I am in the final week of my internship and my final week as a grad student. It is hard believe that it has happened so fast. I feel like there has been no time to sit down, relax, and celebrate this moment. I am very much looking forward to a night when I can actually sit down in my home, with a nice glass of wine and veg out. I am hoping that this night can happen next week. Graduation is on Friday, and it finally hit me when I was picking up my regalia today. Holding up the Colorado State colored hood in my home this afternoon, I finally realized that it is over….

Yipppeee!!!!

I started this internship last fall in my second year as a graduate student in the TESL/TEFL program. I remember in my first semester as a graduate student, Tobi and an intern from the CLC came to Fabiola’s class and introduced the center and the initiatives that students could work on. I remember thinking, I want to be a part of that. It wasn’t until my second year that the opportunity to work with the CLC presented itself. I am so honored and pleased to have had this opportunity to work with the CLC. After finishing my year long internship, I am coming away from the TESL/TEFL program and the English department as a more rounded graduate student, professional, educator, and individual.

Throughout my internship with the Community Literacy Center I worked on a project that I designed and named Partnerships for Literacy Success. With the help of Dr. Fabiola Ehlers-Zavala, Tobi Jacobi, Marilyn Thayer, Deanna Ludwin, Janelle Adsit, and countless volunteers, we developed a writing room for ESL students, increased adult ESL course offerings, educated volunteers in the community, and moved Habitat for Humanity’s Books for Humanity to the CORE Center.

I would like to briefly reflect on the accomplishments that I have made with the initiative that was created through the CLC for adult ESL learners. Through the semester I trained, guided, and worked with interns from the M.A. TESL/TEFL program to work at the CORE Center. On several occasions, students from the CORE Center, who were students in adult ESL classes, expressed their gratitude for all of the work that we engaged in with the community center. On one occasion, one of the learners showed up for class with an “ear to ear” smile. She was elated that she had just finished reading her first book in English. I had developed a personal relationship with the learner and was so excited, happy, and proud for her. It is moments like this that shows me how important our work with adult ESL learners has been in improving literacy in the community. I am coming away from this experience as a more rounded and balanced educator and individual, and with a deeper knowledge of adult ESL literacy.

And…if that wasn’t enough. In partnership with the TESL/TEFL Graduate Student Association, we successfully moved Books for Humanity (a free bookstore) to the CORE Center where the books can reach a broader population. In April, we held a literacy event at the CORE Center for families from the Fort Collins community. The students worked so hard, and were rewarded in their efforts by the smiles, laughter, and excitement of the families from the community.

Although I was able to spackle, paint, and buy furniture for the writing room at the CORE Center, I must admit that I am little disappointed that I could not see this project all the way through. I realize that I am only one person and I have had so many obligations these past two years (and as a result, my health has suffered), but I still feel like I want to be a part of the writing projects that will be produced at the writing room. I really believe that some wonderful material will be produced in the writing room, and will benefit the learners at CORE and the community of Fort Collins. I can’t wait to connect with the CLC in the future and get updates on what has happed to Partnerships for Literacy Success.

I would like to recognize all of the support, help, and knowledge that I have gained as a result of interning at the Center for Community Literacy. It has been a rollercoaster ride: filled with anticipation, stressful moments, back pain, screaming, joy, giddiness, laughter, and fun.

I look forward to reading the blogs of your future interns.

Cheers & Take Care,

Melanie Witt

Well…There has been a lot of progress with my initiative within the lat few weeks.  We have officially boxed the books at the Habitat Home Office.  We were really grateful to have some speedy helpers during the process.  Last week a group of students from the Habitat student organization on campus volunteered to paint the kids corner at CORE.  They did an amazing job and the area is a bright aquarium blue color.  This Saturday a group of students from the graduate student association is unpacking books at CORE.  We are planning on categorizing the books and preparing them for Literacy Night on Thursday. 

There has also been some progress in getting the writing room going again.  I am going to American Furniture Warehouse to use the gift certificate to furnish the room.  I am very excited about all of the opportunities and the progress.

Will blog more after this weekend.

Chao

Books for Humanity & Literacy Night

I am happy to say that Books for Humanity moving their supply of books over to the CORECenter is going well.  We have agreed on specific dates where volunteers will sort and categorize books at both locations.  We are also very excited about the Literacy Night that will be hosted by the TESL/TEFL Graduate Student Association at the CORECenter.  So far we a good number of participants who are involved.  We are still working on finalizing the date though.

SIOP Training

I am also happy to report that the SIOP Training material finally arrived in the mail.  I will continue reading the training material over break and will develop the training for the volunteers at the CORECenter.  I am planning on beginning the trainings after Spring Break. 

Another week closer to May…This has been a very difficult time for me.  I have been struggling with maintaining all of the responsibilities of an intern, a student, and a teacher during the past three weeks.  Along with all the responsibilities that I have at the CLC, I also have many obligations and responsibilities that have no connection to the CLC.  I think that the last two years has been difficult, but the three weeks have really tested me.  

This week I have really been trying to make up time at the CLC.  I have spent many hours just sorting through emails that I have not had the time to attend to for weeks.  It is funny how even things as easy as responding to emails became so time consuming and piled up.  On top of all the stress, and maybe because of the stress that I have been under, I have been sick for two weeks.  I thought this weekend I was getting better, but the last three days my ears have really been hurting and popping constantly.  As it turn out, the cold that I had has turned to into a sinus infection that is “very nasty” according to the doctor this morning.  I am on a lot of medication now and hopefully I will kick it.  This cold could not have come at a worse time.  But I am hoping that with some vacation and medication, I will return after break a new person.      

Combined with family issues and all of my responsibilities, I am really ready for a much needed vacation.  I am so excited to say that I taking time off on Spring Break to travel back to Hawaii.  I can’t wait to go to all my favorite restaurants, see all my friends, and lay around on the beach.

I am very excited to report that I had a very exciting and successful week as an intern.  On Wednesday we had a meeting about moving Books for Humanity (Habitat for Humanity) to the CORE Center. Books for Humanity is a project that provides free books to the community in the form of a free book store. It was located at the Habitat office, but is now going to move to CORE. There are about 1,500 that need to categorized and moved to CORE. I have begun to set up a timeline and agenda for the move.  Deanna Ludwin (Books for Humanity) will work on setting up a Kid’s Corner at the CORE.  She is recruiting student volunteers from the Habitat Club at CSU to paint and decorate a designated area at the CORE Center.  She plans on painting the area blue and decorating with fish to resemble what is currently the Kid’s Corner at the Habitat Office.  I have started recruiting volunteers to pack up and categorize books at the Habitat Office.  I am also recruiting volunteers to categorize books at the CORE Center.

Additionally, the TESL/TEFL GSA will work in collaboration with Books for Humanity, the CLC, and the CORE Center to organize and sponsor the Second Annual TESL/TEFL Advocacy Week’s Literacy Night. The TESL/TEFL GSA mission is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and raise awareness about the field of TESL/TEFL in the CSU community, the greater Fort Collins community and the state of Colorado. The purpose of Advocacy Week is to inform the Colorado State University and Fort Collins community about the need to advocate for our English Language Learners (ELLs) and those who support their social and educational development such as teachers, parents, and community members. The Literacy Night is one event that is planned for the week. During this event there will be stations set up for various groups. So far we have Jimena Pena from the public library (she will set up a station where she would address using public libraries and the benefits of this service), volunteers from Turning House will set up a zine making station, Claire Boyles from PSD will set up a station to help invite families from her literacy classes. Also, we would like to have activities for the children (e.g. story time, crafts, perhaps a puppet show) as well as information for adults about how they can help their children at home and resources in the FC community.


Here is a timeline of what needs to get done before Literacy Night, April 15, 2008:

1) Deanna will arrange for the kid’s corner to be painted

2) Melanie will get volunteers to box and categorize books at the Habitat office. – Possible dates March 29 or April 5

3) Melanie will get volunteers to categorize books from the CLC at CORE)

4) The TESL/TEFL GSA will host a Literacy Night at the CORE Center April 8 Tuesday April 15th. (We need to come up with a time for the event)

Another week has gone by and things are going well at the CORE Center.  Along with the MA TESL students, we are creating curriculums for the ESL classes and the citizenship class.  This term at CORE is wonderful.  We have some many students this term, around 20, and more seem to enrolling.  The interns are doing well and are getting a lot of time to teach with the large groups.  

We are also working on getting the literacy projects together in some form of a binder that will showcase what has been done there.  I think that this will be a valuable asset for future interns who work with the CORE project.

I am still waiting on getting furniture from American Furniture Warehouse.  I can’t wait to get it done so that the room can be introduced to the large group of ELLs we have this term.  

Additionally, there has been some interest in participating in the Intergenerational Book Club with some of the participants.  I think that it was very difficult to get interest there.  Many students expressed intimidation.  many students who were originally interested, ended up not registering.  Still, I was excited that some people have decided to participate.  

I can’t wait to get the SIOP training going as well.  Fabiola has ordered the material, so we are just waiting for it to start planning the sessions.  

Well, it is the end of the third week of my last semester of graduate school and my last semester with the CLC.  I can't wait to be finished with the multiple tasks.  I am ready for the next stage, where I hopefully won't have more than two things going on at the same time.  Last semester we were supposed to blog once a week.  I must say that this was not something that I did.  I have found that this semester, again it is not something that I remember to do weekly.  While, I realize that it does not take a great deal of effort or time, it is still not something I remember.  Hopefully, I will become better at this.  At our weekly meeting on Wednesday, the interns were reminded to keep up with this.  

Anyway, this semester is already off to a very busy start.  I am still working with the CORE project.  This semester I am working with three interns from the MA TESL/TEFL program.  Yukari and Mikyong are working with the ESL class at CORE and Cheyne is working with the Citizenship class at CORE.  We have been developing curriculum, syllabi, and lesson plans.  After the semester is over, these items will be provided for future users at the CLC and CORE.  I am really excited so far about working with these students and working as a teacher-trainer.  

I have also started a list of potential people who are interested in training for ESL learners, via the SIOP model.  Soon we are purchasing this kit to train volunteers who work with ESL learners that have little or no experience with this population.  This is a widely common problem throughout the field of ESL.  I am very excited to start this process because I believe that it benefits our learners.  There are far too many instances in which people who have no education or training are working with these learners.  I hope to add to the knowledge of these volunteers to better serve this population and future populations.  

Additionally, I have also been notified that we can begin our trip to American Furniture Warehouse to but furniture for the Writing Room at CORE.  This is very exciting because it has been long awaited.  And...a group of us are meeting at the end of February to discuss the possibility of moving Books for Humanity to the CORE Center.   

I think that this will be a productive semester with CORE and will pave the way for future projects with this community center. 

About a month ago we painted at the CORE Center.  It was a lot of fun and the walls look great.  We are still waiting to decorate, as there have been some extenuating circumstances that have prevented us from furnishing the space.

We are all looking forward to getting the room furnished so that we can decorate it and start using it.  I know that many learners would love the opportunity to have a nice cozy space at CORE, so it will be nice when it is all done. 

I'll keep you up to date.  For now enjoy some photos.  I realize that some are pictures of heads...oh-well.  Fabiola has more photos, so hopefully I can add those soon.

Cheers

Well another success on the homefront.  Last weekend a group of eager volunteers painted the Writing Room at the CORE Center.  I was fortunate enough to have the help of Kathryn's husband Jim on Friday evening.  Together we spackled the large holes in the damaged walls of the Writing Room.  I was very thankful to have Jim as a volunteer who knows how to spackle.  We let the spackle dry until Sunday.  On Sunday a group of volunteers helped tape off, paint, and clean up at CORE.  We applied two coats of a nice eggshell white color to the walls.  On Tuesday I went to the CORE Center and removed the tape and picked up the tarp.  The room looks great!  I can't wait to get the furniture and all the decorations set up, so we can make this room usable.  Tonight I will be going back to CORE to finish the remaining cleanup. 

I would like to thank Jim, Kathryn, Amanda, Joe, Misung, Helen, Alex, Elissa, Adrienne, and Fabiola for all of your time and support. 

Photos to follow soon.    

This has been an exciting week for the CORE project (PLS).  This week there seems to be a new sense of organization and things are starting to settle into place.  This week I observed many of the TESL/TEFL students implementing their literacy projects at the CORE center.  Projects ranged from basic conversational skills, pronunciation, citizenship classes, to how to go shopping.  I think that students are really excited to work with this group of with this group of students, and can't wait to get their hands even dirtier.  

Additionally, I met with Deanna Ludwin, Founder and Director of Books for Humanity, this week to discuss the possibility of moving the bookstore to a new location at the CORE Center. 

Deanna created Books for Humanity here in Fort Collins primarily as a way to create libraries in Habitat for Humanity Homes for new families by providing free bookcases and reference books.  She had applied for a grant as well as solicited books from book drives.  After the grant was awarded, she found that she had about 2,000 books that had been donated to Habitat.  These books were not specifically reference books, so she bought many new reference books and decided to create a free bookstore with the donated books in the Habitat office.  The Bookstore is available to these families and all books are free.  Additionally, Books for Humanity has a book party annually to get families to take more books home. 
 
The bookstore is currently located in the basement of the Habitat office.  Families used to come to the office to pay their mortgages, and would stop by the bookstore while there.  Many families no longer visit the office as result of different payment methods.  In turn, the bookstore is not frequently visited.  Books for Humanity is currently looking for a new location for this free bookstore.  They could move the books and bookshelves as earlier as January, but could wait longer as well.  Currently they have between 1,500 - 2,000 books and six bookshelves. 
 
We discussed the possibility of moving the bookstore to CORE.  If this is a possibility, the families at CORE and families from Habitat would have access to these free books.

I am really excited about bringing this opportunity to the CORE Center for the families.  It would be great to provide free access to these books for all of the students at CORE. 

 Although this is only my second blog, it does not mean that I have nothing to report.  I have been very busy trying to put things together for our project at the CORE Center.  Things have been very hectic and I feel like there is never enough time to do what is needed, but I suppose that it is not much different than most things in life. 

To start with:

I have been selected as the intern to begin a new project that focuses on working with the CORE Center. The Core Center is a community-based learning center that implements family literacy programs targeted at areas with the largest concentration of poverty in the community.  The CORE Center currently offers the following programs, Adult Education, Healthy Living, Parent Time, Citizenship, After School Club, Teen Talk, and SALSA. 

Our hope at the CLC is supplement enrichment programs at the Core Center.  I have created a program called Partnerships for Literacy Success (PLS), in which we hope to expand opportunities available to the often-disenfranchised English language learners in the Fort Collins community through the CORE Center. Specifically, we plan to (1) add to the facility's course offerings, (2) create a Reading and Writing Center staffed by trained tutors, and (3) set up a library and free bookstore in order to increase English language learners' access to books.

I am currently coordinating master's students in the TESL/TEFL program at Colorado State University to work with PLS.  Students are engaged in the opportunity to work with English Language Learners in this capacity.  These students provided multiple ideas that will supplement the course offerings at the CORE Center.  

Some of the ideas that were suggested were Social English: communicative (discussing relationships, parenting skills), Computer Literacy: using computer programs, using the internet to find information, or practice ESL online, and Mom & tot classes: teaching parents literacy skills and strategies to stress importance of early reading and literacy development, reading to tots. 

My work with the CORE Center has really just begun and we are still in the developmental stages.  I am very excited about the opportunity to work with CORE and the students and the center.   

Greetings.

My name is Melanie Witt, and I am a new intern at the Community Literacy Center. I have really just started the "official" tasks of an intern and I am learning the ropes in the office and on Writer's Studio. I have blogged before and frankly I am not sure what a "good" blog looks like, but here I am. So Tally Ho…

I am working on a project with CORE (Community Organizing to Reach Empowerment) to engage second language learners in the Fort Collins community. Primarily, CORE works with underserved adults, who are learning practical and communicative aspects of English. 

I have already looked at the various folders and have come up with a few ideas about how to develop a folder for the CORE project. We are still in the developmental stages of our project and are figuring out logistics and organization.

I am thrilled to be working with English language learners in a program like CORE, and hope to make a dynamic impact in the community. I think that there are many opportunities to improve literacy skills, whether through reading and writing or listening and speaking.

More to come later,

Cheers