Hello!

My name is Putri Agustinos /putˈri aɡusˈtinos/. Yes, my name is as easy to say as it looks because it’s written phonetically :)

I am currently a Program Manager of Volunteers and Literacy Teacher at Literacy Partners. Besides managing volunteers for our programming, I teach reading to adult learners (1) across New York City. I teach emergent reader to improve their literacy skills through phonetic-based and morphology-based lessons as they progress. The reading materials I made are based on the target lesson they learn, for example, if they’re learning the prefix dis-, reading materials I chose for them to read will have words that have the prefix dis- in them.

Outside of work, I’m a linguist at heart. I love to study how contact and variation shape the structure of languages, with a particular focus on Austronesian indigenous languages of Indonesia. I am interested in investigating more about this as I am part of an indigenous community in Indonesia, who live in contact with other indigenous communities in rural Bengkulu, Sumatra Island, Indonesia. I am interested in analyzing the language syntax, typology, and hopefully, documenting the language, as most indigenous languages in Indonesia are endangered. I hold an M.S.Ed. from the Department of Educational Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.

(1) According to American Library Association (2019), adult learners are individuals over the age of 16 who did not complete their K- 12 education, or who possess a high school diploma or equivalent but nevertheless have gaps in basic skills such as reading, math, or spoken English.” Most are employed and are parents or primary caregivers of school-age children. Adult learners come to the library with a wealth of life experiences and knowledge. They are goal-oriented, focused on meaningful lessons and achievable goals, and motivated to learn.