SwapPlus ISSUE 002, the Yellow Edition
Newsletter for Volunteer Tutors[Monday, May 19, 2008]
SwapPlus ISSUE 002, the Yellow Edition
The Newsletter for Volunteer Tutors in the Dunoon and Cowal area of Argyll.
Hi and welcome to the second edition of SwapPlus. This is intended to be in support of our SwapShops with some advance notice of events, follow ups on topics covered and items contributed by tutors in the spirit of Swapping Good Ideas. We all constantly learn by the experience of others so swap away. The format will probably change as the editor learns and pictures can be included if you have any. You will notice a contact section toward the end and if you are willing to have your details included please send them to the editor either by Email or a note via Sallie.
Contents:
Celebration of Learning
Year of Reading
Spelling Counts
Contacts
Dates 2008
Wed 7 May (7-9pm) SWAPSHOP Com Ed Centre WS1
Thu 21 Aug (10-12noon) SWAPSHOP Com ED Centre WS1
Please send any items for either to Sallie.
Tutors for the Drop-In
A few tutors have been volunteering in the Drop-in on a Wednesday morning to provide extra support to Nicky as the paid tutor. This has made a real difference to the learners in terms of individual support. Sallie would to hear from any tutor who would like to become part of the Wednesday volunteering rota and also anyone who might be interested in paid tutoring work should it become available. We don’t know yet if funding will be available for tutoring but sometimes opportunities come up at short notice and it would be useful to have a list to contact quickly. 
National Year of Reading
Have a look at
and let Sallie know if there is anything we could do locally.
Our Celebration of Learning.
We went to Lochgoilhead by car for The Celebration of Learning. The hotel looked really nice apart from that there was no easy access for people with crutches and wheelchairs.
It was nice to see different people from different places and to hear and see what they are learning. The Workshops were good, but the poetry was the best of the two. The staff at the hotel were very good and the food was excellent. The tutors from Edward Street were very supportive and we would not have got there without them.
One disappointment was that one of the Learners did not get her work printed, which disappointed the tutors and the rest of the Learners in our group. However there are going to be some more books printed with everyone’s work included.
We would like to thank the tutors for their support, as we would not have done it without them, we all had a very good day. 
From the Edward Street Learners who took part. Robinette and Janet.
Spelling Counts
Or does it? It seems that around a third of adults have problems with spelling some fairly common words such as ‘questionnaire’ and ‘liaison’. The decline in ability to spell correctly is blamed on the predictive text function on mobile phones and the use of spell checkers on computers. A fair numbers of people think it unimportant to spell correctly and do not care if others do not do so either. That’s as may be but they could loose a job or customer over careless spelling. If we do not spell correctly then we will not say the words correctly and this could lead to verbal confusion. Maybe the problem is the other way round and poor diction leads to poor spelling. For example how many people say ‘definately’ when they really mean ‘definitely’? So does it matter? We all manage to get along by and large. You decide but here is a list of commonly misspelled words. If you care, send your pet list to the editor and get them published in the next SwapPlus.
Questionnaire - 2 ’n’s
Accommodate - 2 ‘c’s and 2 ‘m’s
Liaison - watch for the extra ‘i’
Existence - no ’a’
Occurrence - 2 ‘r’s as well as 2 ‘c’s
Referring - only 1 ‘f’
Millennium - a particular problem for the editor in a previous job.
Embarrassing - yes it really is!
Note that the editor is using a speller checker to get things right hopefully.
Contacts
Sallie Condy
Adult Literacy & Numeracy Worker
Dunoon
01369 704669
sallie.condy@argyll-bute.gov.uk
Duncan Findlay
Volunteer Tutor and SwapPlus Editor
Lochgoilhead
01301 703260
The Editor is grateful to all who have contributed to this issue of SwapPlus. I am happy always looking for more things to print. Please don’t wait till asked, just send it in when you have something.
SwapPlus ISSUE 002, the Yellow Edition was posted by Nasreen Kharegat. To discuss any of its subject matter further please contact n.kharegat@switchontoliteracies.co.uk
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