Fri. 8/20/10 I was very surprised that Janine only gave a half hour interview. I gave her the teacher take-home essay and she emailed me back today 5 days later. In her email, she said, "Thanks. The interview was great," and then she attached no responses. Is this her way of saying that she has no more to add? I need to take it as such since all through the interview, I sensed that the anle of my research interest did not interest her (or so it seemed to me).
Thurs. 8/26/10
I listened to our interview again and there are actually some good really good quotes. She herself struggled to learn English as an young adult ELL and found that immersion into the whole listening experience of English is best. She sees that once students start coming and feeling comfortable, she is amazed at how many materials and services of the library they start using. She says that they learn the grammar & writing in the community schools and that they become better speakers of the language by coming to the library. The library program at WE promotes conversation for mostly older learners (older than 35 she says). "We don't actually have a lot of younger people," Janine says. The English Cafe helps them feel safe and unafraid; I know by the way they talk. They are afraid of talking in public, but they come here [to the library] to talk." "Some of them like to socialize."
Motivators for older learners: Seeking work or better jobs. Availability of time; Need to be w/people; Need to be able to understand their children's friends in order to guide, protect and parent their children as they grow in adulthood, i.e, to know who they are dating and how to understand and apply for financial aide for college.
Do olders learners tell her what they want to learn? "SOme of them do. It has to do, from my view, it has to do with their personalities. Some people are very outspoken and they tell you, and some people are very shy." This is the majority, she says. "But also their expectation that their teachers are supposed to tell them what to do."
What types or resources are available to help older learners with e-gov, citz., healthcare?
"That's a great question. I don't even know." There are computer classes for those 50 and up through an OASIS grant.
She says, in general, that it's "amazing how they start using the library once they begin taking our classes, like the English Cafe."
What materials does she use successfully w/the older learners?
Children's books teach vocabulary and "it's a fun way to learn." Music and art exhibits (one time) in the library.
Why are they coming to the library? To learn the language; to get materials; tomake friends, to come to comptuer classes; to come to events & programs; to volunteer for something to do and for getting a reference since many don't know anyone when they get here.
Barriers: Don't want to drive; Many Latin Americans don't know about library services.
Janine says that she goes to trainings and reads a lot in order to stay informed as a facilitator.
Sat. 8/21/10
My observation at NOR of Suzi's class was that it differed so much from Lisa and Janine's classees. In fact, it was more like Nancy's class observation at PE. Both Nancy and Suzi lacked a conversational aspect ot their classes. It seems that a whole portion of their classes is suffering...
On another note, I learned today that BCL is not going to allow me to do my data collection on county time. I am not really surprised since they are heading in the direction of adding 4 more Literacy Help Centers in the coming fiscal year.This just fuels me all the more to complete my data collection and to continue and complete my project.
I have listened to Lisa's interview at least 4X. I taped it into the new digital recorder w/ a USB cable that I bought yesterday. I am picking out codes. I also downloaded a free rial of NVivo software. I have started looking at youtube videos of how it works. I am trying to upload Lisa's audio file tonight--so far, I haven't done it yet.
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