Thoughts on Purpose

I was recently asked to share my thoughts on purpose with my company--why I do what I do. Purpose is one of the tenets of our company creed. I have blogged about purpose before. A few blog posts that illustrate my purpose for doing what I do include the following: 
Lessons Learned from Life
The "Homeless Wanderer"
The Value of Literacy
Post-India: Thoughts on Service
Teaching the Homeless to Read
Curriculum Vision -- Helping Struggling Readers
Success Stories in Learning to Read
Why Do We Do What We Do?

A few highlights of my job include (but, of course, are not limited to):

• Traveling to India to help with literacy efforts among the leprosy-affected: Post-India: Thoughts on Service, Ensuring Success with English in India, Back in India, A Day in My Life in India, More On a Day in My Life in India, Abolishing the Stigma of Leprosy by Teaching Children to Read in English, A Documentary on Humanitarian Efforts in India)
• Visiting NYC to conduct trainings and needs assessments for NYC Public Schools and Public libraries: New York City Public Schools Teach Students to Read, New York City Public Schools Teach Students to Read: Part 2, Literacy Training in the Bronx...and in Your Own Backyard, Opening Doors to Literacy in New York City Public Libraries)
• Traveling to the Middle East to promote reading instruction: English Teaching and Learning in the Middle East, English Teaching and Learning in the Middle East: Part 2, Phonics for Arabic Speakers in the Middle East) 
• Tutoring a gentleman in his 60's who has never learned how to read: Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2011: Teaching Struggling Readers, On the Journey to Read, On the Journey to Read: Part 2, Teaching the Homeless to Read)
• Consulting, training, and researching literacy instruction for children, middle school- and high school-aged students, and adults (for both native English speakers and non-native English speakers), and writing curriculum that meets the needs of these individuals. I've visited a variety of settings to fulfill this purpose, some of which include prisons, urban and rural K-12 schools, community colleges and universities, adult education sites, non-profit groups, and charter schools, including the largest school for homeless children in the U.S.: Teaching Literacy in Strategies to Homeless Children and Individuals in Secure Care Facilities.
• Engaging in humanitarian service opportunities, specifically in the areas of teaching English and literacy, as well as empowering teachers with strategies to teach these skills through teacher training with the goal of maintaining autonomy and sustainability. As mentioned above, I have traveled to India for this purpose, as well as to various islands in the South Pacific. I plan to travel to Africa to conduct teacher training in the (hopefully near) future, as well.

Part of the purpose for this post was to respond to the request to share my thoughts on purpose with my company. But another impetus for this post was to provide a more personal side to my blog. I understand that most people find this blog organically when searching on the Internet for specific ESOL- and literacy-related topics; however, I also occasionally have friends and associates who are genuinely interested in what I do. Whether you are a "stranger" or a friend, thank you for visiting this blog!

New York City Public Schools Teach Students to Read: Part 2

I spent the last week in New York City following up with administrators, teachers, and students at several public high schools that I visited the first week in January. The purpose of my visit this time around was to discuss the Reading Horizons pilot that is currently being conducted there. I visited one or two public high schools each day, riding the subways to various parts of the city, including Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, and walking to the historical school buildings (some days in the rain and snow, which added to the adventure). In this blog post, I wanted to provide a snapshot of what I experienced there by including a highlight of each day:

Teaching English and Literacy Skills to Rising Star Outreach Students in India

I wrote a newsletter article for Rising Star Outreach about the English program that I worked on establishing earlier this summer for children who come from the leprosy colonies in India, and I thought I would share it. (To read the article online, click here.)
(See my other posts about teaching English and literacy skills in India: English and Literacy Teaching in India and Why the English Language? Why Literacy? Why India?)

Improve English and Literacy at RSO

“If you’ve come to help me, you can go home again. But if my problems become a matter of your own survival, then perhaps we can work together.”

This quote, attributed to an Australian aborigine, illustrates the approach volunteers, staff, and donors at Rising Star Outreach (RSO) take when volunteering their time, energy, and resources to improve English and literacy for students at the Peery School for Rising Stars.

One of the missions of Rising Star Outreach is to help individuals reach their full potential. A factor that greatly contributes to this objective is providing an opportunity for education that includes English and literacy training. Literacy in English unlocks doors of opportunity that individuals would not otherwise have the keys to unlock. For this purpose, children of the leprosy colonies are taught English literacy at the Peery School for Rising Stars. Amy Antonelli, Executive Director of RSO, states that the Peery School for Rising Stars has “the mission of teaching the children from the leprosy colonies how to break out of the generational cycle of begging and untouchability. The single greatest factor in determining their ability to do this will be their grasp of English…In the new India, the multi-national corporations are uninterested in a person's caste or social standing. They want competent workers. There is a saying in India now that ‘education is the new caste.’ And the greatest indicator of a good education is how well a person speaks English.” To this end, RSO has developed a focus on teaching students, teachers, and staff English and literacy skills.

To fulfill the objective of improving students’ level of English and literacy, summer volunteers are working with RSO students one-on-one to teach them English and literacy strategies. Volunteers are employing the Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself method published by Reading Horizons to improve students’ English pronunciation, literacy, and vocabulary skills. Before arriving in India, volunteers completed a four-hour Online Workshop to learn the basic methodology. (See www.phonicstraining.com.) They also attended an in-person or online training to discuss the application of this method in context of working with students at the Peery School.

This methodology was selected to fulfill the students’ needs because students have opportunities to improve their pronunciation, increase their vocabulary, and learn strategies for decoding and spelling. In addition, this systematic method is easy to learn and easy to teach, it provides multi-sensory involvement, and a newly-arriving volunteer can pick up where a recently-departed volunteer left off. Also, an important consideration for adopting this method is that the strategies taught develop skills for life-long learning. This method is being used by RSO for the first time this summer and has thus far proven to be very effective. Both the students and volunteers have responded very well to using this method to teach English.

Not only is there a focus on improving the students’ English at RSO, but also the teachers’ English. For this purpose, a teachers’ English class is being offered after school five days a week. The teachers learn pronunciation, grammar, writing, culture, and learning strategies in context of real-life speaking tasks that they encounter outside the classroom. The teachers are very eager to learn English, and they are excellent at applying their learned skills to their interactions outside the classroom. The intention of helping teachers improve their English is to empower them with the confidence and skills necessary to be more effective models of English for their students in the classroom. Until the teachers are able to provide this effective English language modeling, the role of proficient English-speaking volunteers is crucial in assisting in the development of RSO students’ English.

There is also a vision to teach English and literacy to staff members at RSO who do not have the skills to communicate in English. Staff members include housemothers, cleaning staff, nurses, drivers, and office staff who all contribute to RSO operations in India. English and literacy training would provide opportunities to learn relevant English vocabulary and phrases that would assist them in their efforts to communicate with native English speakers who volunteer at RSO, as well as enable them to provide the RSO students with whom they often interact with even more exposure to English, which will ultimately improve students’ English.

Efforts to improve English and literacy skills for students, teachers, and staff members contribute to the RSO objective of helping individuals reach their potential. An atmosphere of eager-to-learn students and teachers, combined with the composite efforts of energetic volunteers, dedicated staff and teacher-trainers, and effective methodology that fills unmet needs, creates an effective environment for “work[ing] together” to improve English and literacy skills.

Why the English Language? Why Literacy? Why India?

In my last post, I wrote about my experience conducting English language instruction and literacy training to volunteers who were teaching students who come from the leprosy colonies. Related to this, I came across an article in Deseret News on Friday that shares information about the Bindu art school in one of the colonies served by Rising Star Outreach. As I contemplate the different education programs instigated in India to help these individuals come closer to reaching their potential and developing talents and skills, the sociologist may ask, "Why education?" "Why English?" "Why literacy?" "Why India?"

India has the largest pool of scientists and technologists after the US, but almost half of the population is illiterate. That's significant. The current caste system in India is based moreso on an individual's education level than their family background as previously perceived. In other words, education is the key to unlock opportunities for students. It's the key empower students.

What is involved in teaching English? Many skills are involved: reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. What is most important? This is not an easy question to answer; however, a huge part of education is knowing how to read. Reading is needed in every subject. In addition, a huge part of learning English is increasing English vocabulary. If students can’t read, their English vocabulary level plateaus. It’s through reading that students increase their vocabulary. Further, it’s through reading that students unlock the world of education.

• Whenever an opportunity to educate in a context where education is not an integral part of a culture surfaces, I invite you to think about this quote attributed to an Australian aborigine: "If you've come to help me, you can go home again. But if my problems become a matter of your own survival, then perhaps we can work together."

English Language Instruction and Teaching in India

I am continually impressed with the universal response to learning the English language. I recently returned from India where I had the opportunity to work with children from the leprosy colonies who leave their families for the school year to attend school. These children would otherwise not have access to an education if it weren't for the sponsorship of generous donors to the Rising Star Outreach organization. I watched these children as they eagerly learned the sounds of the alphabet, read words made up of these newly-acquired letters, and responded to vocabulary instruction. I also had the opportunity to visit their classrooms and teach some lessons in social studies with a focus on English languge instruction.


The main purpose of my visit to Rising Star Outreach in India was to train the summer volunteers from the U.S. in how to teach English and literacy to these students from the leprosy colonies. The objective of this training was to magnify the volunteers' effectiveness in helping the students improve their English. The volunteers needed training in how to teach English using a systematic approach that was easy to learn and easy to teach. After carefully considering the students' needs at RSO, I selected a methodology in which the volunteers were trained. I was very impressed with the volunteers' enthusiasm to put into practice the methodology and strategies they had learned. The volunteers sat on mats in the shade of the trees of the mango grove next to the school and worked with the students one-on-one. I loved the sight of reciprocal enthusiasm evidenced by both the volunteers and the students they served.


I also had the opportunity to associate with the children's teachers as I gave them English language instruction. They, too, were so eager to learn, even though the English classes were held at the end of their long day of teaching in the sweltering Indian heat. They were always early to class and sitting in their seats patiently with smiles on their faces as I entered the room. They were very receptive to what they learned and were so appreciative of the opportunity to improve their English. The objective of improving the teachers' English so that they can be effective English models for their students is important: if the teachers' English improves, then the students' English likewise improves.


I had the opportunity to visit a couple of the leprosy colonies with Dr. Kumar and the two nurses Naomeni and Pushpa. While at the small Poot village, I met three children who came with their families to where we had set up camp under the shade of a tree in preparation for wrapping bandages of the leprosy-infected patients. One of the children, Jennifer, responded to me in English while the other children stared at me silently with their curious eyes as I spoke to them. Jennifer's beautiful, black hair and healthy skin displayed her good health and nutrition, in contrast to brown colored hair--an indication of malnutrition--that is noticeable throughout rural areas in India. I learned that Jennifer is a student at Rising Star Outreach where she receives English language instruction and three meals a day. This explained why she was able to understand my English and why she had such a healthy glow. I felt grateful to have seen first-hand the effects of nourishment and an education that includes English language instruction in comparison to children who are not blessed with such.


As I reflect on my experiences in India, I feel a sense of gratitute for good people in this world. Everyone has something to offer and contribute, and education is the key to unlocking these opportunities to contribute--these opportunities to serve--if they choose to do so. I'm grateful for the roles that English and literacy play in assisting individuals to reach their full potential to serve and contribute.


NOTE: To learn about the methodology that volunteers are using at Rising Star Outreach, visit http://www.readinghorizons.com/community/workshop/promotional.aspx.