AMV Celebrates 15th Anniversary of Successful EnglishLiteracy Program

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than five dozen residents at Asbury MethodistVillage (AMV) have

volunteered over the last 15 years to teach English to more than 100 AMV

associates who are first generation immigrants to America. These

associates represent more than two dozen countries - from Cameroon to

Vietnam. This program is sponsored through the Literacy Council of

Montgomery County.

"For us, it's a win-win--our associates are able to communicate better

with residents, which is something everyone can feel good about," said

Asbury Methodist Village Executive Director David Denton. "These

one-on-one tutoring sessions help enhance the community feeling here

overall."

Resident Marilyn Gaut, 76, who has been managing the program for two

years, says she just recruited some new volunteers for the program,

which is sponsored by the Literacy Council of Montgomery County. The

Literacy Council trains new recruits and supplies the textbooks. Then,

residents are matched with staff members who express interest, and the

pairs meet once or twice a week.

"It's certainly helpful now with such a high population of

first-generation immigrants in this area who need helphttp://www.tutorselect.com/find/indianapolis_in/math/tutors with their

English," says Mrs. Gaut. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in

Montgomery County, 27 percent of the population is foreign-born and

nearly one-third speak a language other than English at home, compared

to just http://privatetutor.info/ 12.6 percent in Maryland overall. "There is such an ideal

opportunity here at Asbury with so many people from so many countries

working here. Residents are perfectly qualified and very happy to help.

These are people who work with us every day and we need to be able to

communicate with them."

One resident, Alma Stewart, 87, is a former librarian who said she's

been volunteering since she moved in eight years ago. She tutored a

maintenance worker's wife, who was from Sri Lanka and wanted to improve

her English to obtain U.S. citizenship. Most recently she's been

tutoring a 34-year-old Cameroonian woman, Nicole, who works as a

caregiver with fellow residents and needed help mostly with reading.

Having been educated in French, English was a foreign language. For

example, she had never seen an apostrophe before.

"She is hoping to get her GED and go on to college. She's an ambitious

and charming young woman, but her life is not easy," Mrs. Stewart said.

The literacy program was started by Beth Kilgore, a former AMV resident

who founded the Literacy Council of Montgomery County in 1963. When she

moved into Asbury Methodist Village in 1991, she formed the AMV program.

Since then, AMV residents have tutored students from Bolivia, Cameroon,

China, Columbia, El Salvador, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong

Kong, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru,

Philippines, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and Zaire.

"What I enjoy is getting to know the people - associates and tutors

alike," says Mrs. Gaut, a five-year AMV resident who worked as a

literacy tutor for Montgomery County public schools for 26 years before

her retirement. "For example, Marie Hoffman, the tutor for this one

middle-aged woman from China, My Chau, complained that My Chau was not

speaking English enough. She worked at the dining room where I typically

go for lunch so I'd always try to talk with her. "

So Mrs. Gaut helped My Chau get into a Literacy Council conversation

group at the local public library, and then noticed her English improve

dramatically. "I said, 'Oh, My Chau, you are doing a wonderful job!'

Then, sometime later, she came out of the kitchen and gave me a big hug,

and said 'I have a new job!' and I was just delighted for her," said

Mrs. Gaut.

Asbury Methodist Village is a CARF-CCAC and EAGLE-accredited continuing

care retirement community that is part of Asbury Communities, Inc.,

which provides management and support services for a system of

continuing care retirement communities for older adults. Asbury

Communities is ranked by the American Association of Homes and Services

for the Aging (AAHSA) and Ziegler Capital Markets Group's AZ 100 as the

12th largest not-for-profit multi-site senior living organization in the

country. Asbury Methodist Village is also a member of LifeSpan Network.