Newport Beach Library - Adult Learner Blog -a special potluck party

a special potluck party
beginner… learner… December 4, 2010

to me, the special table with having Afsaneh, Yucari, Frencine and her son, Bruce and his son, daughter.

I got up early in the morning today compared to any other weekend because I had to cook Kabocha salad until 8:30 am at least for 2010 Holiday Potluck & Annual Meeting hold by Newport Beach Public Library Literacy Program at Newport Coast Community Center. I was done everything for the potluck party, I started the engine of my car and I turned off the engine after 15 minutes.

I took out a rectangular foil tray from the trunk of my car, I walked to main entrance.

As soon as I pushed the door, a nice woman was standing nearby sort of a reception desk.

"Hi!" "Good Morning!" I said first...I think I said first....

"Good Morning!" she also said after me. Right after the greeting, I felt so cozy.

If you are an English native-speaker, you might don't know that someone's 'hello' with a smile face make me comfortable when I go to somewhere alone even the saying is hello.

The party was started a harmonic performance by Edie and Friends. Everyone at the party was busy to talk to each other, and they seemed to be happy to be there. During Brunch sequence of the annual party, I emptied my plate which was filed with exotic foods, and absolutely I left the space for desserts in my stomach. Right after I tried many varied sweet which looked like decorations for Christmas dessert table. You know....when I am in party and I see assorted desserts, I feel that 'I am really in America.' hahahaha.....anyway...

I had a wonderful time with leaders and learners. The party was so great as annual. And there were special moments at the party to me. Firstly, I met Afsaneh at the party. She was a great learner, but she couldn't attend the literacy programs after getting her job. I missed her. Finally I met her today. She had a seat next to me, we talked to each other about saying hello, other learners, news of new class in the literacy program. Moreover Bruce, a wonderful leader, got the prize Volunteer of the Year. I'm sure that he deserves to get the honor. Congratulation Bruce!! I also met his son, Chris, who is gentle and was a good helper in Thursday class during winter break, and his pretty daughter, Candace. And, Yucari won the raffle. She got a gorgeous gift basket as a prize. The above people had the same table with me. Lastly, I was happy to see Afkaham again. She is still in therapy for her shoulder taken a surgery, but her looking was better than I visited her before. Those moments were special to me today.....

there are Bruce and Cherall. Bruce! Congratulation again!



Everything was too good to be true.

From Jiyoung Kang's beginner... learner... blog. Thank you to Ms Kang for letting me including her post on the SCLLN blog. Wish more learners would create and write blogs about their experiences -Congratulations Ms Kang !

Monrovia Library - Learner Poetry

Learner Poetry
Monrovia Literacy Blog
July 26, 2010

One of our learners wrote this poem, which I thought was lovely. Please feel free to post any comments about it or comments for me to pass on to the learner !

A girl dreamed of going to a foreign country,
she imagined she would be free from having her parents lecture her on her behavior.
one day, her dream came true. she felt very happy and free,
but she felt very lonely all day long.
she lived with her family in her dream at night.
it was just a dream and when she woke up in the morning,
she realized that leaving home needed bravery.

Newport Beach Library - Beginner.. Learner... Adult Learner Blog

A big round of applause for JY (also known as Kate) from the Newport Beach Public Library Literacy Program.

JY is an Adult Learner who started writing her blog, BEGINNER... LEARNER..., in 2009. She has given SCLLN permission to repost one of her recent posts on the SCLLN blog. Enjoy, visit and become a follower of JY's Blog.

Untitled post.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

How's your week going? I'm good so far.

Today I had a learner meeting in the Newport Beach Public Library with many learners from the literacy program in the library. It's a great time. Lika, who is a Japanese learner, showed learners her Chinese tea ceremony that she learned the special ceremony when she lived in China. Lika prepared so many personal stuff such as special kettles, cups, saucer, tea leaves for the tea ceremony. And, Lika also brought the special CD that was about the natural sounds such as a waterfall, peaceful bird chirping, conversation with wind, the leaves rustle in the wind and so on. The sounds really made the learners indulge in the tea ceremony attraction more. Absolutely, the tea was sooooooooooo rich and great. As I am a tea person(I'm also a coffee person....Is it awkward? ), I thanked Lika so much. Today Lika was in green cloth so that she was harmonized with tea. Today she looked like a great meditator in the green tea field in summer. Thanks to Lika again. You did a wonderful job today!

Hi,I'm JY from Korea. I love eating, cooking, and learning English. I started blogging to advance my writing in English and meet new people on the internet. :) AND, welcome anybody on comments about my phrases which are grammatically incorrect.

Share a Story – Shape a Future 2010

Share a Story – Shape a Future 2010
March 8 - 12
It Takes a Village

Share a Story - Shape a Future is a blog event for literacy. Throughout the week, blogging librarians, teachers, parents, authors, illustrators and people passionate about literacy will offer ideas on ways to promote reading and books. You won't find statistics, academic analysis, or judgments that tell you why you should read. Instead, we are using the power of the Worldwide web to share ideas about ways to engage kids as readers.

Day 1 - The Many Faces of Reading
Host: Terry Doherty @ Scrub-a-Dub-Tub

Topics of the day will encompass the relationship aspect of helping children learn to read: parent-child and teacher-parent partnerships, literacy outreach; and libraries, to name a few.

Day 2 - Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way
Host: Susan Stephenson @ Book Chook

Creative literacy in all its forms (writing, art, computers) will be the topic of the day.

Day 3 - Just the Facts: The Nonfiction Book Hook
Host: Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone

This is the day for exploring the different genres of nonfiction (biography and memoir, science, nature, math, etc), as well as the use (or not) of historical fiction.

Day 4 - Reading Through the Ages: Old Faves & New Classics
Host: Donalyn Miller @ Book Whisperer

Topics include "boy books" and "girl books," as well as newer titles that fit with some classics we loved as kids.

Day 5 - Reading for the Next Generation
Host: Jen @ Jen Robinson's Book Page
Join us as we talk about how to approach reading when your interests and your child's don't match. It may be that you don't like to read but your child does, how to raise the reader you're not, and dealing with the "pressure" of feeling forced to read.

Reading is Fundamental is donating two full sets of its Multicultural book collection for our It Takes a Village giveaways! There are 50 books in each set.
The Giveaway is tied to the Writing on Reading initiative, and here is how it will work.
1. Select one of the Writing on Reading questions.
2. Put together your thoughts and post them on your blog.
3. Come back to the daily Writing on Reading post and add your link to Inlinkz box AND add a comment with the name of the school or public library you would like to see receive the books.

Each day, RIF staff will be reading your posts and will select their favorite posts. See Complete Rules

Monrovia Library - Welcome to Monrovia Literacy Services’ Blog !

Welcome to Monrovia Literacy Services’ Blog !

Welcome to all our tutors, learners and others interested in literacy. Please feel free to share questions about literacy, tutoring ideas, or anything else literacy-related !

Several of us attended the annual SCLLN conference last Saturday, which was great. One of my favorite workshops was Free On-line Resources. Lauren will expand the list of literacy links on our website in the next few days. What did we do before the internet? Lauren is awesome at finding on-line resources, so please feel free to post any questions for her or for me about on-line resources.

Palmdale Library - Welcome to the Literacy Blog

Palmdale Library Literacy Program
Friday, August 15, 2008
Welcome to the Literacy Blog

Greetings Everybody,Welcome to the Palmdale literacy blog. I hope this will become another good tool to advertise library literacy programs, the local literacy coalition (WORD, AV- "Write Often, Read Daily") and the Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN).

I also hope that many of you will learn to use this forum as a way to communicate, ask questions, make suggestions, and foster a running dialogue on literacy issues in our community, in families, and in the workplace.

The Palmdale Library Literacy Program provides free tutoring to English-speaking adults who want to improve their reading and writing skills. All tutoring is done by volunteers. The program offers small classroom workshops, one-on-one tutoring, and drop-in study sessions. Call me at (661) 267-5682 for more info.

Lancaster Library also started a literacy program in Spring, 2008. You can reach them at (661) 940-4794 or (661) 948-5029, ext. 244 or 252.

Feel free to participate. This will be a learning process for me, but I intend to use the blog to spark conversations about literacy issues, as a supplemental means of making announcements, and to recruit new learners and new volunteers.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,
Rod Williams, Literacy Coordinator
Palmdale Library Literacy Program

PDD @ SCLLN: Blogs and Wikis

Southern California Library Literacy Network

Professional Development Day

San Diego CA

June 13, 2008

This posting is about the 'Wacky for Wikis' session which was also presented @ the READ/San Diego Tutor Conference, June 14. There were also sessions about: Volunteer Management, Persistence and Adult Learner Book Clubs.

Wacky for Wikis is an overview of blogs and wikis: brief look at the where and how they began, reasons to have a one or both, how to, and a brief demo on how easy it is to post, to link, to upload photos, etc.

Viewed 2 videos about Blogs:

~ Why Blog by Business Week

~ Blogs in Plain English by Commoncraft

Blogging as Revolutionary as Gutenberg Press by Chris CreeMarch 7, 2008
When Johannes Gutenberg developed his movable type printing press in the early 1400’s it revolutionized the publishing industry in many of the same ways that the recent development of blogging is.
. . . . .
Here are just a few of the ways that the movable type printing press was revolutionary.

Faster
Cheaper
Wider Distribution
Mass Communication

The internet is transforming how information is being transmitted. However publishing that information to the web still required Today’s blogging is an order of magnitude leap in publishing technology on the same level as Gutenberg’s press was over the scribes of his day. READ MORE

Also looked at some examples:
~ see SCLLN Tutor Conference-Feb 22 post.

Watched Commoncraft's video on wikis and Wetpaint's 'How Do Wikis Work.'

Where and how to compare wiki platforms @ Wikimatrix: Select the Wikis you want to compare, then press the button.

Some other blogs and wikis mentioned during the sessions:
~ Burbank Public Library blog
~ literacyspace blog
~ DLC Adult Literacy Community
~ Families for Literacy at SF Bay Area Libraries
~ Exemplary Literacy Materials Online (ELMO)
~ Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki
~ Burbank Public Library Wiki / Littlewiki

graphic from: Curso Sobre Wikis

2008 SCLLN Conference: Feb 23 - Wikis

Wacky for Wikis
Southern California Library Literacy Network
Annual Conference, Feb 23, 2008

2 sessions on blogs and wikis for adult learners and tutors. An overview of history, statistics, how easy it is to do a blog or wiki, and the many reasons to blog. This was posted during the session and then edited the following week.

Looked at the SCLLN website and blog. Also looked at Burbank Public Library's blogs and wiki. Looked at a few blogging platforms: Blogger, WordPress and TypePad among others. How to do a blog search on Google and Technorati.

Watched a video about blogging @ CommonCraft which also has a terrific tutorial about wikis.

Hope some of the adult learners and tutors are interested in creating a blog or a wiki for SCLLN or a personal blog of their own.

Included this link if you are interested in the reading levels of a particular blog or wiki.

Blog Readability Test