ReadWell Literacy · Fresno · Free, in English and SpanishReadWell Literacy · Fresno · Gratis, en inglés y en español
For mePara míI want to read and write betterQuiero leer y escribir mejorSmall, free classes for adults. Nobody else needs to know.Clases pequeñas y gratis para adultos. Nadie más tiene que saberlo.
For my childPara mi hijoMy child needs help readingMi hijo necesita ayuda para leerA reading buddy once a week, ages 5 to 12.Un compañero de lectura cada semana, de 5 a 12 años.
For othersPara otrosI'd like to tutorQuiero ser tutorTwo hours a week. We train you.Dos horas a la semana. Te capacitamos.Who we areQuiénes somos
Most of them hide it well. They memorize the bus routes, ask a grandchild to read the mail, and say they forgot their glasses at the doctor's. Then one day they want to read a letter from school, pass the citizenship test, or read a story to a grandchild. That is usually when they call us.La mayoría lo esconde bien. Se aprenden de memoria las rutas del camión, le piden a un nieto que lea el correo y en el doctor dicen que se les olvidaron los lentes. Un día quieren leer una carta de la escuela, pasar el examen de ciudadanía o leerle un cuento a un nieto. Casi siempre es entonces cuando nos llaman.
ReadWell has taught adults to read in Fresno since 1998. Classes are free, small and private. Some learners start in Spanish, because reading in your first language makes English much easier later. We also pair children with volunteer reading buddies at six schools and two libraries.ReadWell enseña a leer a adultos en Fresno desde 1998. Las clases son gratis, pequeñas y privadas. Algunos alumnos empiezan en español, porque leer en tu primer idioma hace que el inglés sea mucho más fácil después. También juntamos a niños con voluntarios de lectura en seis escuelas y dos bibliotecas.
ProgramsProgramas
All free, all year. New learners can start any week.Todo gratis, todo el año. Los alumnos nuevos pueden empezar cualquier semana.
Mon & Wed · 9 AM or 6 PMLun y mié · 9 AM o 6 PM
From sounding out words to reading the newspaper. Groups of six or fewer, with the same tutor every week.Desde deletrear palabras hasta leer el periódico. Grupos de seis o menos, con el mismo tutor cada semana.
Tue & Thu · 6 PMMar y jue · 6 PM
Learn to read and write in Spanish first. Many learners move to English classes after a year.Aprende primero a leer y escribir en español. Muchos pasan a las clases de inglés después de un año.
Tue · 10 AMMar · 10 AM
Practice speaking at the doctor, at a job interview and at a parent-teacher meeting.Practica hablar con el doctor, en una entrevista de trabajo y en la junta con el maestro.
After school · ages 5–12Después de clases · 5 a 12 años
One child, one volunteer, thirty minutes a week, all school year.Un niño, un voluntario, treinta minutos a la semana, todo el año escolar.
Last school yearEl año escolar pasado
August 2025 to June 2026, counted from our class sign-in sheets.De agosto de 2025 a junio de 2026, contado con las hojas de asistencia.
School year 2025–26Año escolar 2025–26
Reading levels measured with the same short assessment at the start and end of each term.Los niveles de lectura se miden con la misma evaluación corta al principio y al final de cada periodo.
In their wordsEn sus palabras
I read the whole menu at the taquería by myself. My daughter cried more than I did.Leí todo el menú de la taquería yo solo. Mi hija lloró más que yo.
I learned to write my name in Spanish first. Now I write notes to my son's teacher in English.Primero aprendí a escribir mi nombre en español. Ahora le escribo recados a la maestra de mi hijo en inglés.
My buddy is in third grade. In September he hid his book. Now he reads me the funny parts.Mi compañero está en tercer grado. En septiembre escondía su libro. Ahora me lee las partes chistosas.
Nobody laughed. That was the main thing.Nadie se rió. Eso fue lo más importante.
I passed my citizenship interview in March. I studied the hundred questions in this room.Pasé mi entrevista de ciudadanía en marzo. Estudié las cien preguntas en este salón.
I tutor two hours a week. It is the best two hours of my week.Doy tutorías dos horas a la semana. Son las mejores dos horas de mi semana.
Family Literacy NightNoche de lectura en familia
Parents in our adult classes bring their kids for supper, a story in both languages, and forty minutes of reading together on the carpet. Every child leaves with a new book of their own.Los papás de las clases para adultos traen a sus hijos a cenar, a escuchar un cuento en los dos idiomas y a leer juntos cuarenta minutos en la alfombra. Cada niño se lleva un libro nuevo.
It is the night most parents tell us they look forward to: the first time many of them have read aloud to their own children.Es la noche que más esperan muchos papás: para muchos, la primera vez que les leen en voz alta a sus propios hijos.
Call (555) 017-3020 or fill in a two-line form. We'll call you back the same day.Llama al (555) 017-3020 o llena un formulario de dos líneas. Te llamamos el mismo día.
Design notes
ReadWell teaches adults to read and write, in English and in Spanish, and pairs children with volunteer reading buddies. Many visitors read with difficulty, so the site itself had to be easy to read before it could be anything else.
Lexend was developed from reading-fluency research to reduce visual stress for struggling readers, which makes it the honest choice for a literacy charity rather than a stylistic one. Body text is Atkinson Hyperlegible at 18px, drawn for the Braille Institute so that letters people commonly confuse never look alike. Both carry Spanish accents and the ñ properly.
The deep teal is the cloth of an old library binding, and the yellow is a highlighter pen: the most-used tool in every one of our classrooms. The ground is a very pale green-gray rather than white, which cuts glare for readers with dyslexia. In dark mode the teal lifts to sea-glass so headings stay calm, and the highlighter stays bright.
A two-tier header puts class times, the phone number and 'Se habla español' above the main menu, because the first question most adult learners have is 'when, and can I call someone?'. The language switch sits in that strip and changes the whole page at once, never mixing two languages in one paragraph.
The home page opens with three doors: one for an adult who wants to read better, one for a parent, one for a would-be tutor. Asking an adult to admit they struggle to read is a big moment, so their door comes first and its wording is as plain and private as we could make it.
"Sign up for a class" is the main action, because a class feels ordinary, like signing up for a gym. Parents get "Get a reading buddy", and donors are asked to "Buy a learner's books", a gift people can picture.
Adults learning at kitchen tables and in small classrooms, children reading on sofas and floors. No graduation caps and no sad close-ups. We chose photographs where the learner is doing the reading, not being read to.
Short sentences throughout, at roughly a fifth-grade reading level in both languages. All text passes WCAG AA in both themes, and links are always underlined or styled as buttons, never signalled by color alone. Forms ask for the minimum: a name and a way to reach you.
Every text pairing is checked against WCAG 2.2 in both themes.
| Pairing | Sample | Ratio | WCAG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body text on page | Aa | 15.19:1 | AAA |
| Body text on cards | Aa | 16.67:1 | AAA |
| Secondary text | Aa | 5.54:1 | AA |
| Links | Aa | 6.84:1 | AA |
| Button text | Aa | 7.5:1 | AAA |
| Accent label text | Aa | 12.44:1 | AAA |
| Text on dark bands | Aa | 15.19:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on dark bands | Aa | 8.01:1 | AAA |
| Text on brand bands | Aa | 7.5:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on brand bands | Aa | 5.0:1 | AA |
| Pairing | Sample | Ratio | WCAG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body text on page | Aa | 15.47:1 | AAA |
| Body text on cards | Aa | 13.79:1 | AAA |
| Secondary text | Aa | 6.95:1 | AA |
| Links | Aa | 9.13:1 | AAA |
| Button text | Aa | 9.7:1 | AAA |
| Accent label text | Aa | 13.2:1 | AAA |
| Text on dark bands | Aa | 16.72:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on dark bands | Aa | 8.48:1 | AAA |
| Text on brand bands | Aa | 9.7:1 | AAA |
| Muted text on brand bands | Aa | 5.77:1 | AA |
Designed by Greater Purpose Web. Names, people and events are sample content.