Promoting Literacy on Molokai

Hawaii Literacy tutor Charlotte Preiss tutors her granddaughter Harper Preiss. Contributed photo

By Léo Azambuja

A literacy tutoring program that has been around for more than half-century is expanding to Molokai for the first time. An upcoming training session at Molokai Public Library will certify residents to provide free tutoring lessons to the community. 

“Are you looking to gain new skills or give back to your neighbors? Hawaii literacy is coming to Molokai, and we need you,” Hawaii Literacy tutor Charlotte Preiss said.

The Molokai Library will host the Adult Literacy Program’s free tutor training offered by Hawaii Literacy April 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with lunch provided. Besides attending the four-hour tutor training course, aspiring volunteers must have a high-school diploma and be willing to commit to meet once or twice a week with a learner for at least six months. The program offers tutor-support meetings two-to-three times a year.

About one in every six adults in Hawaii struggle with reading and writing, according to Hawaii Literacy, a nonprofit organization founded in 1971 and whose mission is “to empower Hawaii’s children and adults with essential reading, writing, and lifelong learning skills.”

As the program’s volunteer outreach on Molokai, Preiss said despite the program being around for so long, it has never had a presence on Maui County.

“Do not let this opportunity slip away,” Preiss said.

The Adult Literacy Program serves a wide range of people, from those who have very little or no reading skills to those who just need to tune up a little bit. Or perhaps they just need to work on their comprehension or writing skills.

Preiss lives on Molokai but currently tutors two learners on Oahu via online sessions. She said learning to read even at a basic level opens many opportunities, including being able to read magazines and newspapers, to write, to help kids with homework, to gain self-confidence, to follow professional instructions, and to discern truth from fake news.

“Look at our world now. We are being bombarded with so much misinformation,” she said. “I want them to be able to read the Dispatch. I want them to be able to go to a restaurant and read the menu. There’s so many things in our life that reading is a part of, not to mention books.”

There are seven people already signed up for the free tutor training, and there’s room for about a dozen more, according to Preiss. But if the class fills up, those left out can still take an online training next month. 

Preiss said the connecting with others, giving back to the community and doing something positive for someone else, is “huge.”

“I think the tutors get even more out of it than the learners. It’s just such a feeling of satisfaction when your learner starts to take off and can do some things that they didn’t before,” she said.

Adult Literacy Manager Celeste Oshiro Wong will teach the training session, and Preiss will be there to help.

Those interested in the course, should contact Oshiro Wong at (808) 778-9356. 

Visit www.hawaiiliteracy.org for more information or to donate.