Coordinator's Column

Dear Tutors and Students,

     As much as I love the summertime, it's always nice to greet autumn with the changes, activities and full schedule it brings. FLAIR is back with a full schedule, as well.
     Families For Literacy has resumed every Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m., our 3 levels of ESL classes are in full swing and the volunteer "Angels" are back in Santa Paula Schools to help children with reading and math. Individualized computer training for FLAIR learners is available Monday evenings between 7 and 8 p.m. with our office assistant Aracely Navarro in the computer lab.
     Our funding this year is again provided in part by the Blanchard/Santa Paula Library and by a grant from the California State Library. Thank you to all who voted yes on Measure B-4 this past March because FLAIR benefits from this increase, as do other library programs. This support, in combination with donations from businesses, organizations and individual contributions from tutors, students and other literacy supporters will allow us to continue our programs for another year. Of course, the heart of FLAIR is its faithful volunteers!
     Here's to a successful year of advancing literacy in 2004/05!

Happy Reading!
-Kathryn

WELCOME NEW TUTORS

We would like to "welcome" the following new volunteer tutors who have completed their training sessions, they are:

Dorothy Iman
Joe Lyou

and "welcome back" to returning tutors Karin Bowers and Maria Dowdy.

We would like to wish the following volunteer tutors a very happy birthday:

9/01 Yvonne Flores
10/13 Richard Halpin

Calendar of Events

FLAIR 525-2384

Library 525-3615

FLAIR - Adult Literacy Program: Office/Computer Hrs.
Monday - Thursday 1:00-8:00 p.m.

FFL – Every Thursday 6:00 p.m.

ESL - Three levels in progress. Next session begins in January 2005.

BOOK CLUB - Thursdays 6:30 p.m.

TEEN SCENE - Two Thursdays per month. Call library for dates.

STORY HOUR - Wednesdays - 10:30 a.m. in the Children's Room.

MUSIC - Wednesdays - 10:30 a.m. in the Hardison Room.

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

We are in the process of planning our Awards Ceremony to be held on December 9th. If your student has been in the program for at least a year and has completed Challenger 5, Vocabulary Connections E, or Makes Sense Series 3 (grammar, writing, spelling, etc.) or any advanced level work, please let us know so that we may include his/her name on our certificate list. Also, scholarship applications are available to those students continuing on to vocational training or college.

BRAVO TO:
Students

Lorena Morales (tutor Dorothy Grainger) has advanced to Challenger book 2.

Martha Marquez (tutor Yvonne Flores) has moved on to Challenge book 3.

And congratulations to the following learners who are "going the distance" by advancing to Challenger book 8:

*Francisco Ramirez (tutor Chuck Molnar)

*Sylvia Aguayo (tutor Dorothy Grainger)

*Rosalba Cardenas (tutor Richard Halpin)

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

FLAIR learner Marisol Larios for donating 10 hours of her time over the summer to help in the literacy office and in the computer lab.

Tutor Trina Nagele for her donation of new street maps showing Santa Paula, as well as Fillmore and Ojai. The maps are displayed near the volunteer time card boxes and in the FLAIR office. They are free to tutors and learners and are helpful materials to use during tutoring sessions.

Also, Thank You to the anonymous donor of bilingual (English/Spanish) flash cards and to Diane Torrence for donating a VCR to the Families For Literacy program.

TUTOR TIPS

Visualization Exercise for Writers
     For this writing exercise, your learner will use a personal photograph he/she brings to the tutoring session, and write for twenty minutes about the memories it provokes.
     This kind of visual writing prompt can trigger things that a writer otherwise would not remember. Most memories of events, places and people tend to be more abstract. So having something tangible helps the writer move away from that abstraction. Also, the photograph relates to a specific event or person, which moves the writer away from him/herself and closer to telling a story. Many beginning level writers tend to concentrate on the facts when telling a story (This happened first, then this, then that, and finally this). But if the writer is responding to a personal photograph, they may be more likely to think of descriptions that give details and shapes to the memories. It can also help the learner get in touch with his/her own emotions.
     After writing for twenty minutes, the learner can share what they have written with you, and then you can begin the feedback process. Remember: start with what you liked about the writing. Later you can take the piece home and look more closely for patterns of errors that can be worked on in future tutoring sessions.

TUTORS - working in Challenger 3 with your learner?

Fellow tutor Bill Kendrick has meticulously printed out the vocabulary words with their definitions, pronunciations and picture cues for each chapter in Challenger 3. For a copy to use with your student stop by the FLAIR office.
Thank you Bill for taking the time to compile this useful information!

STUDENT WRITINGS

A Critique of the Novel
RAIN OF GOLD

     Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor is a great book, an allegory of our cultural past and identity. In the first chapters, our group was captivated by the clear and accurate descriptions that slowly took us into the depths of not often visited recollections.
     On top of that, the book has a great amount of modismo in the dialogues. This is a peculiar way of speaking that we identify with and that makes us recall the simple, the authentic, the "ours". From the very beginning, I realized that Lupe has the primary protagonist role. An intelligent and attractive woman with a will of iron and a strong desire of get ahead in life. On the other hand, Salvador, a man hit by adversity and extreme poverty, was a noble heart, but is eager about making easy money without caring that the means to have it, weren't legal. Even though Salvador was overshadowed by the personality of his woman, and Lupe endured Salvador's bad tamper and guile, they were madly in love and their marriage lasted. Eventually they grew a family and all of their children became educated people with great appreciation about family.
     Along the last chapters of the book, the mood of our reading group changed. There were diverse opinions that I respect, but I don't share. This is a biographical novel supported by firsthand research. It has a little bit of fiction just to add entertainment and enrich it as well. The author wanted to display, by means of his parent's story, that in order to survive any person can do illegal or wrong things. At the same time, showing their parents' successful lives, he made us infer that hard work and commitment are the key to reaching the greatest dreams.

-S.N.

ATTENTION EVERYONE!
iGive.com

Shop at home and benefit FLAIR. Here's a fun, easy and practical way to donate to your favorite non-profit, which is FLAIR of course!

iGive.com has over 500 participating stores from which to shop that will donate a percentage of your purchase to FLAIR. When you sign up (free and no strings attached) you can select FLAIR as the recipient of the store's donation. Right now iGive.com will donate $1 for each new shopper who signs up (that's you) and $1 for each new shopper you refer who subsequently signs up.

As a first time buyer go to iGive.com/html/buyer.crm and sign up for FLAIR to receive the merchant donations.

To name just a few of the participating stores:

	will donate
1-800-Flowers	(3.2%)
Bath and Body	(6.0%)
Land's End	(2.4%)
Mrs. Field's Cookies	(2.0%)
OldNavy.com	(2.0%)
Pet's Mart	(2.8%)
Sharper Image	(4.0%)
Wine Enthusiast	(2.4%)

For a complete merchant list go to the ¡Give.com site and select merchant list or stop by the FLAIR office for a free copy!

What a great way for donations to trickle in all year long. (A little trickle over time can really add up!)

ANGELS

Welcome back to our returning in-school volunteer tutors:

Dottie Armbruster - McKevett School
Wyva Martin - Bedell School
Marian Rybarczyk - Blanchard
Maggie Upchurch - Barbara Webster
Eloise Solis - Glen City
Joanne Wright - McKevett
LeVere Crum - Grace Thille