Blue Ridge Literacy recently named Ferrum College Associate Professor of English Allison Harl to its Board of Directors. Blue Ridge Literacy is a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for adults to strengthen their literacy skills including English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) tutoring, private one-on-one tutoring, and citizenship preparation classes.
In addition to supporting the Blue Ridge Literacy mission, Harl will play a number of different roles while serving on its Board of Directors. “One of our main philosophies is to keep a learner’s goals and interests in mind when working with them,” explained Harl, who will participate in outreach and publicity advocating for the organization. “I distribute posters and pamphlets to area agencies to advertise opportunities for English speakers to volunteer as tutors and for ESOL learners to take classes,” continued Harl.
In addition, Harl will meet with board members every other month to work on policies and budgeting. She also supports cultural and fundraising events for the organization including the Nowruz Persian New Year Celebration on March 18 and the upcoming scrabble tournament on April 20.
Harl got involved with Blue Ridge Literacy because of previous tutoring experience. “I tutored with the Ozark Literacy Council in Arkansas in a parent/child program while studying literacy in my doctoral program a number of years ago. Currently, I volunteer as an ESOL functional literacy tutor at BRL and I work one-on-one with a learner from Mexico for 90 minutes every week,” explained Harl.
In the future, Harl wants to teach a class for parents seeking ESOL tutoring for Westside Elementary School in Roanoke, an area with a growing immigrant and refugee population in need of literacy services. She is also working with Career Services and other groups at Ferrum College so that students know about the opportunities to engage as volunteers and work with ESOL learners.
“We have international students at Ferrum College who may benefit from getting plugged into Blue Ridge Literacy (BRL) for tutoring and cultural enrichment. I plan to work with programs throughout the College, especially within the Humanities and Performing Arts Division, to organize service learning projects that will benefit both our students and the community at BRL. I also hope to collaborate with the Teacher Education program, connecting students with internship opportunities,” concluded Harl.
