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Bonding through language

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Suzie Harrison

She has devoted her retirement to helping others speak and

understand the English language.

Natalie Van Doren is a volunteer at the Huntington Beach Library

on Talbert Avenue, where she spends her hours helping students in the

library’s Project Literacy program.

“I retired and was looking for volunteer work, and the Independent

had listed some volunteer opportunities,” said Van Doren, who has

been volunteering for a year and a half since her retirement. “So I

took the training class.”

Volunteers first take a course to learn how to teach and to become

a good match for the students in the program.

Van Doren works with two foreign students, who are both university

graduates working to improve their English skills.

Other volunteers work with students of all ages with different

learning needs, including students with dyslexia or students who have

suffered brain injury. There is a wide range of student needs.

Above and beyond

Van Doren spends 15 to 20 hours a week just doing preparatory work

for her students, which isn’t required.

“They are both university graduates, so they keep me on my toes,”

Van Doren said.

One of her students spoke French fluently and needed to learn

English so she could pass her state board exam as a registered nurse.

“We stressed vocabulary, but to pass her exam she had to read and

write English,” Van Doren said. “She learned to do it in a year,

which is extraordinary.”

Her other student is from Turkey, where he was a graduate student

in architecture, but he wanted to get his master’s degree here.

“He enlisted in the literacy program to learn English so he can

get into college,” Van Doren said.

She works with her students about two to two and a half hours each

a week on top of her prep hours.

“It’s pretty intense and they have to do work at home,” she said.

“I make them do their homework, send them home with a lesson and

assign a writing assignment. It’s no good to learn it without putting

it to use.”

Forging relationships

Van Doren finds her volunteer work very rewarding.

At first, she said she thought it might just be the benefit of

seeing the progress with her students to be the most rewarding aspect

of volunteering for project literacy.

“But it’s also the relationship, what they teach one another, how

it grows and builds,” Van Doren said. “You can’t help sitting in such

a small space with someone like that and become so aware of another

person.”

She said she learned to be honest, to share ahead of time things

that her students would figure out anyway -- things about events that

affect her and are affecting her.

“For me, both my students are here without family,” Van Doren

said. “It’s huge. You’d be surprised how much that means. It’s hard

if you don’t have a family member to say things to.”

As a result, the students and Van Doren have grown close.

“To be honest we have so much to share we have to be careful and

time ourselves -- we have to get back to work,” she said. “We share

our feelings, our life, our emotions -- we share it all.”

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