NALC: News for the New Year

Empowering learners through literacy.

Thank you for helping us with our End of Year goals!

Your donations and volunteer time truly make this work possible. This year, we're focused on moving people from our waitlist into active programming. We've got over 550 individuals waiting to start their literacy journey.

People like Yoko, who wrote about her experience learning English and living in Nashville in our 2023 edition of In Our Words. Read an excerpt below:

"It’s been a year when I came to US. For the first six months, I was just trying to organize our life, especially my sons’ schools. Fortunately, they are enjoying school life in US little by little, surrounded by kind teachers and friends. Well, how about me? I have always enjoyed learning about Western culture and learning English, so I can hold a simple conversation...If I watched YouTube in my native language and met only with friends in my native language community then I am not part of US. Can I say I am in US, but I’m not yet confident in my life in US. With this mind, I decided to learn conversational English in NALC. I have been taking online lessons twice a week for the past 6 months. My tutor, Laurie is very supportive and passionate in my progress with English. She gives me different kinds of homework. For example, having a small talk with moms of my son’s soccer teammates. She knows that speaking English outside of class is an important part of improving my English."

Click below for more learner stories:

12 Quotes from Adult Literacy Instructors to Inspire You in 2024

Every person—from program directors to tutors to those who work at the front desk—is part of something life changing. But the beautiful thing about adult literacy is it’s not just the programs changing lives, it’s the students, too.

Instructors tell us all the time that they had no idea how much working with adult learners would impact them personally and how much watching someone improve their skills would give them a new perspective of the world around them.
In that spirit, we are leaving you with 12 quotes about instructors’ experiences to inspire you in the new year.

Fall Class Participant, Teresa Garcon, reflects:

"This year 2023, we can see there are more immigrants in the United States than before. People come from many places to immigrate here. Many of them came for many reasons, for example some had political problems, some lost their families, earthquake problems in their countries. That's the reason why so many left the country to immigrate to the USA. Even though the NALC had more students in the class, I enjoyed the class because the teacher covered many different things."

Interested in starting your literacy journey, or know someone who might be?

Click the button below.

Upcoming Trainings

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan says parents can’t help their children to read if they are struggling.

“That is a very hard thing to communicate to your teacher, your school, your place of work. Kiddos come home and need support and they can’t do it and that further exacerbates the challenges that states like New Mexico have in education.”

We're excited to see same passion for adult literacy taking hold across the U.S.

VITA Tax Sites Looking for Volunteers and Opening Soon!

Starting January 30th VITA tax preparation offering free tax preparation for low- to moderate-income taxpayers sites will open up across Middle TN to assist taxpayers. Interested in learning more or volunteering?

Need to get your taxes done? Click the link!