Ozark Literacy Council

Our evening class held a make your own pizza night. Nutrition literacy is an important part of English language education. Cooking is a fun and interactive activity to learn new phrases about food.

Are you team pineapple or no pineapple on pizza? Comment below!

Sign up to join one of our morning or evening classes at https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/enroll

REMINDER: OLC IS CLOSED on Monday, September 2nd for Labor Day

Stay up to date on our program schedule at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/calendar

Our evening class made some delicious cookies for part of our integrated nutrition literacy and English education initiative! What's your favorite kind of cookie? Comment below!

Want to make a difference? Serve your community through AmeriCorps at OLC!

Serve through September 1, 2024 - July 31, 2025

Receive a modest bi-monthly stipend and an education award

Teach English Language classes | Tutor English language learners | Recruit and Train volunteers | Share OLC stories

You can find more information here: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/staff

Email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or to apply!

Shout-out to our long term volunteer, Mel! As one of our office volunteers, she occasionally watches our front desk and greets OLC community members when they walk in the door. Thank you, Mel!

Learn more about volunteering at OLC and sign up at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/volunteer

It's the time of year for kids to go back to school, and so can you!

Ozark Literacy Council provides FREE English classes for adults. Beginning and Advanced - Morning and Evening

Start the enrollment process at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/enroll

We're stocking Little Free Libraries in our community as part of Subaru Loves Learning month. Our partnership with Ozark Literacy Council makes it possible. 💙

Have a Little Library in your neighborhood that needs books? Let us know!

We had some more delicious Iranian food after class the other day! What a wonderful bridge to share connection across cultures.

Join our community of belonging and bridging, and learn more about how to get involved at our website at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/

Ozark Literacy Council hosts regular "Tutor Talks". These are opportunities for our tutors to come together to get to know one another and sharing tutoring tips and strategies with one another.

Join OLC through one of our tutoring opportunities! Learn more and sign up at https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/volunteer

Ozark Literacy Council has teamed up with Adventure Subaru again this year to fill Little Free Libraries with books we have received throughout the year.

Do you know where your closest Little Free Library is and want to contribute to it? Stop by Ozark Literacy Council, and we can give you some books to put in it! Take a photo and tag us on social media!

We're hiring a Welcoming Assistant!

The Welcoming Assistant will foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for students, volunteers, community partners, and visitors. Their responsibilities will include providing support for Ozark Literacy Council’s welcoming initiatives and office administration; this includes supporting front desk communications, the Student Intake process, handling sensitive student data, and maintaining orderliness of the office space.

The Front Desk Support should be someone who has great verbal and written communication skills and is highly organized and detail-oriented, but the ideal candidate will be someone who thrives on immediately connecting with others by building a friendly rapport - especially in cross-culturally diverse audiences.

Read the full description and learn how to apply on our website at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/staff

Behi, one of OLC's students from Iran made some delicious Ash-e-tarkhineh soup to share with the community after class. The soup was so fresh and delicious - it warmed all of our hearts. Behi often brings homemade food to share with the OLC community.

Days like this makes OLC feel like a second family to many people. What a wonderful way to learn about cultures and connect with our community with the sharing of homemade food - a form of expression that transcends language barriers.

Behi, recently left the community to go back to Iran. We will miss you, Behi!

Our Digital Outreach Manager, Aubrey, loves learning about art and cultures from around the world. She's decided to share this passion by putting some travel and art books in a local Little Free Library.

We're partnering with again this year to share books with Northwest Arkansas. We'll be filling up Little Free Libraries with many of the books we have received this year.

Do you know where your closest Little Free Library is and want to contribute to it? Stop by Ozark Literacy Council, and we can give you some books to put in it. Tag us on social media!

Want to make a difference? Serve your community through AmeriCorps!

Serve through September 1, 2024 - July 31, 2025

Receive a modest bi-monthly stipend and an education award

Teach English Language classes | Tutor English language learners | Recruit and Train volunteers | Share OLC stories

You can find more information here: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/staff (link in bio)

Email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or to apply!

It's August, which means it is that time of the year where we team up with Adventure Subaru to share books with the community in Northwest Arkansas. We'll be filling up Little Free Libraries with many of the books that the community has kindly donated to us.

If you would like to participate in this initiative, you can stop by OLC and we will provide you with some books to fill a Little Free Library near you. This is also a good opportunity to sort through your own books that you are done reading at home. Take a photo and tag us on social media!

Find a Little Free Library near you at https://littlefreelibrary.org/map/

World Refugee Day was a huge success! Culture Club met and listened to stories from our very own students who are refugees or come from refugee families. The stories they shared were both touching and heart-breaking, all equally important for us to listen to and reflect on how we can make a difference and support the refugee community in NWA.

Khalid, Senior Director of Economic and Community Development at Canopy NWA visited our classes to give a presentation about refugees. He shared helpful definitions, statistics, and explained what the refugee process looks like. As OLC is an organization with a large refugee population amongst students, we encourage you to be informed on what Canopy NWA does and how we can support refugees in NWA, so be sure to check them out!

We closed off World Refugee Day with delicious potlucks and activities.

Throwback post! Our evening class celebrated Mother's Day together back in May. We want to give a shoutout to all of the mothers of the OLC community. Our students take time out of their busy lives to come to OLC and learn English. Many mothers often work and take care of children. To add the work for language acquisition that can take hundreds of hours on top of that, shows great dedication and passion!

Join our OLC community and learn how to get involved at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/

Conversation Clubs are an important part of our belonging and bridging initiatives integrated with our language acquisition programming.

Join us a volunteer conversation club leader! Learn more and sign up at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/volunteer

To see our weekly schedule for currently active clubs go to: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/weekly-events

Introducing our new Workforce and Digital Literacy Manager, Brittany!

Brittany originally moved to Northwest Arkansas to take a teaching position in 2017 and has been here ever since. She graduated with her Bachelor's degree in English in 2013 and her Master's degree in Reading and the Science of Education in 2016 from the University of Central Arkansas, and spent 11 years in the Arkansas Public School System teaching English, English as a Second Language, and Dyslexia Therapy. She also worked as an Academic Improvement coach.

After leaving public education, Brittany began working in Instructional Design with an area company, and discovered her love for creating accessible and equitable curriculum for all. This is Brittany's first position at a non-profit, but she is ecstatic to be able to support literacy here in NWA at a broader scale.

As our Workforce and Digital Literacy Manager, Brittany will be supporting our work to provide programming that supports our students to gain digital literacy skills essential to navigating a technology-dominated world. She will also be supporting us to assist our students in gaining and improving workforce skills and opportunities. Be sure to give Brittany a warm welcome next time you are at OLC!

Join Ozark Literacy Council as a remote ESL tutor!

Through this opportunity, partner with a student on their journey to improve English skills and fully immerse themselves in Northwest Arkansas life.

As a remote tutor, you can meet your partner at a local library to accommodate scheduling and transportation needs!

Learn more and sign up at https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/volunteer

Join our In-Home ESL Tutoring Program. This essential opportunity will make English language immersion more accessible for some of our newest members of the NWA community.

This program was implemented for refugees, asylees, and other populations who face barriers to attending our in-building classes.

Sign up on our website today at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/volunteer! You will receive an invitation to watch a volunteer introduction video and sign up form. Then we'll invite you to our next tutor orientation and walk alongside with you through the whole process. You will be matched with a student or group of students based on best matching geographic location and scheduling. Our staff will also attend your first meeting at the student's home to introduce you and set you up for a strong start.

Requirements include: being at least 18+ years old, willing to complete a background check, and attending a tutor orientation.

An OLC volunteer taught a lesson about driving in the United States for the beginners English class.

Living in a country that predominately relies on transportation by car, it is important to learn about vocabulary and signs that encourages safe driving that follows the United States driving regulations.

We are grateful for our city's public transit systems that provides accessible and affordable transportation to our community members to attend our services.

Are you an adult who interested in getting your Driver's license or permit? Consider joining our conversation club: Driving Club. They meet Wednesdays from 12-1 PM and will meet till the end of July.

Ozark Literacy Council ofrece clases gratuitas de inglés para adultos. Para obtener más información y comenzar el proceso de inscripción, visite: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/enroll

Ozark Literacy Council offers free English classes for adults. To learn more and begin the enrollment process, go to: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/enroll

Join the OLC community as a volunteer through one of our literacy or belonging programs.

As an ESL (English as a Second Language) or ABE (Adult Basic Education) tutor, you will partner with a student on their journey to improve English skills and fully immerse themselves in Northwest Arkansas life.

We also provide conversation clubs and actively seek out conversation club leaders. Current clubs meeting include Geography Club and Culture Club.

Volunteers in our Special Interest Teams support our team in various ways beyond the classroom. Categories include: Office, Events, Gardening, Field Trips, and Facilities.

To learn more or sign up, go to https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/volunteer

Sometimes we have to say goodbye to students, but the OLC family sure makes these moments treasurable and truly reflect our values for belonging and bridging.

OLC student, Zhongwei, recently left to return to his home country in China. As he left, he wrote to the OLC community and said: “OLC school is a very simple and quiet place. We come from different countries, have different skin colors, different clothes, different habits, and different beliefs, but we have the same goal -- to improve our English level. So in my views, OLC is like a window through which I can know about the United States (because the teachers in it introduce us a lot of American people and things); OLC is also a bridge through which I can see the world (Because all students are from different countries).”

REMINDER: OLC IS CLOSED July 1-7 for summer break. Regular classes and activities will resume Monday, July 8th.

Stay up to date on our program schedule by going to our website at: https://www.ozarkliteracy.org/calendar

Today is the last day at OLC for our Development Intern, Caroline.

Caroline has been doing amazing things at OLC by assisting us in our fundraising planning. Caroline's internship was made possible through the C4C (Catalysts for Community) program. This program was designed to create a pipeline of trained grant professionals and future nonprofit leaders.

Caroline said, "OLC is doing amazing things for the NWA community and it has been so fun to be a part of this time!" We will miss you Caroline, but we are excited to see what you do next!

Introducing our new conversation club: Questions Club. Topics will rotate weekly. They will meet on Thursdays from 12-1 PM.

Meets in the OLC Lobby. To learn more or join, contact OLC by calling (479) 521-8250 or emailing [email protected].