Happy Holiday

17Dec10

Thanks Gina for helping me do that post!

I would like also to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!

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Rosny Literacy program

17Dec10

I thought I would share a success story with you from Rosny LINC.

Recent clients have been two young women in the Justice system. They are both working towards participation in Polytechnic courses – in hairdressing and diesel mechanics respectively.

Our tutors have worked hard – combing the Net for numeracy materials to support these young women to achieve their goals. The Polytechnic have supplied materials so the Diesel mechanic student can start on actual course work in advance.

Our tutors were really touched when they visited last week and were presented with hand made cards. The young women shared some poetry they had written – then sang them a song they had written about the waste of the three months in prison and their intention to turn their lives around.

One has been released and we are encouraging her to seek ongoing support from the LINC near her while she does her course. She has given permission to the tutor to link her up with the program up North.

We have every hope of them achieving a brighter future.

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Tags: justice

merry christmas and happy new year

17Dec10

thank you so much for the support you have given me through the year, you are the best group of people to work with and i always enjoy getting to see everyone at our meetings. have the best christmas and new year-wishing you all health, wealth and happiness for the coming year

BIG HUGE HUGS me

gina

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At the bus stop

27Nov10

For a town that looks like it has no migrants other than the doctors who come and go and those who run takeaway shops, I’ve met an awful lot of migrants lately! I kept wondering how they knew about us? I mean why is that with all their problems with language, they keep finding us but ‘Aussies’ don’t.

Well yesterday I found out … Stacey. God bless her, she’s so happy with the program that every time she meets a new, fellow migrant she tells them about us. Whether she’s playing badminton, volunteering at Red Cross, confusing the butcher or waiting at a bus stop, everyone is fair game. Then I get the phone call, ‘Libby, it’s Stacey. I hope you don’t mind (giggle) but I have another student for you’.

So, isn’t it strange how you can walk around and shut your eyes to what’s in front of you and then something happens,  your eyes are opened and that’s it – you just can’t shut them again. Thanks to Stacey, I’ve remembered that no fancy marketing, publicity or promotion will ever work better than the right word at the right time from someone who’s trusted.

All our current and past students is a potential bus stop advertisement that someone may see while they wait for ‘something’ to come along. I guess our job is to make sure we put the bus stop where it’s needed, go where we say we’re going and be prepared to change our route when we notice the need has changed.

Now, where can I find more Staceys, Trevors, Julies, Shanes ….. ?   Libby

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How to edit IPod movies with Movie Maker on Windows XP

12Nov10

I have finally found a way to edit IPod movies (MPEG4 files) with Movie Maker on Windows XP!!! To make it work you have to download a program to your PC and use it to convert the IPod movie to a different format. Then Movie Maker can import and edit it.

1. Download Winff from http://winff.org/html_new/downloads.html and install on your PC
2. Run Winff and then set the options as shown in this screen shot
3. Click the + button, add your file
4. Click Convert.
5. You should now be able open the AVI file with Movie Maker.

One other tip I’ll give you is, if you find that Windows Media Player won’t play your movie, download ffdshow from http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/ Don’t worry about changing anything in the setup (it can be quite complex), just install it and accept everything as is. You can play just about any file you like now.

Cheers, John

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amazing outcome

05Nov10

So far we have had 3 literacy volunteers gain PAID work with the dept through Glenorchy LINC

We have 3 literacy clients gaining volunteer experience

• One with steps to the future
• One with a community house
• One within the LINC  

The journeys of these clients or volunteers are not just literacy stories, they encompass social parity, community engagement, social development, reduced isolation, develop life long learning pathways and generally are just a bloody good out come.  

Thank you Mandy for enveloping an environment that not only allows this to happen, but also to the staff who embrace both client and volunteer (even when we have had to take over the tea room at times) so ……………….HUGH, MASSIVE, SUPER sized HUG to all of you, your fantastic!

 

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Is there a tutor for me yet?

29Sep10

She rang earlier this week.  I recognised her voice straight away.  Despite the learning barriers that she has had since birth she really wants to gain the skills so that she can read a story book to her toddler. 

“Have you got me a tutor yet Anne-Marie?”

“No, sorry, but I promise I haven’t forgotten about you and I am working on it.”

“Ok” she said…

I hope a new already trained/experienced tutor walks through the door this week… I hope that they like working with clients who have learning barriers.

Anne-Marie

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English Conversation Group

14Sep10

What do you get when you add the following ‘ingredients’?

1 x Aussie Literacy Coordinator
1 x Kiwi volunteer in her 80′s
5 x clients from 4 different countries?

You get the very first English Conversation Group!  We laughed and smiled and enjoyed each others company all while working on our English pronunciation.  The aim of the group is to work on our English in a safe, friendly and relaxed environment.

Wow, it was great and just so terribly simple to do!

Anne-Marie

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oh for small graces

26Aug10

We are so blessed to be voyeurs into so many lives, without the constant stream of living angels; this job would never be complete. We are genuinely grateful for our volunteers; they grace our lives in very special ways.

 I am truly blessed – thank you volunteers for being “you” as perfect as is needed

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Reflecting on the last year.

15Aug10

This time last year I’d just started in my new job as literacy coordinator. I can remember sitting in a near- empty office with no guidance, no experience and no idea what to do. I had no tutors on my books, no tutors willing or able to come over from the Polytechnic, and no students. I knew I cared about the program (and sometimes that’s all that kept me in there) but I was very aware I knew an awful lot of nothing.

Well I’m not someone who likes to sit around waiting and I care even less for not having a go. I distinctly remember pushing my sleeves up and telling the empty office that it was time we got to work and we’d work it out as we went – somehow.

So how has it gone? Well it’s no use pretending to you that everything’s been plain sailing. But on Friday we had a celebration of learning and it felt great! We now have 13 tutors ready to go or working with students and 7 more in training; and 12 students matched with tutors with 4 more to be assessed. We’ve had students come and go – to work or further study. We’ve  had tutors gain paid work in other literacy services and tutors for whom the training is the start of a new direction in their life and new connection to their community.

We have strong bonds with the teachers in the Polytechnic and we often use each other as sounding boards, points of referral and as a resource. We’re starting to get the JSAs take notice; particularly since Anita’s ‘Work Ready’ course. We’re talking to the Migrant Resource Centre about grant submissions to support one of our tutors run her one-woman free ESL conversation classes and try to fill the holes so evident in language support for migrants on the NW coast. We’re working with the Burnie Community House to select everyday literacy ‘tools’ and promote literacy support out of the house. We have a tutor in Smithton – and another about to be trained!!!!! And last, but not least, our story project has begun with the help of a Community Services Cert 4 student.

There are still many times when it feels like I’m staring into an abyss and even times when it feels like I’m free falling. But now I have small victories to fill the space and lift me back onto firm ground.

I’ll leave you with the now over-used line from Invictus that graces my whiteboard: ‘I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul’.

Have a great year! Libby

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