Life changes and family brought Chris Dirmeir from Long Island toOrrington in 2006, and while some things in her life did change, onething didn't: her commitment to volunteerism.
Today, she works full time as an administrative assistant atMaine Vitreoretinal Consultants in Bangor and spends part of herfree time teaching others to read through Literacy Volunteers ofBangor.
Chris is an English language tutor, a volunteer position shefound on the Internet and one she absolutely loves.
She comes to this avocation filled with enthusiasm and herspecial "bag of tricks" to help her students learn the Englishlanguage in the program formerly known as English as a SecondLanguage, or ESL.
Chris explained to me during a visit to the Bangor Daily Newsthat the ESL term no longer applies to those learning Englishbecause many of the students, while they don't speak English, mayspeak more than one language. Instead, the program is known asEnglish Language Learner.
LV-Bangor is gearing up for another session of ELL tutortraining, which will be conducted 6-9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday forfour weeks, beginning Jan. 11, at United Technologies Center, 200Hogan Road in Bangor.
The course fee is $35. Scholarships are available, and you canregister by calling LV-Bangor at 947-8451 or e-mail its executivedirector, Mary Lyon, at marylyon@lvbangor.org.
More information also is available at www.lvbangor.org.
Chris said volunteers and students set their own schedules,finding times, dates and places to meet that are convenient for bothof them.
Both tutor and student agree to a program commitment of at leastone hour a week for one year, but "it's a conscience commitment, nota formal one," Chris said.
Scheduling can be interesting, especially if both tutor andstudent are working, and sometimes that schedule has to be veryflexible.
Chris said it's great if you are able to work with someone at thesame time on the same day at the same place every week, but withtoday's work schedules, that's not always possible.
"You just do the best you can," she said, "and you find where youcan go to teach and learn. I often go to Starbucks or to thelibrary, although it would be nice if we had a place where we had abit more privacy."
Mention of the Bangor Public Library brought up a funny incidentChris told me about.
When she arrived at the library for a regular lesson and found itclosed, she called her student on her cell phone.
The student's husband answered "and told me to look over by thepark bench, and I'd see her coming up right behind me. She was therewaiting for me. So we went into the Chinese restaurant for ourlesson."
Chris said finding ways to help someone learn English is fun andchallenging and that identifying "common interests, or needs," isreally important. "And you have to be creative."
For example, if a student uses public transportation, the tutorcould get a copy of the city bus route. Aids to help with groceryshopping and banking are helpful, too.
If your student loves to cook, you can bring utensils to thetraining session.
Chris has been known to show up with measuring cups and spoons,or rulers, yardsticks and clocks.
One of her favorite tools is children's books, which students canlearn to read to their children.
"And once I discovered how to copy and paste on the computer,"she said, "I can do all kinds of things."
But to Chris, the "No. 1 benefit of being a literacy volunteer isthat when you help someone else, you are helping yourself."
"Helping build someone else's self-confidence helps build yourown self-confidence," she said.
"And there's nothing better than putting a smile on someone'sface, laughing and connecting with them."
If you are up for that, you might consider calling the numberabove and joining Chris Dirmeir as a proud member of LiteracyVolunteers of Bangor.
Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402;javerill@bangordailynews.com; 990-8288.
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