Literacy Event Honors Volunteers, “Learners”Corona Del Mar Today: September 16, 2010
About 150 people gathered at the Newport Beach Central Library today to celebrate International Literacy Day with an international feast, speeches by library officials and “learners” who participate in the library’s literacy program.
“When I came two years ago to the U.S., I felt extremely lonely,” said Yana Newberg in her first-ever public speech given in English. “It was difficult every time when I went out. In a store, it was difficult to explain what I would like.”
Then she found the library’s literacy program, which offers one-on-one tutoring as well as computer skills, life skills assistance and help in preparing for tests like driver’s license exams, or GEDs.
“People tell me I speak English well,” she said. “It’s a great feeling.”
The library’s literacy program was established in 1986. The program currently has 130 learners and 100 volunteer tutors, with a waiting list in spite of training about 50 tutors annually.
One tutor, Corona del Mar resident Rochelle Hoffman, loved the program so much that two of her friends established a scholarship in her name after she died in 2004.
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This year’s Rochelle Hoffman Memorial Award winner is Claude Bonham, who made his first appointment for tutoring in August 2007. READ MORE !
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