California Literacy Calendar: June 2009

California Literacy Calendar: June 2009

SCLLN Literacy & Library Events & Conferences

-local, California and National Conferences-

visit

Southern California Library Literacy Network

for more information

Tutor Training Workshops scrolling in left frame

Local: June 2009

May 2009

May 30: 8 am
Adult Learner Conference – ILS
Corona Public Library

May 30 – 1:30 pm
Gift of Dyslexia Tour – Ron Davis
Santa Monica

June 7: 3 pm
Carlsbad City Library Learning Center
25th Anniversary

June 13
READ/San Diego Tutor Conference
Joan Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
University of San Diego

June 13: 5 pm
Adult Learner Leadership Institute Graduation
Gonzales Community Center
Colton CA

June 19: 12 Noon
25th Anniversary Tea
Huntington Beach Public Library

June 21: 8 am
Golf 4 Literacy Father's Day
Hemet Public Library
Golden Era Golf Course
San Jacinto CA

California & National: June 2009

June 11-13
National Community Literacy Leadership Conference
Hyatt Regency - Buffalo NY

June 22-25
Birth to Three Institute Marriot
Washington DC

June 25-27
Summer Literacy Institute – NCFL
Louisville Kentucky

Orange Co Library - Tutor Spotlight: Al Corson

Tutor Spotlight: Al Corson
READ WRITES: April 2009

By her own admission, Al Corson has been tutoring “since dirt.” She began tutoring because she wanted to do something meaningful with her retirement. “I think everybody has a responsibility to give back and share with the community,” she says, “and besides, you can only travel so much”.

Since she came to READ/OC in 2003, Al has worked with over 50 learners, both as individuals and in small groups. She is currently working with a group of ESL learners in Midway City as well as a conversation class in Irvine.

Over the years, Al has also volunteered in the READ/OC office, helped with special events, and offered her experience to other tutors interested in teaching a conversation class. She is always willing to help out wherever she is most needed. If she were to offer advice to new tutors, Al would tell them to be flexible and remember that they will learn as much as their learners do from the tutoring experience.

“Go with the flow, and don’t be afraid to be creative. Sometimes what you plan isn’t what you do,” she says.

Al certainly follows that philosophy when working with her learners. She feels that ESL learning should be hands on and draw from the learners’ own experiences. Some of her creative lesson plans include: asking her learners to bring pictures of their families to talk about in class or tell about holidays in their homeland, playing games like Uno or Bingo, putting Post-It notes in English on objects in the classroom, and using physical objects such as origami, plastic food, place settings, and play money to engage all the senses to introduce vocabulary.

Al has been honored with numerous awards over the years, including most recently the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2008. She hopes to continue to help her learners adapt to life in the US for many years to come !

CA Library Literacy: Social Networking Update

California Library Literacy: Social Networking

Southern California Library Literacy Network

member libraries on Twitter

Check out SCLLN's tweets !

Burbank Public Library: Burbankliteracy
Monrovia Public Library: Monrovialit
SCLLN: scllnliteracy

and up North:
Contra Costa County Library: PSCLiteracy

SCLLN member libraries on Facebook and MySpace @

Literacy Tribune: May 2009

Literacy Tribune: May 2009

United Literacy, a non-profit organization, provides resources and support to adult literacy learners in the United States. Its aim is to make literacy education accessible and worthwhile for adult learners.

Main Story: Protect Yourself from the Flu
~ The current outbreak of swine flu has everyone thinking about the flu.

A Learner's Poem
~ I'm a Silent Old Tree by Rodolfo Diaz

Member Spotlight:
~ When Juan Munoz, 28, counsels a student with a learning disability, he understands what they are going through.

Technology Watch
~ Mac OS X Desktop Basics

A History Lesson: The Civil War

Call for Writers !
Are you an adult learner ?
Do you want to write ?
Do you want to publish your writing ?

The Literacy Tribune is looking for adult learner writers.

You can write about:
Literacy resources you like
Your literacy organization
Your road to literacy
You can write book reviews, poetry, short stories
You can write articles about health, finance, or technology
You can write just about anything

Easy Voter's Guide: May 19 Election 2009

EASY VOTER’S GUIDE
California Special Election: May 19, 2009

For new readers and busy voters.

The 2009-10 budget adopted in February depends on $5.8 billion from Propositions 1C, 1D and 1E. If voters reject those propositions, the Legislature and Governor will have to come up with more spending cuts and tax increases or find another way to balance the budget.

The 6 statewide propositions on the ballot come from a recent agreement on how to deal with spending commitments that were $41.7 billion higher than projected state revenue. Some voters may also have local measures or offices on their ballot.

Read about the Propositions or Watch videos @

Proposition 1A State Budget
Proposition 1B Public Education Funding
Proposition 1C California State Lottery
Proposition 1D Transfer of Child Development Funds
Proposition 1E Transfer of Mental Health Funds
Proposition 1F Pay Raises for State Officials

The Easy Voter's Guide was started when a group of public library adult literacy students [ Bay Area New Readers Council ] felt that there was a lack of nonpartisan voter information accessible to adults still working on their reading skills.

Some of their innovations, job descriptions for each political office, have been adopted by the Secretary of State's official Voter Information Guide.

The nonpartisan “Easy Voter Guide” (formerly Easy Reading Voter Guide) has been published for every California statewide election since 1994. It is a service of:

~ League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
~ California State Library
~ California Secretary of State's Office
~ The James Irvine Foundation provides additional support

CLARION Spring Issue - Literacy

CLArion

A Publication of the California Library Association
Volume 5 • Issue 1 • April 2009

Welcome to the spring issue of CLARION everyone!

Dedicating this issue to literacy is so appropriate because just as the spring season is a time of rebirth and renewal, library literacy services allow those involved to experience a type of rebirth and improvement in their lives. And certainly at the heart of any library, no matter which type, is the improvement of our users’ literacy in many areas:

• Basic literacy
• Early literacy
• Computer literacy
• Information literacy
• Consumer literacy
• Family literacy

I hope you find the articles here inspiring and perhaps, throughout this issue, identify people with whom you might partner or share information. As we all deal with our budgets this year, let’s remember that literacy programs should be considered basic core services and not partially or underfunded “extra” programs. Some of us, I know, need to fight for that core funding and are particularly grateful to the state library’s literacy grant programs that allow us to provide these essential services.

To all who work with literacy in all its forms, thank you for your enthusiasm and commitment. Thank you for being the champions of providing people with the opportunity to be not only literate, but smarter and better informed in their lives. In these times of economic upheaval and information overload it is more important than ever for libraries to let their constituents, their politicians, and their stakeholders know how our literacy efforts impact the lives of those we serve. Don’t be shy; market the fabulous results of your programs.

Speaking of being better informed, the CLA Transition Tool Kit has been distributed to chairs of current sections, round tables and committees. It is also available on the CLA website. I hope everyone has an opportunity to take a look at this document so we are all better informed about the transition to our new governance structure.

Barbara L. Roberts
2009 California Library Association President

Table of Contents
~ California Library Literacy Services By Susan Hildreth
~ The Wednesday Night Readers By John Gildersleeve
~ The CLLS AmeriCorps Initiative By Susan Empizo
~ Adult Learners Leading the Way By Shanti Bhaskaran and Rosie Manela
~ The Business of Building Hope in Salinas By Mary Ellison and Elizabeth Martinez
~ Writer to Writer Challenge By Shanti Bhaskaran
~ Changing Lives in Solano County By Ann Cousineau
~ Adult Learner and Tutor Profiles

Click on links for more information about:
Writer to Writer
Adult Learners Leading the Way [ ALLI ]