Newport Beach Library - International Literacy Day Celebrated

International Literacy Day Celebrated
at Newport Beach Public Library
Literally Speaking: Autumn 2009

More than 140 people from the literacy program, library staff, and the Newport Beach community attended the International Literacy Day (ILD) celebration on September 10th. As in previous years, attendees were treated to wonderful, ethnic foods prepared by literacy program learners. To complete the buffet, the Corona del Mar Starbucks provided coffee, and Bristol Farms generously donated a gorgeous and tasty fruit and cheese display.

Carolyn Scheer, Literacy Board President, emceed the event. Cynthia Cowell, Library Director, graciously commended all involved in the literacy program. Newport Beach Mayor, Ed Selich, before reading the proclamation declaring Literacy Day for the city, commended tutors for their commitment and learners for their courage – which was then demonstrated by Jerry Kahn and Afsaneh Taheri Pak as they both spoke movingly about their experiences with the literacy program.

Jerry highlighted the variety of books that he and his tutor, Joe Brown, have read together, and explained what a typical tutoring session for them looks like. Afsaneh eloquently shared of her shame, after arriving in the United States just a year ago from Iran, at not being able to speak English well. She shared how it felt to leave her safe zone of home, family, and tradition and commit to a new life. Afsaneh affirmed that being new is always hard and that she has a goal to learn and keep on learning.

Parvin Tabrizi, the 2009 winner of the Rochelle Hoffman Memorial Award presented at the celebration, also received certificates of recognition from both Congressman John Campbell and Senator Tom Harmon.

It was a touching and inspirational morning.

English Express newspaper is for adults who are improving their English reading skills

English Express Website
The English Express newspaper is for adults who are improving their English reading skills. It has articles from a newspaper called English Express.

On this website, you can read articles on your computer screen. You can print articles too. Would you like to listen and read along to articles? Press the listen buttons. Some articles have videos to watch too.

You can read news stories. You can read about people, animals and holidays. Try one of the recipes and laugh at the cartoons. You can print word games to do. You can read stories from our readers.

For Teachers & Tutors:

The website has copies of the Teaching Notes that go with each issue of the English Express newspaper. Click on the menu button for teachers and tutors. Print the notes that you want to use.

English Express newspaper is published by Alberta Advanced Education and Technology 8 times a year, from September to May. There are 3 levels of articles in each issue.

The ‘Hard Copy’ of English Express is not sent to other provinces, to other countries or to individual readers.

Centro Latino for Literacy - Three Lives and a Literate City's Shame

Three Lives and a Literate City's Shame
L A Times: October 13, 2009 by Hector Tobar

Julia Rodriguez, Juan Contreras and Mercedes Meza couldn't read or write. For years they got by with the help of friends and good memories for the sorts of sights that differentiated streets.

There is a neighborhood in L.A. where you can hear people converse in the language spoken by the Aztec emperors Montezuma and Cuauhtémoc.

Julia Rodriguez lives there -- in Pico-Union, just west of downtown. She spoke only Nahuatl when she arrived in Los Angeles 15 years ago.

In L.A., she quickly taught herself to speak Spanish. But when she was growing up in a small village in Mexico's Guerrero state, she never went to school. So she'd never been taught to read in any language.

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Mercedes Meza, a 64-year-old Westside housekeeper and nanny, always wanted to read too.

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Julia, Juan and Mercedes all told me they were deeply ashamed of being illiterate in the modern city they now call home. But the shame is really ours.

We Angelenos have allowed people from desperately poor places to come to our city to do the hardest jobs for the lowest wages. We all benefit from their labor, but many live among us with the private suffering and stigmas that are the legacy of the small Central American farms and Mexican villages where they were born.

The Census Bureau estimates that there are more than 200,000 Spanish-speaking people living in Los Angeles County who did not attend primary school as children.

Add up the American lives of just three of them -- Julia, Juan and Mercedes -- and you get three-quarters of a century of L.A. nanny work, clothes-making and meal-cooking. Giving them the alphabet and the ability to read and write the names of their children seems like the least we can do.

The good people at the Centro Latino for Literacy agree. The Pico-Union nonprofit recently announced the ambitious goal of teaching 10,000 Southern California adults to read and write in the next 10 months. READ MORE !

Cheerios Serves Up Six Million Children's Books Inside Boxes this Fall

Cheerios Serves Up Six Million Children's Books Inside Boxes this Fall; Que Bueno! All Five Books Are Specially Printed in English and Spanish
Reuters: Oct 12, 2009

Bedtime stories are a tradition for many families, but this fall families are invited to also START their day with a great book.

Beginning in October 2009, Cheerios® is again bringing books to the breakfast table, by providing six million children's books free inside Cheerios boxes.

"Parents and caregivers play an important role in nurturing children's love of reading, by reading with their child every day," said Jeff Hingher, Cheerios marketing manager. "We hope this simple action of putting great books inside Cheerios boxes can make it easier for families to enjoy a book together, and help set the foundation for more children to grow up as readers."

Cheerios is also making a financial donation to First Book, an award-winning children's nonprofit organization that gets new books to children from low-income families. "For many kids, just having a book to read is the biggest obstacle to learning," said Kyle Zimmer, president of First Book.

Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories kicks off during Give a Child a Book Week, October 12 - 19. With the help of Cheerios' financial support, First Book will give a year's worth of books to every child participating in 50 selected reading programs, one in each state across the country.

This year's book offerings from Cheerios - all by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - are:

Junkyard Fort – Jon Scieszka
Tea for Ruby – The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson
Sleepyhead – Karma Wilson
Ballyhoo Bay – Judy Sierra
What's Under the Bed? – Joe Fenton

Families can see which book is inside through a special cut-out window on the front of the box, so they can select the specific book they want, or collect all 5.

READ MORE !"1 Zany Zoo" by Lori Degman Wins the Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® Children's Book contest! Watch for it: March 2010.

Oxnard Library - Adult Literacy at the Oxnard Library

Adult Literacy at the Oxnard Library
Ventura County Star: September 23, 2009
by Barbara Warrington
Oxnard is a city where people help one another!

This story is only one of many heart-warming examples from the Adult Literacy Outreach Program at the Oxnard Library where volunteer tutors help their Oxnard neighbors make progress toward their goals by improving their reading and writing.

One of the Literacy Program's tutors-in-training is a City of Oxnard employee who found out about the volunteer opportunity through her friend who is an adult learner in the program. This "to be" tutor habitually stops at Starbucks on her way to work on weekday mornings. At those times she is dressed professionally; so Saturday, when she stopped for her coffee before coming to the training class, the person behind the counter, who recognized her, noticed her casual dress, and asked where she was headed. She replied that she was attending the tutor-training class for the Literacy Program at the library.

Upon hearing that, the Starbucks employee came around from behind the counter, and with teary eyes, gave the new tutor a hug and said, "I just have to thank you for being part of such a wonderful program where people help because it comes from their hearts. I know people who are getting tutoring, and what you are doing is so important. Thank you!"

The future tutor will never forget the sincere gratitude of this person and is glad that she decided to become another Oxnard citizen who will help others in this way.

If you are interested in being trained as a tutor or you know of someone who could benefit from being helped in literacy skills, please call the Oxnard Library Adult Literacy Outreach Program at 385-7536.

San Bernardino Public Library - Archie, Betty and Veronica Bring Comic Relief to San Bernardino

Archie, Betty and Veronica Bring Comic Relief to San Bernardino
SB Sun: October 6, 2009 by John Weeks

My favorite souvenir from San Bernardino's recent Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous is a comic book.

It's not just any comic book. It's an Archie comic book.

And it's not just any Archie comic book. It's the current issue of "Betty & Veronica Digest," which features a cover story titled "Route 66 Here We Come," in which Archie and his pals leave their fictional home in Riverdale and head West to visit San Bernardino.

When they get here, lots of good things happen. They meet Mayor Pat Morris, who sports an aloha shirt and greets visitors with a friendly smile. "Welcome, everyone, to San Bernardino!" he says.

Betty and Veronica, along with Veronica's parents, attend the Rendezvous and are amazed at the sights and sounds of the city's summer spectacular. Betty is so inspired, she suggests to Veronica's rich dad, Hiram Lodge, that he develop a similar cruise event featuring the new wave of electric, hybrid and alternative-energy cars.

Meanwhile, Archie and his friend Chuck, a cartoonist, head to the Norman F. Feldheym Central Library where they meet real-life cartoonist Phil Yeh and library staffer Linda Adams, who are collaborating on a mural painting project to promote literacy.

It's a great story. It's entertaining to see the interaction between real and cartoon characters.

Mayor Morris is real. Linda Adams is real. Phil Yeh is real.

Yeh, in fact, is the real star of the story, in more ways than one. The Running Springs artist is founder of Cartoonists Across America, a non-profit literacy and arts advocacy organization that particularly targets young people.

Yeh also has many friends in the cartoon world, including longtime Archie writer George Gladir. That's the connection that explains San Bernardino's starring role in the new "Betty & Veronica Digest" tale, written by Gladir, an Escondido resident. READ MORE !

Imperial County Library - Receives $10,000 for Adult Literacy Imperial

Imperial County Library Receives $10,000 for Adult Literacy Imperial
Valley Press: October 5, 2009, by Elizabeth Varin

County Librarian Connie Barrington has seen people who need to learn to read to pass driving tests, to read their Bibles or even to read with their children, she said.

She remembers a man who came in, asking for help because his child was going into third grade, she said. He didn’t want his child to find out he couldn’t read well. He wanted his child to look up to him.

He was one of the people who took advantage of the free, confidential adult literacy program held at the Imperial County Library, she said.

The library can now afford more training and more workbooks as it goes before the Imperial County Board of Supervisors today to accept an adult literacy grant.

The money will go to training the staff that coordinates the program, buying materials like general education booklets and workbooks for both the tutors and learners, and advertising the program, she said.

“It all goes back into the library literacy program,” she said.

The Imperial County Public Library is one of about 105 libraries that receive state funding, said Jacquie Brinkley, library program consultant for the California State Library. READ MORE !