S-P-E-L-L-A-B-R-A-T-I-O-N
Adult, corporate spelling bee to benefit Temple Literacy Council
DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE
The Temple Literacy Council is about to hold a big celebration next month. Actually, it’s more of a “Spellabration.”
Spellabration for Literacy is the Council’s first adult and corporate spelling bee, a fund-raiser for the organization that helps local residents improve their reading skills and command of the English language.
The event will start at 10 a.m. April 15 at the Temple Civic Theatre.
“The Temple Literacy Council continues to be a leader in changing lives through literacy in our community,” said Don Stiles, director of the group. “Since 2018, the Literacy Council’s volunteer tutors and staff have given more that 4,000 hours of individualized instruction to 190 low literacy adults.”
“These students continue to work hard to improve their lives through employment and education,” Stiles said.
Spellabration will be open to teams of two, but if you don’t have a partner, the Literacy Council will help find one. The cost of entering the competition is $250 per team, Stiles said. Various levels of sponsorship are also available.
“We look forward to your sponsorship in helping people who want to change their lives through literacy,” he said. “Together, we will continue to build stronger families and a more skilled workforce for our community.”
Proceeds from the bee will be used to purchase books, supplies and pay Internet and phone expenses, Stiles said. Winners will receive trophies.
Stiles pointed out that reading a good book, surfing the Internet and scanning social media posts are a way of life from many local residents. But, for some, just reading the instructions on a frozen pizza box can be a challenge.
“We teach adults who need help learning to read, and we also help non-English speaking residents learn a second language,” Stiles said. “We recruit volunteers — many are retired teachers — and match them with students.”
The Temple Literacy Council has operated as a non-profit in the community since 1988, and it is fueled by generous donations of money and time by individuals, businesses and civic organizations.
“We do an assessment of adults and determine where they are in their reading development,” he said. “Many are just learning English and some are English speaking but never learned to read as a kid. Perhaps they grew up on a farm and were busy working the fields. There are many reasons for not learning to read.”
Like everything else, efforts to help people learn to read were hindered by COVID-19.
“Before the pandemic, we had about 50 students every month,” Stiles said. “Right now, we have a lot fewer. We know the need is still there, and this is a good time to get help. We don’t have a great number of people waiting for services.”
“We know they are out there but have been slowed in seeking help because of the pandemic,” he said. “Also, there’s a stigma attached to not knowing how to read — many are embarrassed.”
“But, we do have people coming back,” he said. “Our office is on the third floor of Temple Public Library (Suite 323) and we have two rooms there to do tutoring. We also have access to study rooms on the second floor.”
Once a person has been evaluated and their reading level determined, they are matched with a volunteer and attend sessions at least once or twice a week.
“We use books that have been developed for adults who can’t read,” Stiles said. “These aren’t children’s books — they are designed for adults who are at a low reading level.”
“We have found that there are very few people who can’t read anything,” he said. “Most just need improvement — sometimes a lot of improvement. We work to get that done.”
Stiles said many non English speaking clients are quite fluent in their native language but struggle with English.
“Many are well educated, they just need help with the new language,” he said. “Many are from Mexico, Venezuela or other Latin countries, but we see people from all over the world. People are coming to Bell County from Asia and Africa, too. Fort Hood has brought in many Koreans who need help with English.”
In addition to helping people learn reading skills, Temple Literacy Council also helps prepare non Americans for the citizenship test.
“We don’t conduct citizenship classes, but we do offer one-on-one tutoring,” he said. “Candidates for citizenship have to be prepared to answer 100 questions about US government, geography and history. It’s multiple choice, and a computer selects 10 of the 100 questions so you really need to know them all. The test includes simple sentences, so they have to be able to read and write. We help with that.”
“Primarily, what we do is help adults who need to improve basic reading and writing skills in English and people who are learning English as a second language,” Stiles said. “More than half of our clients don’t speak English as their primary language.”
For more information about Temple Literacy Council, to register for help or to volunteer, contact Stiles at (254) 774-7323 or (254) 541-0684. All services are free.
The Temple Literacy Council also hosts Books for Lunch, a book review program held at noon on the second Wednesday of each month in the library’s third-floor board room. Attendees can bring their lunch and the Council provides drinks.
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