ADULT & FAMILY LITERACY

ADULT LITERACY

English as a Second Language (ESL)/Adult Basic Education (ABE) Classes: Each year, about 2,000 U.S. born and immigrants from the Caribbean, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa are enrolled in CAMBA’s Adult Literacy Center. These individuals enter ESL/ABE classes to enhance their Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Math skills so that they can fully participate in their children’s education, apply for better jobs, enter training programs, go to college, and receive orientation and civics instruction that help them adjust to life in New York City. Job Readiness, Money Management, Civics, Family Literacy, and Health Literacy are integrated in technology-assisted curriculums designed to help students meet or exceed the state’s learning standards.

Technology-Assisted Classes: CAMBA’s Adult Literacy Center runs a Learning Technology Program with the dual goal of (1) assisting teaching staff in integrating technology into ESL/ABE activities through ongoing staff training and support and (2) providing technology-assisted instruction to enhance & complement ESL and ABE skills acquisition by students at the literacy center. The program has a technology laboratory equipped with a state-of-the-art projection system and with networked computers which students and instructors use to (a) write resumes, (b) complete class assignments, (c) practice listening, speaking, reading, writing, or math skills, and (d) access the web to check emails, conduct research, and use various online resources. Also, the program maintains an educational web site (www.esolcamba.org).

FAMILY LITERACY

We Learn Together (WLT) Even Start Family Literacy Classes: The WLT program is cooperatively run by CAMBA, Inc., Region 6, and P.S. 139. Each year, this program provides Adult Literacy (ESL, Parenting Education, Early Childhood Education, Interactive Learning Experience activities, and Home-Visit services to about 50 families from Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. The provided educational and support services seek to break intergenerational cycles of low literacy and poverty by addressing parents and children’s multifaceted needs, helping them meet or exceed the state’s learning standards, and empowering parents to be full partners in the education of their children.

Metro South Even Start Family Literacy Demonstration Site: This site is a partnership of Region 6 and CAMBA, Inc. It serves as a center for training and technical assistance to Even Start programs in Brooklyn and Long Island. It is one of four such New York State Education Department sites statewide.