Video on learning differences

It can be hard for tutors - especially new and inexperienced tutors - to understand some of the issues faced by our English-speaking learners. Many movies (and even a recent ESL video I saw recently) depict learning to read as something an adult can do pretty quickly if he or she just tries hard. We know, though, that it isn't that simple. Many adult learners struggle with learning differences that make learning to read a whole different experience than anything their tutors have ever faced.

Here is a link to a video that discusses learning differences in adults in interesting and compelling ways, and that I think really brings home the message that it takes more for some people than just trying hard to learn:

http://www.headstrongnation.org/documentary

It's a long video, but there's some interesting material right at the beginning; watch as much as you have time for, because there is a lot of good material here.

Ann Daniels
Families for Literacy Coordinator
Second Start Adult Literacy Program, Oakland

Our Families for Literacy Songbook

Oakland's Families for Literacy program recently held a family night about music, where we sang many of our favorite songs. Here's the cover, introduction and table of contents from the songbook containing the songs we sang. (It looks a little odd here because it's formatted to print as a booklet, with staggered pages.) If you'd like a copy of the full songbook, contact Ann (click on that link to see my profile, which has my email address). Happy singing!

Outreach

Hello fellow FFL-ers,

Let's talk about outreach.

I've been doing a lot of semi-regular outreach through our library: guest-teaching at a parents' ESL class that the Bookmobile visits, presenting family literacy materials and activities; helping out at library story times for parents & kids who live in a residential rehab/alternative incarceration facility near our office. The events and classes are a big hit, I've gotten to know the parents, they always want to talk to me - but I have yet to have anyone become a student here.

I'm thinking of focusing my attention instead on having our current FFL students bring in friends and family.

What do you think? What are you doing that is working/not working? Post a comment to this post, or email me (click on that link and you'll see my profile with my email address) and I will turn your email into a post.

Cheers,
Ann.

In honor of Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, here are the covers of my program booklets on Recycling: "Talking about Trash" and "Trash to Treasures." You can contact me if you want either booklet - just click the link on the side for Oakland Public Library, Second Start.

Bees, Beetles and Butterflies

Dear friends,

Here is an amazing, 166-page illustrated pdf of stories, poems and songs I got from PUBYAC, a listserv of children's and young adult librarians:

http://www.story-lovers.com/bugbookv.2.pdf

Jackie Baldwin, the creator of this magnificent book, says:
..."because of its length (166 pages, 125 stories, 32 contributors) and the number of full-color photos included, it takes 1.5 minutes to download onto my computer, but I've heard from others that it can take nearly five minutes, depending on a computer's speed. Another friend did it in 25 seconds. My suggestion: go make a cuppa tea while the download is going on! ...If you decide to print out the whole book, I've designed it without any blank pages, so you can do odd numbers 1-165, then even numbers 2-166. But I would suggest that you split it into three sections, just to be sure that the printing is going as expected. I usually split it 50, 50, 66. You'll be doing double-sided pages, so you should use a heavier paper..."

Incidentally, if you are interested in PUBYAC, here is their link:
https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/pubyac
If you decide to subscribe, I highly recommend you get the digest (otherwise your mailbox will be flooded with a gazillion emails every day!)

Why Babies Need Books

This is a handout prepared by Sandi Cohn, Marin Literacy Project. For the complete document, please contact Deborah at Partners in Reading.

Drop Everything And Read Day

Drop Everything And Read Day is April 12, Beverly Cleary's birthday! I started celebrating Drop Everything and Read Day a few years ago. Before that, I used to give away books in honor of National Library Week; this seemed like more fun. Now I give my students' kids books for Drop Everything and Read Day - I give out Beverly Cleary books to the older sibs where appropriate, of course. And I give out bookmarks that I made, since even the kids and adults who have never seen Ramona love bookmarks. Here is my bookmark for this year, adapted from material from the DEAR site.

- Ann Daniels

Health Literacy - a hot topic in your community?

Hello friends, We've had several family literacy programs on health topics over the past couple of years, most recently on the subject of children and other family members with asthma. It seems now that health literacy is a hotter topic than ever among hospitals, community organizations, etc. Has anyone else noticed this in their communities? Have you participated in health literacy programs, summits, etc. with community organizations, funders, or the like? Please comment and let us know what you have been doing - I think it would be interesting to share experiences.

- Ann Daniels
Second Start Adult Literacy, Oakland

Dr. Gena Lewis of Children's Hospital-Oakland talks about asthma

two of our kids make crafts while their parents discuss asthma triggers

Read to Me Handout

Gentle Reader, Below you will find 2 jpg images (just click to see them full size) of a great family literacy handout from Sandi Cohn. Sandi created an impressive body of great materials and programs when working at the Marin Literacy Program. Deborah Estreicher from Partners in Reading of the San Jose Public Library will share some of Sandi's materials (and her own of course) with us through this blog.

Second Start Summary of FFL Programs Page 6

Hey Folks, Here is the 6th and final page of the Families for Literacy Summary of Programs and Materials document from Ann Daniels. Pages 1 through 5 are in the previous post. If you have any questions or would like copies of any of these materials please don't hesitate to contact Ann at adaniels@oaklandlibrary.org.

Second Start Oakland Summary of FFL Programs

Gentle Reader,
Below you will find 5 of the 6 pages (the 6th page will be in the next post) of a summary of family literacy programs facilitated by Ann Daniels at Second Start, the Adult Literacy Program of the Oakland Public Library. Ann has a wealth of family literacy materials which she soon will be sharing through this blog.

Family Literacy Tutor Training

Gentle Reader,
Below you will find JPG images of the 3 pages of the family literacy instructional materials we use as part of our comprehensive tutor training. You can view any page in full size by clicking on the image. I am also including a link to MS Word and PDF versions of these materials which are housed on our San Francisco Public Library website. If you find any of these materials helpful please feel free to use them for non-profit educational purposes.
Thanks, Brian

Click Here for the Project Read SFPL Instruction Resources Page