Help Adults Learn to Read and Write
Donation protected
"Education is the movement from darkness to light." Allan Bloom
For $150 an adult could learn to read and write.
Please help us (Pam Morehouse & Welles Bretherton, retired educators) in our efforts to help Guatemalan adults, who are illiterate, learn to read and write. You can do this by supporting The Literacy Road, the educational program we developed. Thank you very much for any donation!
The background:
The need for basic literacy for adult Guatemalans became apparent to us on our trips to Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala to learn the Spanish language. This need was highlighted when Guatemalan women would often ask Pam to read package labels (in Spanish) for them in stores.
Hence, we developed a program, The Literacy Road, to help Spanish speaking adults learn to read and write Spanish at a basic level. (25% of Guatemalans, 35% of females, over the age of 15 are illiterate.)
What does The Literacy Road program look like?
The program, which is free to the adult learners, consists of 2-hour sessions taught twice a week. It integrates vocabulary from the students' backgrounds using a manual we developed along with activities we created. In roughly 3-4 months the students 'graduate' and are able to read and write in Spanish. In order to accommodate the individual nature of the program, the adults' varied work schedules, the time/distance to get to class, and the small size of the classroom, there is a maximum of 4 students in each class. Pam trained our friend Magdalena, one of our past Spanish language teachers, to be the teacher of The Literacy Road program.
We try to fly to Guatemala twice a year so Pam can continue to train and support Magdalena, address problems and concerns she might have, and do demonstration lessons. It is also helpful for us to meet the adult learners and get feedback on the program.
The teacher:
Magdalena, a native Guatemalan, is smart, hardworking, dedicated and amazing! She is a single mother of a 12 year-old daughter and is trying her best to support herself, her daughter, and her mother. They live with two other female family members under one small roof.
For the past three years 3 groups of adult learners have graduated from the The Literacy Road program each year. This year even more students want to learn thanks to Magdalena's resourcefulness of reaching potential students via radio announcements. Plus, students are completing the program with a high success rate and word of the program is spreading!
Our (happy) dilemma:
For more than three years we (Pam and Welles) have been paying all of The Literacy Road's expenses, which includes Magdalena's salary, materials and supplies, construction/printing of The Literacy Road student and teacher manuals; and recently the monthly rent of a centrally located room for teaching in downtown Xela. Happily, The Literacy Road program is gaining more students, and now we need your help.
How you can help:
Our immediate goal is to be able to fund 9 groups of students per year. This would not only help to improve the lives of more adult Guatemalans (and their families), but would also provide Magdalena with an increased income.
The total cost of funding 1 group of 4 students:
- Magdalena's salary ($7 per hr. for prep & teaching)
- manuals/materials/supplies (varies)
- rent
________________________
$600.
(to note: Students attend a 2 hour class twice a week and complete the program in 3-4 months.)
For the past 3 years we have been funding 3 groups of students each year (approx. $1800 per year) but, with more students who want to learn, our expenses are multiplying.
We are asking your help to fund 6 additional groups of learners for the coming year for $3600.
Eventually we plan to form a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit and hope to obtain funding through grants or benefactors. But for now we welcome you to join our journey of helping to teach adults in Guatemala how to read and write by helping us to pay for The Literacy Road's program expenses.
Your donation and support are greatly appreciated. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you!
(For more details of our program, students, etc. please go to The Literacy Road's Facebook page. And please share this GoFundMe page with others who may be interested in helping. Again, thank you very much!)
For $150 an adult could learn to read and write.
Please help us (Pam Morehouse & Welles Bretherton, retired educators) in our efforts to help Guatemalan adults, who are illiterate, learn to read and write. You can do this by supporting The Literacy Road, the educational program we developed. Thank you very much for any donation!
The background:
The need for basic literacy for adult Guatemalans became apparent to us on our trips to Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala to learn the Spanish language. This need was highlighted when Guatemalan women would often ask Pam to read package labels (in Spanish) for them in stores.
Hence, we developed a program, The Literacy Road, to help Spanish speaking adults learn to read and write Spanish at a basic level. (25% of Guatemalans, 35% of females, over the age of 15 are illiterate.)
What does The Literacy Road program look like?
The program, which is free to the adult learners, consists of 2-hour sessions taught twice a week. It integrates vocabulary from the students' backgrounds using a manual we developed along with activities we created. In roughly 3-4 months the students 'graduate' and are able to read and write in Spanish. In order to accommodate the individual nature of the program, the adults' varied work schedules, the time/distance to get to class, and the small size of the classroom, there is a maximum of 4 students in each class. Pam trained our friend Magdalena, one of our past Spanish language teachers, to be the teacher of The Literacy Road program.
We try to fly to Guatemala twice a year so Pam can continue to train and support Magdalena, address problems and concerns she might have, and do demonstration lessons. It is also helpful for us to meet the adult learners and get feedback on the program.
The teacher:
Magdalena, a native Guatemalan, is smart, hardworking, dedicated and amazing! She is a single mother of a 12 year-old daughter and is trying her best to support herself, her daughter, and her mother. They live with two other female family members under one small roof.
For the past three years 3 groups of adult learners have graduated from the The Literacy Road program each year. This year even more students want to learn thanks to Magdalena's resourcefulness of reaching potential students via radio announcements. Plus, students are completing the program with a high success rate and word of the program is spreading!
Our (happy) dilemma:
For more than three years we (Pam and Welles) have been paying all of The Literacy Road's expenses, which includes Magdalena's salary, materials and supplies, construction/printing of The Literacy Road student and teacher manuals; and recently the monthly rent of a centrally located room for teaching in downtown Xela. Happily, The Literacy Road program is gaining more students, and now we need your help.
How you can help:
Our immediate goal is to be able to fund 9 groups of students per year. This would not only help to improve the lives of more adult Guatemalans (and their families), but would also provide Magdalena with an increased income.
The total cost of funding 1 group of 4 students:
- Magdalena's salary ($7 per hr. for prep & teaching)
- manuals/materials/supplies (varies)
- rent
________________________
$600.
(to note: Students attend a 2 hour class twice a week and complete the program in 3-4 months.)
For the past 3 years we have been funding 3 groups of students each year (approx. $1800 per year) but, with more students who want to learn, our expenses are multiplying.
We are asking your help to fund 6 additional groups of learners for the coming year for $3600.
Eventually we plan to form a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit and hope to obtain funding through grants or benefactors. But for now we welcome you to join our journey of helping to teach adults in Guatemala how to read and write by helping us to pay for The Literacy Road's program expenses.
Your donation and support are greatly appreciated. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you!
(For more details of our program, students, etc. please go to The Literacy Road's Facebook page. And please share this GoFundMe page with others who may be interested in helping. Again, thank you very much!)
Organizer
Pam Morehouse
Organizer
Winthrop, WA
