To think of adult literacy programming is to — probably — think about remedial services, those for people who need extra help, didn't learn in school, or maybe had an unidentified learning difference that made reading difficult at best.
The STAR Literacy program in downtown Bloomington offers these kinds of services, but the adult-oriented program housed within Regional Office of Education #17 also offers tutoring for people whose first language is not English — ESL students, formally — and there's been an increase in demand.
"We currently have about 80 (ESL students) working with tutors and we have a waitlist of about 20 students," STAR literacy coordinator Andrea Canales said in a recent interview. "For a point of reference, last year we about 65 or 70 ESL students, so yes, we are definitely on an uptick."
Canales recently took over the position of literacy coordinator from Sheila Diaz, who'd been in that office for more than 30 years. The nonprofit has been awarded an annual grant from the Illinois Secretary of State to fund its services since 1985. Because it's within ROE #17, it serves DeWitt, Livingston and Logan counties, in addition to McLean.
The recent spike in ESL students is likely a combination of multiple things, Canales said, including word-of-mouth testimonials from other ESL students. But immigration, she said, is definitely a factor.
"I do think we are seeing an uptick in immigration to our community, but I also think that we've tried to increase marketing our services to potential students," she said. "Rivian has brought a lot of engineers to our community that are coming from Latin America, so we have a lot of the engineers and the spouses of engineers coming in."
Canales said those type of students coming in usually test very high for English to begin with, but since the knowledge is technical English, it's the conversational skills that they're seeking help with. That's prompted STAR to begin partnering with the Bloomington Public Library for monthly conversation students, offer mock job interviews, feature the Community Health Care Clinic to provide medical information and more. The Western Avenue Community Center is also among STAR's partners.
"We're trying to connect our program more to the community," Canales said. "In September, we held our first conversation class at the McLean County Museum of History and they gave our students a free tour ... and they got to learn about the history of immigration to McLean County. (The students) were just like, 'We want more of this.'"
Most of STAR's ESL students currently are Spanish-speakers, coming from Latin America. Canales said some have come from Brazil, speaking Portuguese, and others from the Democratic Republic of Congo, speaking French. Other students hail from Turkey, Vietnam and Morocco.
Canales said STAR is seeking to strengthen its work alongside that of the Immigration Project, which serves immigrants in Central and Southern Illinois. Their ability to help students overlaps in multiple ways, Canales said.
"We have many students who have obtained citizenship — for that, our role is not to advise on legal aspects, but to prepare them for their citizenship exam, written and oral," she said. "We've had a number of students who have either gotten citizenship, felt like their English improved enough so they went for a promotion at work and got it, or that's led to them buying their home here. There's just so many wonderful things can come out of this."
To get the remaining students off the waitlist, Canales said STAR needs more volunteers; a number of those on the organization's roster have gone inactive. There's not a need to speak any language other than English, and STAR provides the 12-hour training a volunteer needs before starting, which can be done entirely online. The commitment adds up to about 90 minutes once-a-week, which Canales says "makes a huge impact."
"What we're really trying to do is not just make this about grammar and learning English, but getting a connection to the place where their new home is," she said.
