Every Tuesday morning from 10 to 11:30 families from the community
have been joining together in the Library's Turrentine Room to learn
about new cultures and environments through Literacy Services’ Summer
Safari program. The program combines storytelling, reading, crafts,
music and field trips that are all designed to help the children and
their parents use their imagination to travel to distant lands and
explore new worlds. The children, ages pre-school through 6th grade have
had the opportunity to learn how to count to ten in Swahili, learn words
in Zulu, sing songs from Africa, make rainsticks and African masks, and
study about African Culture. The children will also have the chance to
visit the Wild Animal Park and the Escondido Children’s Museum. The
Summer Safari program has been both fun-filled and highly educational
and Literacy Services is very proud of the large number of families who
have been attending the program every Tuesday.
CBET Graduation
Literacy Services recently celebrated the graduation of over 30
students from the Community Based English Tutoring program or CBET. This
ESL class had been meeting twice a week throughout the past year and the
students had made real progress, not only in their efforts to better
understand the English language but also in their attempts to take their
future into their own hands. Literacy Services Coordinator Josephine
Jones noted that “in our society a literate person is an empowered
person and these learners have developed skills in this program that
will help them not only in their personal lives, but in their academic
and professional lives as well. CBET has also helped these students to
become better teachers for their children.” Five of the CBET learners
who had perfect attendance throughout the year were rewarded with free
computers from Rod Hiddleston and the Gamma Project. Mr. Hiddleston was
recognized at the ceremony for the generous donation that he made to the
program.
Writer Sylvia Mendoza Visits Literacy Services
On June 28th Literacy Services was proud to have an award winning
writer speak at the June Learner2Learner program. Sylvia Mendoza, the
author of The Book of Latina Women, 150 Vidas of Passion, Strength, and
Success came to the Escondido Public Library to share stories both from
her book and her life. The Book of Latina Women is a collection of short
biographies about Latina women throughout the world who have
accomplished remarkable things in their lives. She writes about well
known women such as Frida Kahlo and Eva Peron, as well as lesser known
individuals like Milka Duno who is a professional race car driver who
has also received 5 Masters degrees. Many of these women faced some
incredible challenges in their lives yet they refused to take no for an
answer, and in doing so they changed the world around them. Mrs. Mendoza
also described what she went through in putting the book together, at
times spending 18 and even 22 hours a day working on it. But it was a
labor of love for her. She felt that because history books are so often
filled with stories about men, it was important to share these stories
and inspire young women to believe in themselves.
Born to Read Program
Through the Born to Read program, Literacy and Library Staff
Members, the Women’s Club of Escondido, literacy volunteers, and the
Mayor of Escondido, Lori Pfeiler, joined together and dropped by the
maternity ward of Palomar Hospital to give newborn babies their very
first books. The babies and their mothers were provided with bibs that
read “Born to Read,” board books, library information, and Literacy
Services tote bags. The older brothers and sisters of the newborn
children were also given age appropriate books.
