Dear Governors,
The Dictionary project is going well [over 180 000 so far] and this testimonial is a classic. Clubs in every district are involved and I wondered if you might use the testimonial as a paragraph in your District newsletter.
Regards, Bill Boyd
Hi Brian
To all the Rotary Newmarket Team, you guys are awesome.
Yes we have received the illustrated dictionaries with the greatest of thanks. An illustrated dictionary is given to the student when they start working with a Howard League volunteer tutor. Howard League work with those requiring extra support with education, (ESOL, dyslexic, brain injury and limited (sometimes none) opportunity for schooling as a child mostly due to abusive/dysfunctional upbringings).
The illustrated dictionaries are for the men and women to keep. The feedback has always been appreciative, some amazed that it is theirs to keep and others talk about how much it is used when writing letters to whanau. All those students that the tutors and I have spoken to have said how much easier it is to find the words they are looking for and some have commented on how the meanings are more basic and easier to understand.
Our Christchurch Men’s Prison (CMP) Department of Education tutors have praised the illustrated dictionary for the layout, less words on the page, the colour, simple meanings and that these will encourage our students to use the dictionary.
I have given the CMP ILN (Intense Literacy Numeracy) tutors one to use in class for the benefit of the students. The feedback as been great, most of the students have a preference for using the illustrated dictionary over the other dictionaries on offer in class.
These dictionaries along with our amazing Howard League volunteer tutors have certainly made a difference to education achievements and therefore the lives of our men and women in our care.
On behalf of Southern District, many thanks for helping us to ‘make a difference’
.
Kindest Regards
Jen
Jen Hardy
Volunteer Coordinator - Christchurch Men’s and Christchurch Women’s Prisons
Ara Poutama Aotearoa, Department of Corrections