Literacy Program Celebrates Learners at Library EventCorona Del Mar Today: 9.08.2011
Effy Sanchez knew she needed to learn English — really learn to read and write and speak it — when her son was 5 years old and they were shopping at Kmart.
“He stopped me and he said, very loud, ‘You need to learn English,’” Sanchez said. “That made me so embarrassed. I knew in my head the first time I needed to learn English.”
Sanchez was born in Mexico and moved to the United States 26 years ago, but learning a second language always proved too difficult until a supervisor told her about the Newport Beach Public Library Literacy Services program. Her tutor, Vicky Smith, worked with her, helping her learn new words, grammar and how to read.
Today, Sanchez received the Rochelle Hoffman Memorial Award, given each year to a standout “learner” in the Literacy Services program. The award is named for a Corona del Mar woman who volunteered as a tutor before her death in 2004. Her daughters, Renee Hoffman Heath and Risa Hoffman, attended the event.
Sanchez lives in Costa Mesa and is a beacon for her community, Smith said during the ceremony today in the Friends Room of the Central Library. About 70 people attended the event, which was part of a celebration of International Literacy Day.
The library’s literacy program was established in 1986 and currently has 151 learners and 110 volunteer tutors. About 50 tutors are trained each year, but the program has about 30 people on a waiting list, said Cherall Weiss, literary services coordinator. READ MORE !
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