Easy English Times ◯ Free Online Access in Response to COVID-19

Easy English Times

Free Online Access in Response to COVID-19

Easy English Times: May 2020

The staff of Easy English Times understands that many schools and libraries are still closed due to COVID-19. Our print versions of the April and May papers were mailed as usual (unless you requested we do not send them).

Instant Activity: Conversation

Are you home watching more TV?

Talking about television

I. Getting warmed up

Almost everyone watches television. Different people enjoy different programs. Interview your partner and discover your partner’s taste in American TV shows.

1. What are your favorite television programs these days? Why do you like them?

2. Where do you usually watch television? When do you usually watch it?

3. Which channels so you watch the most? Do you have a favorite?

4. Is there an American or British TV series that you try to watch every week? Which one?

5. What television programs do you like to watch with your family?

II. Paraphrasing proverbs

1. Out of sight, out of mind. --American

2. In the kingdom of hope, there is no winter. --Russian

3. Fame is a magnifying glass. --English

III. Discussing quotations: Do you agree or disagree with the quotations below?

1. “When television is good, nothing is better. When it’s bad, nothing is worse.”

--Nicholas Johnson (1934- ), former U.S. Federal Communications Commission chairman

2. “I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on, I go into another room and read a good book.”

--Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American actor, comedian, musician, and writer

IV. Search and share

Search the Internet for a video in English taken from a current television show. Here are some websites which might be useful to visit:

hulu.com, imdb.com/sections/tv, netflix.com, or nbc.com/video.

Choose a video segment, watch it two times, and be prepared to discuss it with your classmates or tutor. It’s not necessary to watch more than ten minutes.

Answer these questions:

1. What is the show about?

2. Can you describe one or two of the main characters?

3. Where and when does the show take place? Is it set in our world in a fictional world?

Resources

Be counted

Easy, easy English

A salute to nurses

Citizenship

Student writing

Bear hunt

Instant Activities

Idioms

Reading

Writing

   READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 6

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 10-11 yrs. olds

(Fifth and Sixth graders)

Huntington Beach Library ◯ 6 Word Stories

6 Word Stories

Literacy Volunteers HBPL: 5.14.2020

Today's tutoring tip is 6-word Stories!

There are many ways to "play", what other ideas can you come up with?

Have fun and keep staying safe!

Here are some we've collected so far:
Patience comes and goes every day. ~ A.R.
Older and isolated but not alone. ~ Jim
Daily remaining content in all things. ~ Pat
Finally, time for War and Peace. ~ James
I long for eating out again. ~ Mary

Six Word Memoirs

Telling a short story in just 6 words.

Governor Newsom Releases “MAY REVISION” Of Budget ◯ CLA

Governor Newsom Releases “MAY REVISION” Of Budget

Library programs intended for funding are

“withdrawn” due to $54.3 billion Budget deficit

CLA: 5.14.2020 by Mike Dillon and Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyists

During a press event held at the noon hour today, Governor Gavin Newsom released his “May Revision” of the 2020-21 State Budget, which updates the Budget that he proposed in January. In the “May Revision” document, the Governor writes: “In January, California was the rocket fuel powering the American economic resurgence – with 118 consecutive months of growth, stratospheric job creation, and the highest credit rating in nearly two decades…Now, our state is in an unprecedented emergency, facing massive job losses and shortfalls in record time. This Budget reflects that emergency.” He goes on to state, “This is no normal year. And this is no ordinary May Revision.”

In a very sobering presentation, the Governor announced a $54.3 billion Budget deficit brought on by the unprecedented COVID-19 worldwide crisis.

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Governor Newsom is proposing a series of cuts and solutions, including cutting K-12 education across-the-board by 10 percent, a proposed 10 percent reduction to state employee salaries, and over 15 percent of the May Revise solutions represent cuts that are associated with a “trigger” if federal funds don’t materialize.

Of importance to CLA members, the Governor has “withdrawn” (is proposing to not fund) the

$1 million in “one-time” funds for “Lunch at the Library”

$1 million in “one-time” funds for Zip Books

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However, the Governor states in the “California State Library” [p. 57] section of the May Revise: “The state is not in a fiscal position to expand programs given the drastic budget impacts of the COVID-19 Recession.”

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Included in these proposed trigger cuts is a reduction of $1.75 million to the California Library Services Act.

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The Senate and Assembly Budget Committees will now hold a series of hearings related to the Governor’s May Revision and will view his various proposals, including those related to the State Library/public libraries. California’s Constitution requires the state to pass a balanced Budget by June 15, 2020.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

Literacy Library Jobs ◯ California ◯ Long Beach ◯ Colusa Co ◯ Redwood City

Literacy Library Jobs – California

Library Asst - Library Aide NC - PT

Long Beach Library

support the library's adult and family literacy programs

DEADLINE: MAY 25

Literacy Program Coordinator - FT

Colusa County Free Library

plan organize and coordinate the Literacy Programs of the County Library and to work with the Literacy Council for fundraising and establishing goals for the Literacy Program

DEADLINE: JUN 5

Literacy Tutor - Student Coordinator – FT

Redwood City Library

Promote the awareness of a volunteer-based Literacy Training Program for adults in the City of Redwood City; recruit and train volunteers; recruit and place students; and serve as an advisor and resource to volunteer tutors

OPEN

BayNet Library and Information Network

CLA Career Center

CalOpps

Library Jobs in California

Redlands Library ◯ More Than 340 Speak Out On Proposed Cuts To Redlands Library, Other Departments

More Than 340 Speak Out On Proposed Cuts To Redlands Library, Other Departments

Redlands Daily Facts: 5.12.2020 by Jennifer Iyer

Hundreds have shared concerns over cuts Redlands is considering to balance a $15.7 million shortfall in the 2020-21 budget.

More than 340 people sent written comments, the only kind allowed by the city due to novel coronavirus precautions, ahead of the City Council meeting Tuesday, May 12.  ◯

Staff spent about four hours reading each comment into the record, leaving no time to hear from department heads or discuss proposals before the Planning Commission meeting slated for the same afternoon. The council meeting is set to resume at 7 p.m. Tuesday with department presentations on plans for the next year and the impacts of the proposed cuts.

The majority of comments Tuesday objected to proposed cuts at the A.K. Smiley Public Library, which could lose 17 positions to shave more than $500,000 from its budget. Also, the facility’s hours of operation could be reduced to nearly half of the current 57.

City Manager Charlie Duggan attributed all of the budget woes to COVID-19’s effect on the economy.

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The proposed 2020-21 budget originally called for library hours to be reduced to 30 per week. Duggan and managers looked into using more reserves to replace some of the proposed cuts, and brought the library up to 35 hours.

Bob Hodges, a former superintendent of the Redlands Unified School District, wrote to say the library will be needed for its contribution to education.

“These services will be even more critical next year as budget and modified classroom instructional challenges will be greater than ever,” he wrote.

Redlands resident Casey Hamilton noted the importance of services like adult literacy tutoring, “fascinating historical archives” of the Heritage Room, the Lincoln Shrine, and free internet access, which people may need to search for jobs.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

Santa Monica Library ◯ To Lose Dozens Of Employees Under Proposed Budget Cuts ◯ SM Daily Press

Santa Monica Public Library To Lose Dozens Of Employees Under Proposed Budget Cuts

SM Daily Press: 5.08.2020 by Madeleine Pauker

The Santa Monica Public Library is facing a 40% reduction in funding as the city of Santa Monica makes deep cuts to avoid a budget deficit brought on by the coronavirus recession.

If City Council approves a $5.5 million reduction in its $13 million budget, the library will eliminate 26.5 full-time positions and lay off 80 as-needed pages, said Patty Wong, director of library services. Forty-seven remaining employees will circulate between three locations that will reopen, working to maintain safe access to books and computers and facilitating programs online and in-person.

“It’s scary, intimating, difficult and sad, but at same time something we’re committed to doing because we have this incredible economic stressor ahead of us,” Wong said. “We have the responsibility to the public to provide the best service we can regardless of what the circumstances are.”

The library closed its five locations in March to slow the spread of coronavirus. The Fairview and Ocean Park branches will remain closed for the foreseeable future, and the system’s three most popular locations — the Main Library and the Montana and Pico branches — will reopen on limited schedules when stay-at-home orders are relaxed.

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Wong said even with a smaller budget and staff, the library sees itself as a key part of the local recovery effort.

With a rising number of adults out of work, Wong said the library will double down on workforce development programs, including skill building, reading and digital literacy, and jobs matching programs.

She said maintaining services to youth and families will be difficult with more than 80% of youth-serving librarians laid off, but added that the library has a large catalogue of virtual children’s books, has been experimenting with online children’s programs and plans to continue free youth tutoring programs when branches reopen.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. Old

(college level)

San Diego Public Library ◯ READ San Diego ◯ Google Read and Write

Google Read and Write

READ/San Diego Adult Literacy Program: 5.06.2020

Check out this reading aid from Google- "Google Read and Write."

Read and Write for Google

Summary of the Read and Write for Google

R&W for Google is an extension for Google Chrome that is primarily a reading support, but also provides writing supports.  There are two different versions of R&W for Google, a free version and a premium version.  The Premium version is available for free for teachers to explore and costs $99 for a yearly subscription for student accounts.

Free: The free version provides text to speech and dual highlighting (yellow & blue) for any text on any website! (AWESOME!)  It also provides an in the text translator.

Premium: The premium version provides the same text to speech, dual highlighting, and translator features.  It also includes supports for Google Docs, specifically, multi-highlighting options for active reading, extracting highlights, a vocabulary chart, a regular and picture dictionary, and word prediction.

Limitations

Premium Version: $99 a year for students
➧ Premium version will read PDFs in Google Docs, not free version

Free version - limited options

➧ Text to speech ONLY READS TEXT (no flash supported)

➧ Tools run on internet speed, causes a lag for word prediction and text to speech.

➧ Word choices have to be clicked with a mouse (no number hot keys or arrow down and enter to select)

➧ Limited voice speed options (only 4)

Conclusion
I would highly recommend the free version of Read and Write for Google to be downloaded on every computer so that ALL students can have access to speech to text while reading ANYTHING online (for pleasure or school assignments).  If your school district works heavily with Google Docs I would also recommend the premium version to reinforce active reading and studying. But, take advantage of the FREE version for teachers and explore away!  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)