And just like that...September is over!
I
had kind of a rough month. I hope yours was better. I'm sorry I wasn't
able to be at the in-service training on Saturday. I heard it went well,
my stand-in moderator, Meg Allen, did a great job, and the
presentations from tutors and key presenter Chris Kilmer were
interesting and helpful. I was there in spirit (if you went, you
probably know I was texting Meg throughout). It's hard for me to hand
off an event like that, especially so unexpectedly. If you have
suggestions for future in-service training topics, please send them my
way!
Anyway, with September drawing to a close, it's time to report your tutoring hours. Click here to go to the reporting link. As a reminder, you might want to bookmark www.cresltutors.blogspot.com
in your internet browser. I cross-post this monthly email there because
so many people never receive the group email I send out (so
frustrating). That being said, if you forget to report your hours and
it's past the 10th of the month, just wait and add those hours to the
following month. Each month's reporting link is unique to that month, so
if you report after the fact, I won't see your data.
I
need your hours reported ASAP this month because we have a very early
reporting deadline for the state and a trimester report due by the end
of the week! Work with me!
Help on the Ranch
I
have four students in Green Valley Ranch waiting for tutors. One of
them is a young man in his 20s. I've found it to be incredibly
challenging to find tutors in this area or willing to go there.
If you would like to consider taking on a student in this area, please let me know.
Get ready to connect!
For
years, in-home tutors have asked me if there's a way to connect with
each other online to share ideas, ask questions, and support one
another's teaching. We tried a listserv, we tried Facebook, we tried a
closed Facebook group, all without much success. That's about to change.
Coming very soon, we're going to have an online discussion board, also
called online forums. You may have participated in one of these online
communities. There are many on just about any topic you can think of.
I've been part of quite a few online communities for a wide variety of
interests and needs, including bicycling, dieting, heart health, home
renovation, jewelry making, gardening, and travel, among others.
Our
forum will be closed and private, which means it will only be visible
to those who have login credentials. The platform we'll be using is part
of the online education program used by Emily Griffith Technical
College, so security and access-protection are top-notch.
When
the online community forum is rolled out, you'll get an email with
instructions on how to log in and access the conversations. All current
in-home tutors will be enrolled by default, but you have no obligation
to ever log in or use this service. More information will be coming in
the next couple of weeks.
COTESOL is coming
COTESL
is the annual Colorado conference for anyone involved English-language
teaching. This event offers a buffet of learning opportunities, and
there's something for everyone, even volunteer tutors. Most ELA
professionals in the Denver area attend this event. You can go for a
half-day, one day, or both days. This year's conference will be on
November 8-9, and you can find more information here. The earlybird registration rates are in effect until October 13, and an "associate" rate is available for nonprofessionals.
2019-202 Presidential Determination on Refugee Arrivals
Last
week, the White House released the annual determination for new refugee
arrivals. The news is not good. The Trump administration has lowered
the arrivals ceiling to 18,000 for the coming fiscal year. This is an
historic low since the program's inception in 1980. At the end of the
Obama administration, the ceiling was set at 80,000 refugee arrivals,
and the US rarely hits the limit as it is. Resettlement agencies receive
much of their federal funding based on the number of refugee arrivals,
so the situation looks quite grim for the survival of the program. You
can read the reaction statement by Colorado Governor Jared Polis here:
https://www.colorado.gov/
Kindergarten prep
The Rocky Mountain Welcome Center is launching its second year of
Kindergarten Preparation Classes and is seeking new enrollees.
Anyone who speaks English as a second language is welcome to
attend. Activities are for parents and their children ages 3-5. Classes
are Monday and Wednesday mornings, 9-11AM, and are held at The Rocky
Mountain Welcome Center located at 10700
E. Evans Ave, Aurora,
Co 80014 (near Havana and Iliff-- RTD routes 105 and 21).
Volunteer Philip Greenberg shared this information for all of you:
The
kids of many of the refugee families I’ve known hit below average in
their literacy scores. One cause might be that these families do not
speak English at home. While the
kids are bilingual, and that’s great, they often have below average
English language comprehension. A solution may lie in the Children’s
Literacy Center. Although based in Colorado Springs, the center has two locations in metro Denver:
Perhaps
some ESL tutors can spend 2 hours a week for 3 months working with
young kids who need a little extra help with reading and understanding. Information to enroll students is on the website.
Halloween is coming
Halloween
can be extra-spooky if you have no context for it and no idea of what's
going on. I always suggest that you do a Halloween lesson with your
student sooner rather than later, as decorations start going up earlier
and earlier every year. From skeletons to witches to zombies, what looks
like harmless fun to someone who is familiar with Halloween can look
ghoulish and frightening to someone who has never been part of the
celebration. Trick-or-treat definitely needs to be explained!
There
are some simple ESL Halloween resources here:
https://www.elcivics.com/
Cooling down and heating up
We've
reached the time of year when Denver's weather becomes highly
changeable and unpredictable. If your student hails from a mild climate,
please take some time to talk about the weather and cold-weather
preparedness! Colorado Winter Weather Preparedness Week is October
13-19. You can read more about winter weather preparedness on Denver's
website. The article linked here focuses on blizzards, but at the bottom
there are more general tips and advice.
https://www.colorado.gov/
This
is also a great time to talk about how to use a thermostat. Believe it
or not, most of our students don't really understand how to set the
thermostat in their homes. If they receive LEAP energy assistance, they
likely don't see the correlation between a thermostat set at 82 degrees
and a utility bill. According to the US Department of Energy, the best
thermostat setting in winter is 68 degrees during the day, and lower at
night during sleep hours. Here's a helpful, easy-to-understand video
with more about that: https://youtu.be/lL4U3EY1VmQ
Staying healthy
Cold,
flu, and apparently norovirus season is upon us. The CDC and various
state health departments have lots of educational materials about how to
avoid getting sick. "Cover your cough" posters are available in many
translated languages including Arabic, Farsi, French, Karen, Burmese,
Spanish, Kirundi, and Somali. General wellness tips and links for the
posters are at the bottom of this CDC page.
Here is the unmasked link to report your hours. Happy fall, everyone!
