Every Thursday night at the Jefferson School City Center Doris Feldman can be found at Literacy Volunteers leading the conversation. Trained in English as a Second Language instruction, Feldman exhibits the patience and caring to her students as they navigate our complex community systems. Her students are from South Korea, Myanmar, Mexico, and Argentina.
“Doris is really helping us bridge the service gap,” said Executive Director Ellen Moore Osborne. “We’re working our way through a waiting list of 44 students, trying to train enough tutors to meet the demand. While students are waiting for a one-on-one tutor, they can attend a conversation group like this one.” Students on the waiting list are also introduced to computer programs that focus on reading and speaking English.
“Most of our tutors here just have one student,” said Osborne. “We want them to focus completely on getting that one student to the next educational level. Tutors work with that one student for a couple hours every week, which gives them time to develop a relationship over the course of the year. But talking to each other in a group helps, too, because they practice pronunciation.”
Between four and eight students come every week to Feldman’s group. As they work on using adjectives to describe situations, laughter is heard down the hall of the Jefferson School City Center, signifying this group has also succeeded in developing relationships.
The next tutor training event for Literacy Volunteers is Saturday, July 13, from 9:30 to 4 pm. Call 737-977-3838 for more information on the program.
Seeking alumni and teachers
In preparation for the Jefferson School City Center’s permanent exhibition, the African American Heritage Center is requesting that alumni and teachers help with the mapping project. Former students and teachers are encouraged to visit the Heritage Center on Saturday, July 13, from 10 am to 3 pm to help map each classroom and recollect what happened over the years inside the Jefferson School City Center. The Heritage Center will recognize those educators influential in forming the community in their permanent exhibition. Refreshments will be served.
Film at the African American Heritage Center
Illusions, a short 1983 film by Julie Dash explores many of the themes presented by Lola Flash’s photography exhibit, [sur]passing. Studio executive Mignon Dupree, a Black woman who appears to be white, sheds light on the lack of an African American presence. The film will be shown in the African American Heritage Center’s auditorium on Friday night, July 12 at 6 pm and 7 pm and again on Saturday night, July 13 at 6 pm and 7 pm.
The setting is a fictitious Hollywood motion picture studio in 1942, a time of heavy war propaganda. Mignon Duprée, a Black woman studio executive who appears to be white and Ester Jeeter, an African American woman who is the singing voice for a white Hollywood star, come to grips with a society that perpetuates false images. This is a highly-acclaimed drama by one of the leading African American women directors.
The film is shown in conjunction with Lola Flash|[sur]passing which will be on view through August. A suggested $5 donation will be collected at the door. All proceeds go to support Heritage Center programs.
Jefferson School City Center is a voice of the nine nonprofits located at Charlottesville’s intergenerational community center, the restored Jefferson School. We are a legacy preserved . . . a soul reborn . . . in the heart of Cville!
