Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Newport Beach Library :: Learner's Corner

Learner’s Corner

Literally Speaking: May/June 2016

If I were a writer, I would probably be writing such books as The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Or for example, Sounder William H. Armstrong. I learned about these books at the lessons Writing workshop from my teacher Sylvia. These two books have a common idea to show the strength of the human spirit. And just about how people survive in difficult conditions for them.

Sounder
Sounder is American novel by H. William Armstrong. This book about young AfricanAmerican boy and his family, who lived on plantation in the South during the 19th century. His dog Sounder helped him and his poor family survive during hard time life. This novel show the courage, love and faith that bind an African-American family together despite the racism inhumanity they face.


Another book called The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. This simple
The Old Man
and the Sea
story, dramatic and suspenseful about old deep-sea fisherman who named Santiago and who lived off the fishing villages along the Cuban coast. After 84 days without a fish the old man caught on the hook for a huge Marlin. The old man was left alone in a fight with a huge fish, the ocean and a bunch of sharks. He was able to survive and return to the beach with a huge fish skeleton.

On our lesson, we read the synopsis of the book, got acquainted with the biography of the author. And then Sylvia brought a book and we read some chapters of the text. Together we discussed the main idea of the book and shared their impressions. It was all very interesting and informative.

I am very grateful to Sylvia for these interesting lessons, where I met with outstanding American writers Ernest Hemingway and William H. Armstrong and their books. I’d want to read them whole and tell about them to my friends. Sviatlana Kandybovich

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

San Diego Co Library :: VC Man Celebrates Becoming a US Citizen

VC man celebrates becoming a US citizen
Valley Roadrunner: 5.19.2016 by David Ross

It was an all-American celebration, complete with small American flags, a big cake, congratulations and lots of smiles. And a few tears.

In a few days, on May 25 Leonardo Zuniga will join hundreds of men and women in San Diego’s Golden Hall in repeating this oath

═════════►
Zuniga, who recently changed his last name from Zuñiga in order to make it easier to pronounce— following a grand tradition established by countless millions who landed at Ellis Island in New York City over many decades— celebrated his pending U.S. citizenship Tuesday night at a reception hosted for him by the Valley Center Library.

The event celebrated his graduation from the San Diego County Library (SDCL) Citizenship Program, passing his United States Citizenship Interview, and being scheduled to take the oath on May 25.

With tears in his eyes Zuniga accepted the praise of his teacher, Citizenship Instructor, Graciela Schneider, a native of Argentina, who has lived in the United States for many years, and who teaches the weekly Citizenship classes every Tuesday night.

“He finished the program in six months, not knowing a word of English when he started,” she said. Zuniga was the first student to complete the program at VC Library.

She noted that during her classes she doesn’t let the student speak at all in Spanish, and with a twinkle in her eyes added, “If I slipped into Spanish Leonardo would say, ‘Say in English!’ ”

Mrs. Schneider was also recognized for her dedication to the program by VC branch manager Laura Zuckerman and Susan Moore, San Diego County Library Deputy Director, who was once a literacy tutor, and currently directs the library system’s “Learn program.”   READ MORE @

Library To Host Citizenship Workshops

San Diego County Library (SDCL) will present a free Citizenship Workshop every Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. through 2016 at the Imperial Library Branch, 847 Encina Avenue. Participants will learn about the eligibility requirements for becoming United States citizens, and receive legal assistance with the citizenship application process. All are welcome to attend, but a limited number of seats are available; call the Imperial Beach Library at 619-424-6981 to check for availability.

The workshop will supplement an ongoing series of weekly citizenship classes held at the El Cajon Library. Coordinated by SDCL’s L.E.A.R.N. adult literacy program, these classes help immigrants prepare for their naturalization exams by providing assistance with the 100 civics questions and English language skills.

Kevin Vigil, L.E.A.R.N. coordinator, says, “The purpose of the San Diego County Library’s Citizenship Class Program is to help prepare immigrants to pass their naturalization exam. L.E.A.R.N. completes our program and allows us to offer free legal assistance for the naturalization application process.”

The San Diego County Library is dedicating to serve all members of our community, and to ensuring that San Diego is a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. It is our goal to provide information to those in need so that they can be certain that they are well-informed about topics relevant to them.

For more information about the workshop or citizenship classes at the Imperial Beach Library, please call (619) 424-6981. For information about San Diego County Library, visit www.sdcl.org.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Newport Beach Library :: Helene Chaban: Spirit of Volunteerism Awards 2016

Helene Chaban:
Spirit of Volunteerism Awards 2016
Newport/Mesa Proliteracy
OneOC: 3.08.2016

Helene joined our program just two years ago as a volunteer tutor. In this time, she has taken on more and more responsibility. Helen began in the program by tutoring one adult learner. Soon, she took on another and another; teaching them not only literacy skills but changing their lives with her life skills lessons and friendship. In 2015, Helene stepped up to chair our annual fundraising event, The Gift of Literacy Luncheon. Her calm leadership and innate style inspired the committee and the community to support Newport/Mesa 
ProLiteracy, making the 2015 luncheon one of our most successful. Helene has not stopped here… always looking for the next mountain, she has now started to volunteer at the Friends of the Library bookstore where she will make a huge impact. Helene has been a terrific asset to our program in so many ways. Her leadership, enthusiasm, and calm under pressure is a lesson to all of us to be the best we can in whatever we do.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Summer Reading :: Lunch @ the Library | Summer Meals | Los Angeles | San Diego | Ventura | Glendora | Upland

Tweet – Tweeter – Tweetest
Superlatives from SCLLN

Read for the win!
Our summer reading programs—for kids, teens & adults—start 6/13.

@LAPublicLibrary  3 Jun 2016



The Summer Reading Challenge starts tomorrow!
PREVIEW of the SRC prizes

@sdcountylibrary 31 May 2016


Spread the word
CA Public Libraries are serving free lunches to kids this summer.

@CAStateLibrary  7 Jun 2016

Summer Reading has begun.
This years theme is Read for the Win
 Sign up today and Stop Summer Slide!

@vencolibrary 1 Jun 2016


Summer Reading is upon us!
This year registration will be taking place online
with our brand new Summer Reading...

@UplandLibrary 3 Jun 2106


We're Starting Summer Early...
Who's Ready to Join Us?
The 2016 Summer Reading Challenge

@CityofGlendora 25 May 2016

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

San Diego Public Library :: READ/San Diego :: Reading Turns Woman’s Life Around

Reading turns woman’s life around
San Diego Union Tribune: 5.22.2016 by  John Wilkens

With its nationally ranked universities and thriving science and engineering hubs, San Diego County is increasingly known as a place for smart people. More than 60 percent of those who move here now have college degrees, according to one recent study.

It’s also home to almost a half-million adults who are illiterate. They can’t help their kids with homework, can’t fill out job applications, can’t read this story.

Amelia Sandoval used to be one of them.

Born in San Diego, she grew up in a household with a mother who was there in theory and a father who wasn’t there at all, she said. She was left alone sometimes with a TV and a cat as companions.

“School,” she said, “wasn’t really enforced.”

She stopped going in the fifth grade. Authorities put her in foster care, but she kept running away to hang out downtown. “I sold drugs, stole stuff and did whatever I wanted to do,” she said. “I had my own little crew.”

Stints in Juvenile Hall and child-protection receiving homes didn’t steer Sandoval from the course she was on. Being unable to read didn’t bother her much, either. “You don’t need to know how to read to pop open a car,” she said.

═════════►
A letter she couldn’t read

When people hear Sandoval’s story, they sometimes ask whether her parents had books in the home when she was growing up.

“Books?” she replies. “We were lucky if we had furniture.”

That’s not unusual among adults who are illiterate, said Valerie Hardie, administrator for READ/San Diego, the city library’s adult literacy program, which is where Sandoval went for help. “They grew up in homes where the parents didn’t read well, there were no books in the home, and they couldn’t model a life of learning,” she said.

Others had health issues as children that took them out of school, or had learning disabilities that went undiagnosed or were poorly understood.  READ MORE @



Saturday, June 4, 2016

Summer Reading :: Kate DiCamillo | Lunch @ Library :: CA State Library | Gifts for Grads | Re-Reading

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Superlatives from SCLLN

Newsmaker Kate DiCamillo
on summer reading, her new book, and why libraries are "amazing"




@amlibraries  26 May 2016


summermeal Lunch @ the Library champions
@CAStateLibrary's Greg Lucas & Ontario Pub Lib's Mover&Shaker






@CA_SummerMeals 01 Jun 2016



Need summer reading recommendations for kids?
Lisa Fink's blog is chock-full of ReadWriteThink ideas


@ncte 4 Jun 2016


Summer 2016’s Must-Have Children’s Books



@BookishHQ 4 Jun 2016 


8 books that would make excellent gifts for grads





@BookRiot  27 May 2016


Re-Reading Books From Childhood Through Adult Eyes


@ReadBrightly  27 May 2016

Friday, June 3, 2016

Altadena Library :: Adult Literacy Tutor

Bob Lucas Memorial Branch Adult Literacy Tutor, Stephner White
Connect: May 2016 From the Director

The backbone of Let’s ReadAltadena’s Adult Literacy Program is our hard working and passionate volunteer tutors. Without their knowledge and assistance, our program would not be able to provide the tutoring services for our adult learners. Our tutors do not require advanced degrees in education or even experience in tutoring. They just need the desire to help another person to read and write. People coming in with that desire just need a place to work with a learner, a little bit of training, and the workbooks, which we provide.

Stephner “Steff” White has been a tutor with our literacy program for several years, and has worked with many learners in our program. During high school, she worked with computers and telephones, which led to her being involved in communications and training with the city of Los Angeles. Steff always felt a calling to be a teacher so she began tutoring during, and after, college. We asked Steff why she decided to tutor at Let’s Read Altadena and she expressed her wish to work with her Altadena community and that she had been influenced by Roberta Lauderdale, who was our literacy coordinator from 1996 to 2014 before she passed away.

While working with learners in our program, Steff said that her overall goal is to learn about the person she is tutoring and discovering what they want to accomplish with their literacy skills. This is a regular process for many of our tutors and the initial steps they take before working on the literacy needs of their learner. Steff uses many of the literacy materials we have for our tutors and learners, but she states, “being in a library,  I have all of the resources I need!”