 1, 2021, went to the Oakland Literacy Council. The Oakland Literacy Council is the only organization dedicated solely to ending adult illiteracy in Oakland County.

Want to know more?

Watch our video:

https://youtu.be/glqK6Gc1nfI

Want to volunteer?

Become a tutor:

https://www.oaklandliteracy.com/become-a-tutor/

Want to brush up on your math, reading, English language, or digital literacy skills?

Become a student:

https://www.oaklandliteracy.com/become-a-student/

Want to invest in our work?

Donate:

https://www.oaklandliteracy.com/donate/

Come to our fall fundraising dinner:

https://www.oaklandliteracy.com/exlibris2021

Jiyeon wants to learn to play golf. Jeehye recommends trying snowshoeing. Mikyeong plays classical guitar. Sungyun loves sudoku. And Phyllis, who facilitates this conversation group of Korean women, makes a fabulous artisan bread!

Want to find out more? Just read their blog HERE. 

Phyllis White started the conversation group in early 2020. A tutor since 2018, she found that regardless of her ESL students’ different skill levels and learning styles, their overall goal was similar. She explains, “They are here with their family. They want to be able to integrate into the community and communicate.” For Phyllis, starting a conversation group was a natural next step.

The group bonded quickly. While their English language skills vary, they can help each other since they all speak Korean. They feel a commitment to each other. When one group member could no longer meet during school hours because her children were  in virtual school at home, they began meeting later in the day for what became “happy hour.” (Phyllis, who owned a graphic design business for ten years, even created a happy hour logo!)

As the year went on, Phyllis was looking for new ways to keep the group engaged online. She was finding it challenging because each student has a different technology system and a different skill level with technology. She found Google Workplace, which has been a platform they can all use. Phyllis guided the group through the Google platform until they were set up and ready to blog.

Students post their stories and picture on the blog, based on a prompt given by Phyllis. They also comment on each other’s posts, which provides more practice with writing and conversation. The blog also includes a group calendar and study materials.

Phyllis has enjoyed harnessing her creative skills into the blog. It has become a special “place’ for the group during this busy and complicated year. “The website has really helped us take a moment for us and connect and go from all the work to the fun.”

Phyllis is thrilled about the positive response from the students. Mikyeong says the blog is a “very, very great experience” and “she [Phyllis] encourages me always.” Sungyun agrees. “I have many stories. I want to share my story.”

Sungyun sums up the group best. “We are very synergy.”

 

 

In the last year, we have all felt keenly the loss of things precious to us – for some, the loss of a loved one or a job; for all, the absence of social gatherings, shared meals, outings to favorite spots, and hugging a friend. In the midst of so much loss, Rachester Motley set her sights on what she might gain.

Rachester remembers praying, “Lord, I want to come out of this pandemic with more. Let me come out with something new from this.”

Eight months later, that “something more” is coming to fruition in Rachester’s life. She’s enrolled as an Oakland Literacy Council basic education student and is making great strides in her reading ability.

At 66 years old, this step marks a big change. “I used to have the attitude that I was too old,” Rachester says. “But then something came over me and said, ‘you’re never too old to learn, you can do it’ and my thinking switched. I wanted to become more independent at my age.”

Following that realization, Rachester was introduced to Oakland Literacy by community partner Neighborhood House. Then it was time to tackle the first hurdle — learning to use a computer so tutoring could take place virtually. Oakland Literacy Council’s digital literacy coordinator, Patti Shayne, provided Rachester with a computer and helped her master the basics of using Zoom and the appropriate educational software.

From there, Rachester began meeting virtually with her tutor, Jill Cook, twice a week. She values the one-on-one instruction that makes the most of their lesson time.

“I love working with Jill,” Rachester says. “One-on-one, there are no distractions or interruptions. Jill works with me, she’s building me. It’s like I’m learning to crawl, then walk; each step is like a new beginning. Jill understands me and I feel comfortable.”

As Jill and Rachester work through the Barton curriculum, a multi-sensory curriculum based on Orton-Gillingham and adapted for virtual use through a tool called Whizzimo, Rachester is discovering the joy of reading.

“One day, I saw a book called Who Is Kamala Harris? and it just looked so tempting!” Rachester says, referring to the newest edition in “Who HQ,” a best-selling history series written for middle-grade readers. “I was so excited! I bought the book, and Jill and I went through it together. But I also re-read it by myself and I would highlight sections or put a question mark next to something I wanted to ask Jill. I love that reading lets me hear other people’s stories and learn about them.”

While literacy and digital literacy have immense practical benefits – Rachester’s goals include using email more often and learning how to securely pay bills and shop online – Rachester speaks most passionately about the personal growth she’s experiencing thanks to her newfound skills.

“I have more confidence in myself,” she says. “This is making me stronger, making me believe in myself. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

Rachester encourages others to push through the reluctance that once held her back. “Reach out and ask for help. It will make you feel very good to know you can do things for yourself; you have power. You can get help, hold on to it, and learn as much as you can. That’s true for any age.”

Opening a restaurant during the pandemic takes incredible courage, but then so does immigrating to a new country with one’s family. Daewoon Choi has done both.

Daewoon brought his wife and teenaged daughter and son to the United States in 2017 from South Korea. The primary reason for moving: to secure better educational opportunities for the children.

Although Daewoon had worked for the city government in Korea, he took a job in his sister’s sushi restaurant when he arrived in the U.S. After working in restaurant kitchens for three years, the 50-year-old took the leap to open his own restaurant with a business partner in May 2021.

Sushi Yeoubi is tucked into a strip mall in Lake Orion. For now, it has just three employees and functions as a carryout establishment, although the space has tables, where customers can eat the fresh California rolls, spiced tuna, and other specialties that they’ve purchased at the counter.

The restaurant’s name Yeoubi means “sun shining through the rain,” Daewoon explains. It is a fitting expression for something good happening in the midst of a difficult time – like launching a restaurant in a pandemic or learning a new language and new culture in a strange country.

Supporting Daewoon through the stress of establishing himself in the U.S. and starting a business has been his Oakland Literacy Council tutor, Sue. “I came here, and I had no friend in America,” Daewoon says. “I talk about my problems with Sue and share my ideas. She’s now a very good friend.”

In keeping with the Council’s mission to meet students where they’re at, Sue has helped Daewoon learn the language of day-to-day American life such as home, yard and car maintenance as well as the language of his new business venture such as the terms in the lease agreement with his landlord.

Although Daewoon had studied English in Korea, he struggled to speak English before working with Sue. “My pronunciation is so bad,” Daewon says. Sue gently corrected his efforts to pronounce words with difficult r, l, and w sounds, he says. Speaking is easier now, he says.

“The skill I am most proud of giving Daewoon is confidence,” says Sue. “Confidence to talk on the phone, to look at Americans and make small talk, to communicate with bankers and landlords and building inspectors. He was already brave enough to emigrate with his wife and adult children, and smart enough to use the web to learn how to fix anything and to start a new business with all the COVID-19 restrictions.”