Lacking Tutors, Adult Illiterates Pull Together

The letter H is pronounced as a sigh, Ann-Marie Clanton said, “like when you just got home and there’s nothing to do.” R, on the other hand, is a rumbling in the back of the throat, “just like when a dog’s going to growl at you.”

Clanton, a reading center coordinator at the Vernon branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, was writing the alphabet on a blackboard and explaining the sound each letter makes.

Eight illiterate adults, members of the Vernon branch’s Wednesday afternoon reading club, repeated the letters after her and mimicked the sounds she made.

The club was formed by Clanton last April in the face of a severe shortage of volunteer tutors to teach adults how to read. Members meet once a week at the branch library in South-Central Los Angeles to learn the ABCs, complete word puzzles, read beginners’ books and write simple stories.

What they need most of all, Clanton said, are one-on-one classes. But there are hundreds of people on the waiting list. The club offers them the chance “at least to be doing something other than just sitting and waiting for a tutor,” she said.

Other reading classes offered to the public are full as well. Ramon Gallegos, 35, a member of the reading club since July, has tried several such programs. “Any other place you go to, they’re overcrowded also,” he said at last week’s meeting.

There are 21 people in the group, about 10 of them regular members. Many are high school dropouts working toward an equivalency diploma. Some are parents who can’t read “but don’t want their children to know,” Clanton said.

They work together in a friendly and supportive atmosphere, with everyone offering suggestions when somebody does not know a word. “Some may be third-grade level and some might be fifth-grade level, but they don’t feel embarrassed because they help each other,” Clanton said.

The Los Angeles Public Library provides free private tutoring to those 16 years and older who read below the sixth-grade level. The program, called the Library Adult Reading Program, matches about 600 tutors with roughly 650 adult students.

The project operates reading centers at 13 of the library’s 63 branches. At the end of June, the most recent month for which statistics are available, there were 376 adults on waiting lists for a tutor.

Suzanne Johnson, director of the reading project, said there are an estimated 467,000 illiterate adults in Los Angeles.

Juanita Stanley, executive director of California Literacy, a private, nonprofit group headquartered in San Gabriel, said a study conducted last summer by a private research group indicates that a minimum of 3.1 million adult English speakers in the state are illiterate. Nationwide, about 20% of all adults are illiterate, she said.

Started with federal money in 1984, the reading program has received financial help from the state and, starting this year, from the city as well. This year, the project will receive $150,000 from the city and $131,000 from the state. “We’re currently looking for more dollars and people,” Johnson said.

In the meantime, Clanton will keep recruiting new members for the Vernon branch reading club.

She meets with prospective club members for about an hour before they join, telling them about the club and “making them feel comfortable with themselves.”

The first meeting is crucial, she said: “If I goof, they never come back.”

Those who stay agree that the club is better than nothing. Some members, who have already found tutors, keep returning because they enjoy the meetings.

But the vast majority attend the weekly meetings because there is no alternative. Emmet Lowe, 51, said he joined the club three weeks ago to help teach his 16-year-old son how to read. “It seems like it’s awful good,” he said.

After a pause, he added, “It’ll be better when I get a tutor.”

LITERACY PROGRAMS California Literacy, a nonprofit group based in San Gabriel, has listings for about 250 literacy programs around the state. Anyone interested in taking adult reading classes can reach the group at (818) 282-2196. In addition, here are a few of the many local reading centers:

* Love of God Missionary Baptist Church, 2228 W. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 778-0524 or (213) 778-1803.

* Frank Riley Memorial Youth Center, 9418 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, (213) 756-8089.

* Culver City Adult School, 4401 Elenda Ave., Culver City, (213) 559-9543

* Inglewood Central Baptist Church, 3120 W. 108th St., Inglewood, (213) 483-3569.

* Santa Monica Literacy Center, 1220 2nd St., Santa Monica, (213) 394-5899.

* San Gabriel Valley Literacy Council, 6509 Pine Ave., Bell, (213) 560-4769.

Rose Parsons, Los Angeles field development representative for California Literacy, said churches and community groups interested in organizing similar programs should contact her at California Literacy for training and technical assistance.

Those interested in becoming volunteer tutors may contact the Los Angeles Public Library at (213) 750-3573.