Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction Program

Portland Literacy Council is pleased to continue this important program, formerly known as Foundational Literacy, to train a cohort of tutors who will specialize in teaching native English-speaking adults to improve their reading, writing, and spelling skills. Today there are very few resources for people who cannot read at a third grade level. Thanks to generous support from Tangela Purdom and David Roth, PLC has partnered with the Language and Literacy Fund to create a special tutor curriculum and stives to match learners with tutors who have completed the training program. For more information or to sign up for the Foundational Literacy Program, please complete the appropriate form below.

Do you already have experience teaching adult literacy?

If you have experience teaching/tutoring literacy skills and would like to help, please email us at info@portlandliteracy.org or call 503-241-4041.

Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction
Summer Workshop Series – 2026

We are delighted to announce our 2026 series of workshops on Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction. Julie Hiefield and Susan Farra from Language and Literacy Fund will be our instructors, with support from Portland Literacy Council team members. These courses will give you tools to work with low-literacy adults who have strong vocabulary but struggle to read and write.

This year, we are making each of the five workshops available independently and also offering a single sign-up for the five-workshop series. If you are new to structured literacy techniques and want to work with a learner, we encourage you to take the series. The cost is $30 per workshop or $150 for the series.

Dates for the workshops are:

  • June 13, July 18, August 15, September 12, September 26
  • 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
  • Alternating between PCC Cascade and PCC Rock Creek with exact locations shared post-registration

Multiple resources will be made available during these workshops. Handouts will be provided on individual session topics. There is also a VERY comprehensive notebook from the Language and Literacy Fund, Resources for a Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support, that covers all the topics with many tools to use when tutoring and sound card decks to be used as a foundational resource for working with students on phonemes.

These two resources (notebook and sound cards) will be given to tutors who register for the five-workshop series thanks to a generous grant from Tangela Purdom and David Roth.

Tutors who attend individual workshops may borrow the resources during the workshop or buy them as they register. The notebooks cost $175 each (they are VERY comprehensive and cost us that much to produce), and sound card decks are $20.

Please contact Lorie (lwigle@portlandliteracy.org) with any questions.

NOTE: *Scholarships available thanks to a generous donation from the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary. Contact lwigle@portlandliteracy.org for more details.

We hope you’ll join us for this enormously helpful training.

Register for Five-Workshop Series for $150

Notebook and Sound Card Decks

This extensive notebook and helpful sound card decks may be used as a foundational resource for working with students on phonemes. These resources (valued at $195) will be given to tutors who register for the five-workshop series thanks to a generous grant from Tangela Purdom and David Roth. Tutors who attend individual workshops may borrow the resources during the workshop or buy them as they register. The notebook, Resources for a Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support, is $175, and sound card decks are $20.

2026 Curriculum

 

Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction – Summer Workshops
June 13, July 18, Aug. 15, Sept. 12, and Sept. 26 from 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., PCC Campuses TBA
Register for Five-Workshop Series
$150 Registration Fee (includes Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support Notebook (value $175) and Sound Card Decks (value $20))

Workshop 1: Science of Reading and Structured Literacy
June 13, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., PCC Campus TBA
Learn More and Register for Workshop 1
$30 Registration Fee
Optional: Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support Notebook – $175
Optional: Sound Card Decks – $20

Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction Summer Workshop Series
Workshop 2: Major Learning Pathways
July 18, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., PCC Campus TBA
Learn More and Register for Workshop 2
$30 Registration Fee
Optional: Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support Notebook – $175
Optional: Sound Card Decks – $20

Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction Summer Workshop Series
Workshop 3: Scope and Sequence in Structured Literacy
Aug. 15, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., PCC Campus TBA
Learn More and Register for Workshop 3
$30 Registration Fee
Optional: Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support Notebook – $175
Optional: Sound Card Decks – $20

Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction Summer Workshop Series
Workshop 4: Spelling Generalization
Sept. 12, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., PCC Campus TBA
Learn More and Register for Workshop 4
$30 Registration Fee
Optional: Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support Notebook – $175
Optional: Sound Card Decks – $20

Foundational Skills in Reading Instruction Summer Workshop Series
Workshop 5: Informal Reading Assessment
Sept. 26, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m., PCC Campus TBA
Learn More and Register for Workshop 5
$30 Registration Fee
Optional: Structured and Multisensory Approach to Literacy Support Notebook – $175
Optional: Sound Card Decks – $20

PLC presented at the Oregon ABS Conference

At the Oregon Adult Basic Skills (ABS) Conference, held in October, Julie Hiefield, Language & Literacy Fund, and Lorie Wigle, PLC Executive Director, presented a workshop on Foundational Literacy Building Blocks for Teaching Adults Who Struggle to Read. This workshop provided background on the program that began in 2024 to address gap in Portland-area adult literacy resources. Below are links to the presentation, templates and examples from the class.

Amy Grant, ESOL Instructor and Instructional DesignerBeaverton Literacy Council, has recorded four 2025 Foundational Literacy workshop tutorials that provide an overview of the full, in person, curriculum on Functional skills in reading instruction.

Workshop 1: Essential components of reading instruction; The science of reading and structured literacy; Print awareness; Phonological and phonemic awareness overview (click to watch video)

Workshop 2: Why explicit instruction? Working with phonemes; Development of the English language; Spelling (click to watch video)

Workshop 3: Dyslexia; Executive function; Teaching sight words; Historical layers of English (click to watch video)

Workshop 4: Learning to speak vs learning to read; Background knowledge and reading comprehension; Oral language dialects and learning to read (click to watch video)

NEW Workshop 5: Current state of US literacy, Addressing adult literacy; Applying research in reading instruction for adults (click to watch video)

Tangela Purdom explains her experience with dyslexia and motivation for helping others

TIP: To replay the original videos, refresh your browser using the F5 key.

Three participants in the Language & Literacy class share their stories

REQUEST MORE INFORMATION

FOR LEARNERS

Do you want to improve your reading, spelling, and writing skills?

Portland Literacy Council (PLC) has a new program for adults who want to improve their literacy skills (reading, writing, spelling).

Is the Foundational Literacy tutoring program right for you?

  • Are you a native English-speaking adult who wants to improve your reading, spelling, and writing skills?
  • Can you print or write the alphabet?
  • Can you meet with a tutor twice a week for 30-50 minutes in a public place?

If you are interested, please complete the form below. A Portland Literacy representative will contact you to discuss the program.

FOR TUTORS

Do you want to help native English-speakers improve their literacy skills?

Portland Literacy Council (PLC) has a new program – Foundational Literacy Tutoring – for people interested in volunteering to help adults improve literacy skills (reading, writing, and spelling). The program is based on the science of reading and teaches volunteer tutors how people learn to read and how to teach literacy skills.

Foundational Literacy Tutoring Overview

  • 20-plus hours of in-person training from licensed professional reading specialists.
  • Tutors/learners meet twice weekly for 30-50 minutes in a public space.
  • PLC asks that each volunteer commit to one school year (mid-September to mid-June, with regular school breaks).

If you are interested in volunteering as a tutor or would like more information, please complete the form below. A Portland Literacy representative will contact you to discuss the program.