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Story of the Month
To see their story in Oswego Today...
LVOC Success Stories Learners who have earned their GED! Two sisters started out being homeschooled but weren’t able to finish all the years needed. They lived with their low literacy for 19 years before finding Literacy Volunteers of Oswego County. One of the siblings contacted us in November 2007 wanting help for both of them with their long term goals of passing the GED. One learner started out with a 3rd grade Math level and a 5th Reading level but had worked very hard, staying with our program for 2 ½ years so she could improve those skills and others to reach her goal. Earlier this year she was able to realize this goal because she received her GED Diploma! She also was our Learner of the Year for 2010!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Learners earning their CITIZENSHIP! ~ An LVOC tutor and learner had been working together since February 16, 2009 when the learner was pretested at a level 1 in Best Plus, an ELL assessment test. The pair put in many hours preparing for the citizenship test. She passed her citizenship test on 5/25/09! AND when she was post tested in June 2009 she had improved to a level 7!
~ Another pair had been working together since March 2009, again putting in many, many extra hours diligently working towards the learners citizenship. He passed the test on July 8, 2009! He is still with us working on his communication, reading, and writing skills to improve them to a level of comfort for himself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS ~ A mother and daughter pair are currently Literacy Volunteers learners. They’ve worked extremely hard this past year to reach their goals. They even stepped out of their comfort zone to speak at our Scrabble Fest in April, which we are extremely grateful for. Even though the mom has a busy work schedule, she makes tutoring sessions a priority for her and her daughter. Both ladies attend their sessions regularly, on time and always come prepared to learn more. They’re commitment to improving their skills has been exceptional! ~ A gentleman came to Literacy Volunteers about 5 years ago and started at a 3rd grade reading level. He has worked with LVOC tutors off and on during that time and has gotten to a point that he no longer needs a tutor! He now reads at almost a 7th grade level and his math skills have improved to a 7th grade level as well! According to his tutor, he couldn’t be prouder to see the learner grow to this point! And we here at LVOC feel the same – we are so proud of him! ~ A pair had been working together since March 2009 and originally the learner was at a 5.9 grade level for reading when TABE tested in June 2008. When retested June 2009, he was at a 9.4 grade level! ~ Many of our learners come here for personal goals such as writing a letter, reading to their children or grandchildren, or wanting to help in the community but just don't have the literacy skills to do so. We help them obtain those skills and in the process also help their self-esteem and independence. And that's what we are here for! ........................................................................................................................................................................................ The following are written by adult learners of LVOC. Through the production of many articles, the learners experienced the great amount of work involved in creative writing - the first draft, second draft, and third draft, cutting, pasting, sentence structure, spelling corrections, rewriting, rewriting, and those experiences associated with written expression. These are products of desires for personal improvement and a unique cooperation between adult learners and their volunteer tutors. We at LVOC congratulate all contributors for their patience in dealing with the on-going critiques by their instructors, for their dedication and accomplishments in the areas of reading and writing. The following stories appeared in our October 2003 edition of "Adventures in Writing": Wildlife
and Gardens On one late spring day I was coming home from work. Just two miles from home there were about ten turkeys in the road. When I came up on them they took off flying out of the way so I would not hit them and yes wild turkeys can fly. It was a pretty sight to see them fly through the air being as big as they are. Later that night I went by there where they were in the field eating corn for their dinner. And there were a few deer in there eating too. Well, I have my garden in now. I put a lot of sweet corn in because I like it and I put beans in. I also put in summer squash, peppers, tomatoes, swiss chard, peas, and watermelon in too. I put pumpkins in and zucchini in too. I finally got my field corn in after it stopped raining for two or three days so I could get on my field to work it and get ready to plant. .......................................................................................................................................................................................... My
Cat My cat follows me like a dog. She flips over and over and wants her belly rubbed. .......................................................................................................................................................................... My
New Friend My neighbor Linda heard I was looking for a dog. Someone Linda knew had some puppies. Linda brought me one of the puppies. I said I will give it a try to see if we get along. After a couple of days we became buddies. His name is Benji, he is a poo pom (poodle, pomeranian). Benji is six months old and weighs 14 1/2 lbs., he is a cute little rascal, he is real friendly and playful. He likes to ride in my truck and is a good watch dog. Benji is always by my side. ........................................................................................................................................................................................... Biking Back in 1976 I bought my first motorcycle. It was a 1976 Honda 350 that I rode for about two months to get some riding experience, and my motorcycle license. Then I traded it in for a bigger one, a 1976 Honda 750 super sport which was much bigger and faster. At that time it seemed like all my friends were buying bikes. We would ride mostly on the weekends to places around the finger lakes or song mountain for the day. We would ride around four or five thousand miles a year. I owned this bike for four years and sold it because I was riding less and less each year. I went for twenty years without owning a motorcycle and in 1999 I bought a 1981 Kawasaki that had 12,000 miles on it and I rode it around 1000 miles a year. It was an old bike had some mechanical problems with it like the carburetors and ignition system. It was an old bike and I did not want to put up with the hassle of having constant trouble with it. This last spring I started looking for a newer bike but I really did not know what I wanted. I started looking at touring bikes and decided I wanted a Honda Gold Wing. The new ones were so expensive that it was not within my budget. I started looking at used ones and looked at quite a few of them and for some reason most of the bikes were well taken care of but they also had a lot of miles on them.
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