"American Idol" winner, Fantasia Barrino, revealed in her memoirs that she is functionally illiterate in an Associated Press news story reported in October. The 2004 winner said she signed record deals and contracts that she couldn't read and that the hardest part was not being able to read to her four-year old daughter. She said that she is learning to read with the help of tutors.
"Functional illiteracy" is a term used to define adults who have not mastered the basic skills of reading, writing and consumer mathematics.
This story did not surprise the Staff and volunteer literacy tutors of READ/Orange County because they are very much aware that one out of four adults in Orange County have low or no literacy skills. They know that tutors can change the lives of the adult learners and their families when they help them learn to read and write.
READ/Orange County is the literacy services of the Orange County Public Library. They train volunteer tutors to teach adults and families to read and write English in small groups, or one-to-one, throughout Orange County. No prior teaching experience is necessary. You will be professionally trained. After training you may tutor in the nearest library in your community, at a time and place, which is convenient to both you and the student learner.
