Portal Tutoring
Portal Tutoring Newsletter, Fall 2008
Portal Tutoring
Ann K. Parsons, Tutor/CEO
Letter From the Editor
Portal Tutoring is happy to bring you its fall, 2008 Newsletter. It is packed with lots of news and we hope that you enjoy reading it, and that you will take advantage of the opportunities which are coming your way. We continue to promote our access philosophy which is that for those who are blind or visually impaired, access to a computer is vital. For everyone, being Computer Literate is a life skill, but for those of us who cannot read regular print, a computer is a doorway to information. Our philosophy is why our rates for tutoring private students are so low. If you need access to information, you should be able to get training in its use for a reasonable rate. The following articles will tell you how Portal Tutoring is implementing its philosophy to help others. Happy reading!
New Mailing List
We are happy to announce that your newsletter, in its electronic format, is available via our new mailing list. This is a one-way, announce only, mailing list. Up until now, Portal Tutoring was using a huge CC list. This was clumsy and ineffective. So, you can now get your newsletter via our new mailing list. Do not be worried. You will only get three to four mailings per year, perhaps two to three newsletters and a Christmas message. We promise not to spam you more than this. If you are not already subscribed to our mailing list, please feel free to do so by sending an email message to: portaltutoring-news-request@portaltutoring.info Put subscribe in the subject line. You rill receive a confirmation and will have to reply to it.
Portal Tutoring Receives A Grant
We are happy to announce that Portal Tutoring is one of the five grantees selected for the Abilities Fund's Women And Company Grant this year. This $2,000.00 grant is given to women with disabilities who run their own businesses so that they can improve these enterprises. We would like to publicly thank The Abilities Fund and its patrons for this grant and for their faith in Portal Tutoring and in what we are doing. We will be using the money to upgrade our software and hardware so that we can serve you, our customers better.
Training in VR Stream
Starting in July, Portal Tutoring will be offering training in the use of the Victor Reader Stream from Humanware. This small, yet feature-packed DAISY book reader and MP3 player has taken the blind community by storm! This player which is the size of a calculator can play books from Bookshare, NLS, Audible, RFB&D as well as text files, and music. It has become the DAISY book player of choice for many people. Portal Tutoring is happy to offer a short course in the use of this player and how to transfer books and music from your computer to this device. For more information about this new training opportunity, contact us.
New Curriculum, Writing
Portal Tutoring is pleased and proud to offer you, our customers a brand new curriculum, designed for everyone, sighted and blind alike, our Writing courses. Have you ever wished that you could improve the way in which you write? Do you ever feel inadequate when it comes to writing business letters, essays or other documents? Then, Portal Tutoring's new writing curriculum is for you. The curriculum comes in two parts: Writing Small Documents, and, Writing For Today.
Writing Small Documents is a series of small pamphlets designed to teach you how to write a specific type of document: a business letter, an ad, an essay. A complete list can be found at:
Writing For Today is a textbook written by Ann K. Parsons. Its emphasis is on the thought process which precedes any type of writing. Each chapter has exercises at the end so that you can practice your skills. You can purchase the book, or you can purchase our independent study course by that same name which comes on CD and contains fifteen MP3 files, classes to accompany each chapter of the textbook. We hope that you will like our new writing curriculum and will find it helpful.
Audio Classes
Portal Tutoring has expanded its audio classes to offer six basic Sound Foundations classes in computer concepts, plus a module containing four classes designed to help you use the System Access Mobile Network email. We hope that you will find these Sound Foundations classes to be of use. To order them online, please go to: Sound Foundations Audio Classes
One on One Tutoring
As usual, Portal Tutoring offers one-on-one tutoring for individuals in computers, braille specialized equipment, and now, in writing. Consult the web site at: Fees for pricing.
We hope that you all have a happy and fulfilling fall season, and we look forward to serving you and your training needs.
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