ADULTS GET 2ND CHANCE AT READING VOLUNTEER TUTORS GIVE ONE-ON-ONE LESSONS.

Byline: Angie Valencia-Martinez Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - In California, one in four adults has trouble reading and writing.

``And that's not English language learners,'' said Carol Chapman, manager of the adult literacy program for Ventura County libraries. ``We have an endless group of people to draw from.''

They are mothers, fathers, neighbors and workers who have difficulty writing a check or reading a newspaper, medicine labels or a bus schedule.

In her role, Chapman attempts to bridge the gap between the readers and nonreaders in the Simi Valley and Moorpark area, where 29 adults currently await assignments of reading tutors through the literacy program.

The adult learners - 24 in Simi Valley and five in Moorpark - all are seeking help learning to read, said Paula Petrossi of the literacy program.

The program provides free, one-on-one tutoring for any adult who wants help with reading and writing. There is only one qualification: the learner has to speak English well enough to communicate with a tutor.

``We work with people that have never been to school, don't know the alphabet, as well as those who have gone all the way in the public school system and can't read,'' Chapman said.

The problem is common, according to Sylvester Pues, a literacy and learning-disability specialist with California Literacy Inc., the nation's oldest and largest statewide adult volunteer literacy organization. Also a former Simi Valley Unified School District teacher, he worked in Ventura County for 25 years as a teacher and administrator.

Significant numbers of today's workers have skills barely adequate to do their jobs, he said. And workers are facing more and more sophisticated demands.

According to Pues, there are three main groups with literacy problems.

The largest group learned English only as a second language. Adults in another group never got phonics instruction in their early school years or throughout public schooling.

``For 40 years or more, students in the public school system were taught in the whole-word approach, not phonics,'' he said. ``When they come to words with two or more syllables, they will not have the skills to decode those words or figure out what it says.''

People in the third group have some type of learning disability and should have been given special attention in school, but weren't.

The literacy program in Ventura County libraries operates out of various satellite sites - including one at the Simi Valley Library, 2969 Tapo Canyon Road.

And because 60 percent to 70 percent of incarcerated adults have reading problems, the program also reaches out to them. Tutors are assigned to the California Youth Authority facility near Camarillo and the county jail in Ventura.

Most people in the program are 35 to 50 years old. Entry-level jobs that used to require little expertise are more demanding now.

Others come to pass a high school-equivalency test or the citizenship test, organizers said.

The program now has 120 tutors. The training schedule will begin in Ventura in January. An orientation session and training for the program is scheduled for Simi Valley in March.

Begun 20 years ago, the program is funded by grants, fund-raisers and donations. Every year, about 300 people enroll in the program.

For more information, call [phone].

Angie Valencia-Martinez, [phone]

angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com