Mose working on phonics

Mose Johnson comes into the Project Read office each week even though he uses an electric wheelchair and needs to take a bus and BART to get here. He tells us, “I have started to read better because of the phonics program on the computer. I can bring up the words and sentences and read it without anyone needing to help me. If I mispronounce a word I can play it back. I always write down the words that I mispronounce and bring them home. I read them to myself until I can say them right. When I come back the next week I go back and start with the lesson from the previous week and I can get the words.”

George Oliver tells us that his skills have improved “a whole bunch” by meeting regularly with his tutor Katy and by working independently. He uses the computer to practice his phonics, spelling, and reading. He uses the Internet to do important tasks like searching for housing and job information. He is particularly proud that he knows what to do when he is online and can figure out where to go and what to do on websites that he hasn’t been to before. He tells us that using e-mail on his own is next. Katy tells us that, “George does homework and is always reading on his own. I am so pleased to work with him.”

Chris Zimiga read his first book ever, Eating Right. He tells us, “It felt great to finish it. Actually, it felt great just reading it.” Chris worked with his tutor Steve to select and borrow this book from the Project Read collection (using his first ever library card). Chris is already onto his next book - a biography of Cesar Chavez.

Maurice Roberson, a former learner and very active member of the Project Read community, recently graduated from New College of California with a Master of Arts degree in Humanities and Leadership with an emphasis on Social Work and Counseling. Maurice is proud of his accomplishment and has been hard at work searching for a position in a non-profit agency where he can gain experience, increase his skills, and benefit the community. In the mean time, he continues to volunteer in several programs which support youth and families.

Tutor Amanda and Thabiti work on writing skills

Thabiti Knight is working hard on a number of interesting things. He continues his consistent hard work at the computer and has moved to more challenging word lists in Spell It Deluxe and has become very skillful at using iTunes and his iPod for fun and education. He is researching Negro League Baseball and has created a binder of memorabilia and information about the league and his family’s connection to it. He is going to continue his research by interviewing his aunt and other family members in Long Beach this summer. He is currently reading We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson. Thabiti says, “This book will help me put more detail into my family history. This book has nice artwork and I think it will be interesting to people. I didn’t know that the Negro League brought a lot of people who weren’t black into it. Like a Latin team they had in NY called the New York Cubans. The League started their own kind of desegregation. That says a lot right there.”