Ruth Dunning, president of the Central Du Page Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA), dismisses the cramped appearance of her office with the air of one who knows her priorities. ”It`s a cloakroom,” she says, ”from when this building was a school, but it`s perfect for us. The rent is cheap, and if we want to, we can use other rooms here for meetings or classes.”
Dunning has seen a doubling of the agency`s student-tutor corps since 1984, reflecting the phenomenal nationwide growth of LVA. She begins to outline the training program for tutors when she is interrupted by a phone call from a prospective student`s husband.
”The couple is Japanese,” she explains afterward. ”The husband is fluent; the wife speaks no English. English is a very hard language, you know, no rhyme or reason. All that Greek, Latin, French, German, Scandinavian going into Britain, and now we`re making up language as we go along in America.”
Another interruption, and it`s a former home economics teacher calling with exploratory questions about tutoring. Dunning beams as she hangs up:
”We are desperate for tutors. That woman learned about us from a poster in the Lisle Library. She lives there and thought she`d like to do that. We have to charge $15 for the initial training, although it costs us around $22, but after that, there is no charge for in-service training. We require six training sessions in basic reading plus two extra for English as a Second Language. We require 50 hours of service each year as a minimum. It`s a heavy commitment, but it`s more than just an educational experience. It`s a joy.
”We try to work cooperatively with all the other literacy providers, not only in Du Page but also in the Fox Valley Association, Kane and Kendall.”
In addition to her admini-strative duties, Dunning has been tutoring an 83-year-old man with poor eyesight. ”His wife died a couple of years ago. She was his link; now he`s lonely. He wants to connect to the outside world.”
Her teaching method embraces many techniques but always involves student input. ”We think it`s very important to find out what the student wants to learn and why,” she says.
