National Literacy & Library Events ▬ June 2021

 

National Literacy & Library Events

June 2021

 

 

Literacy & Library Events & Conferences

Events-National & International Events

Events-International: Language Magazine

 

National Audiobook Month    

Rainbow Book Month   

Tails & Tales Summer Library Reading Program

 

Jun 01       Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium VIRTUAL
Jun 01       What is Dyslexia? An In Depth Look OnLine
Jun 03       Adult Education Research Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 03       Next Library 2021 VIRTUAL
Jun 08       International Public Library Fundraising Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 09       Children’s Literature Assoc Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 11       Pride Book Fest VIRTUAL
Jun 13       National History Day Contest VIRTUAL
Jun 14       Volunteering and Service Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 15       Teaching the Skills That Matter Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 17       Book Summit 21 VIRTUAL
Jun 17       Library 2.021 Reinventing Libraries Post-COVID World VIRTUAL
Jun 19       Juneteenth Book Fest VIRTUAL
Jun 20       National Reading Group Day UK
Jun 23       ALA Conference - Community Through Connection VIRTUAL
Jun 23       ASCD Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 25       Working Internationally Conference VIRTUAL
Jun 28       Intl Fund Raising Conference AFP ICON 2021 VIRTUAL

State Library Associations :: Conferences

African American Book Events

Book Fairs by State Library of Congress

Children’s Book Council Kid Lit Events

College Children’s & Young Adult Literature Conferences Festivals

Everfest Book Festival Calendar

ILA :: Literacy Calendar Worldwide

Storytelling Events

US Book Festivals

Literacy ▬ Spanning North America :: Orlando FL :: Winnipeg MB :: Southern Pines NC :: Kingston JM

Literacy In The News :: Spanning North America

@oclslibrary

Orange County Libraries Offer Free English, Spanish Courses For All Levels
Click Orlando: 5.04.2021 by Crystal Moyer

The Orange County Library System offers English and Spanish courses for all skill levels, free of charge.

The course use to be taught in-person at several of its branches, but because of the pandemic, they’ve had to go virtual. You can now learn English or Spanish from just about anywhere.

“As a new immigrant I wanted to improve my language, I want to get more in the community,” said Hetty Huang.

Huang was born and raised in China. A few years ago, she moved to the U.S. with hopes of studying at the University of Central Florida. With little English, she took the college entry test.

“I failed, but I didn’t give up, I continued to study,” said Huang.

She started taking English courses with the Orange County Library System. The curriculum created 15 years ago by ESL Specialist Jelitza Rivera.

“We have writing courses. Writing clearly with grammar and we work slowly to help them get to whole paragraphs and cover letters. Then we have speaking classes where we work on pronunciation,” said Rivera.

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Rivera said moving from in-person classes to virtual provides more flexibility for her students. She said the program now has more than 200 students from many different cultures.

“We have Chinese, Mandarin and Vietnamese students. We have Arabic students and we have a lot of Brazilians, not just Spanish,” said Rivera. “I get exposure to a lot more culture, a lot more language. As a professional, I become better informed.”

The library also offers several free digital resources to help you continue learning outside of class, from your phone or computer.  WATCH 04:42

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 7

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 11-13 yrs. old

(Sixth and Seventh graders)

 

Elmwood Community 
Resource Centre

Reading And More At Community Resource Centre
Winnipeg Free Press: 5.08.2021 by Susan Huebert

Some people might barely remember a time before they could read. Others, however, might struggle long into adulthood to be able to comprehend what they see on the page. For people like these, the GOAL adult literacy and upgrading program at the Elmwood Community Resource Centre is available to help.

The need for literacy is everywhere in Canadian society, from filling out job applications to reading instructions or recipes to sitting and relaxing with a good book on quiet afternoons. In many jobs, good reading comprehension is essential. When people are unable to develop the necessary skills in childhood, learning as an adult can help.

The GOAL program is geared towards the needs of its students. Adults aged 18 and up can register at any time of the year, as the program has a continuous intake of students. New arrivals receive a quick assessment of their skills and a customized learning plan, designed to help them earn a GED certificate or gain a work promotion.

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As Condo says, the organization has "20 years of being in the community, serving the community."  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

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)

 

Moore County 
Literacy Council

Moore County Literacy Council Builds Self-Esteem, Skills, New U.S. Citizens
Sandhill Sentinel: 5.07.2021

The Moore County Literacy Council had two new tutors graduate on May 4 from its tutoring training program. Aggie Cohen and Flavia Abele will now offer tutoring in English as a second language. The tutoring program assists in both learning English and in attaining U.S. citizenship.

Cohen retired to Moore County after living in Pennsylvania for 30 years. She said she could complain on the sidelines and moan about how many people do not have jobs and cannot read – or help someone.

Abele has lived in Moore County for one year since her spouse retired from the military. She volunteered as a tutor in Maryland and said it was a lot of fun. She said so far she has only helped with Spanish-speaking students.

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“I get to see people improve their lives, especially see their self-esteem go up every time they come,” Program Specialist Susan Lamm said.

There is a wide range of languages and dialects entering Moore County Literacy Council. Students from the Philippines, Italy, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Taiwan are a few. “Asian students have a difficult time because they don’t have r’s in their language,” Lamm said. “They have to learn that weird sound.”  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 7

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 11-13 yrs. old

(Sixth and Seventh graders)

 

JFLL

There's Hope Amid The Difficulties
Jamaica Observer: 5.10.2021

Available statistics — up to four or five years ago — appear to suggest that close to 88 per cent of Jamaicans were classified as literate; that is, able to read and write.

That's still way behind a number of this country's Caribbean neighbours, and, without doubt, COVID-19, which has mostly hindered or prevented face-to-face schooling since March last year, will worsen upcoming literacy indicators.

However, for older Jamaicans, who go back to the early 1970s when Jamaica's literacy rate among adults was only about 50 per cent — triggering Mr Michael Manley's adult literacy programme — the current situation is a vast improvement.

We've ventured down this road as a direct result of two articles in yesterday's Sunday Observer which touched squarely on the importance of basic literacy.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 16

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

An Ear for Reading: Audiobooks Take Center Stage in the Classroom ▬ SLJ

An Ear for Reading: Audiobooks Take Center Stage in the Classroom

Audiobooks

SLJ: 5.04.2021 by Melanie Kletter

As educators adjusted to a radically altered learning environment last fall, high school librarian Erin Cassaro realized she needed to do something different to support the literacy needs of her students.

“We knew it would be difficult for kids to have access to physical books, so we invested a lot in ebooks and audiobooks,” says Cassaro, who works in Dublin (OH) City Schools. “What we have seen this year is that when kids are exposed to audiobooks and get a chance to experience them, they are hooked.”

Cassaro is one of many librarians and classroom teachers around the country who are increasing their use of audiobooks as a teaching tool. With many students learning from home this year, there has been a surge in the use of all digtal [sic] resources in schools, including ebooks and audiobooks. According to SLJ’s 2020 School Library Budget & Spending Survey, about 30 percent of respondents reported that they planned to spend more on audiobooks this school year.

Educators are using audiobooks in new ways to teach material and help students build literacy skills. Instead of using audiobooks as a learning station, where one student at a time or a few students listen to them during reading time, many educators are using them for entire class reading assignments and class discussions. Teachers in some schools are using audiobooks as a social-emotional tool by playing guided mindfulness recordings to help students relax and focus in class. New tech resources have made it easier for students to access audiobooks both at school and at home, enabling families to listen to books together and practice and reinforce skills that students are learning in class.

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New uses in schools

When it comes to using audiobooks as a learning tool in schools, there has long been debate about whether audiobooks count as “real” reading, since students are not decoding and figuring out the words as they read. However, researchers and educators now recognize the many benefits of audiobooks for learners of all ages and abilities.

“Audiobooks are reading,” says Denise Johnson, a professor of reading education at William & Mary who studies literacy learning and conducts research on the uses of technology in education. “The idea that we must decode in order to read is an unfair way to think about it. The goal is comprehension.”

When kids can’t decode, it can make a book inaccessible, says Johnson. “But just because a kid can’t read at a high level, that doesn’t mean they can’t understand and comprehend at a high level. Using audiobooks opens up access and levels the playing field. Kids can all listen to the same book and then can talk and discuss it and have rich conversations.”

Audiobooks also help with fluency, since students hear the way a story should sound when it is read. This benefits students who struggle with reading as well as students who are English language learners.

Resources

Audible 
Audible has the world’s largest selection of audiobooks. Offerings for young people include a selection of free audiobooks that became available during the pandemic. Audible requires an individual membership, and each title must be purchased.

Bookshare
Bookshare provides ebooks and audiobooks for students and adults with diagnosed reading disabilities. Free for students and schools.

Follett 
Follett offers an array of print and digital resources for schools and libraries, including a large selection of audiobooks. Subscribers pick the titles and collections they want to purchase.

Learning Ally 
This nonprofit organization provides audiobooks and other resources to students and adults who have a diagnosed reading difficulty. Its reading app for schools includes more than 80,000 audiobooks available for a fee.

LibriVox 
This site provides free public domain audiobooks that are read by volunteers from around the world. It has hundreds of books for kids, including many classics.

Libro.fm 
This is a subscription audiobook service like Audible, but purchases benefit the indie bookseller of the buyer’s choice.

Mackin 
Mackin has a variety of print and digital resources available for schools and libraries, with many audiobooks. Subscribers choose titles and collections for purchase.

Sora 
This OverDrive reading app designed for schools has a large selection of audiobooks and ebooks. The content available for student use is selected by the district or school.

Storynory 
This site provides free audio stories for kids, including many classic fairy tales, original stories, and some nonfiction. The stories can be accessed through the Storynory website or app.

SYNC 
AudioFile magazine runs this free audiobook summer reading program for teenagers. Participants 13 and older receive two free audiobooks a week during the summer, accessible through the Sora app.

Tales2go 
An audiobooks subscription service for schools through which subscribers get full access to more than 10,000 titles.

READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

How Audiobooks Can Make People More Literate ▬ Medium

Uruk (Writing): Centers of Progress, Pt. 2 ▬ Human Progress

Centers of Progress, Pt. 2: Uruk (Writing)

Uruk 
UNESCO World Heritage Site

Human Progress: 5.08.2020 by Chelsea Follett

Today marks the second installment in a series of articles by HumanProgress.org called Centers of Progress. Where does progress happen? The story of civilization is in many ways the story of the city. It is the city that has helped to create and define the modern world. This bi-weekly column will give a short overview of urban centers that were the sites of pivotal advances in culture, economics, politics, technology, etc. Part 1 can be found here.

Our second Center of Progress is Uruk, the world’s first large city and the birthplace of writing around 3200 BCE. By creating the first writing system, the people of Uruk revolutionized humanity’s ability to exchange information.

Before the invention of writing, the only way people could communicate was by speaking to each other in person. Communication over vast distances and across long stretches of time was restricted by the fallibility of human memory. It was possible to send a messenger to a faraway city, but there was always a risk that the messenger would not recite the message accurately. People were able to pass down knowledge and histories through oral traditions from one generation to the next, but the details tended to change over time.

Today, Uruk is an uninhabited archeological site preserved in the desert of southern Iraq. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, honoring the “relict landscape of the Mesopotamian cities.” You can still see the remains of the city walls and gates, make out the shape of the streets and the layout of the houses from their crumbling foundations, and view the cracked steps of the temple mounds.

Today’s Uruk is quiet and ghostly. But if you were to visit Uruk in the late 4th millennium BCE, you would have entered a thriving hub of art and commerce populated by around 10,000 inhabitants. That would increase to between 30,000 and 50,000 inhabitants by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE.

For perspective, Uruk’s population in the late 4th millennium BCE was about the same as the population of the small town of Brattleboro, Vermont, today. But Uruk was among the first settlements to achieve a population of that size and is considered by many to be the world’s first large city. In the year 3200 BCE, Uruk was the largest city in Mesopotamia and possibly in the entire world.

As Uruk’s population grew, its society became more complex and the Sumerian civilization (the world’s first true civilization, which flourished in southern Mesopotamia between 4500 BCE and 1500 BCE) reached its creative peak. Surviving tablets indicate that Uruk had over a hundred different professions, including ambassadors, priests, stonecutters, gardeners, weavers, smiths, cooks, jewelers and potters.

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Near one of the temple’s entryways, you may have witnessed a history-altering breakthrough. You may have seen an accountant or record-keeper marking a clay tablet each time a pitcher of grain entered the temple. He would have made a small picture of a grain stalk next to his tally marks, like the city’s record-keepers had done for centuries.

But if you looked more closely, you would have observed that his picture was not really a picture at all. That is because, over the course of many years, the record-keepers’ pictures had become simpler to make taking inventory of goods faster. Eventually, the image that was used to represent grain in the temple records no longer even vaguely resembled a grain stalk. The pictographs evolved, in other words, to become non-pictorial symbols that represented concepts⁠—such as grain.

By agreeing on a set of abstract symbols to represent common goods stored in their temple warehouses, Uruk’s accountants were able to avoid the laborious chore of making detailed drawings on their clay tablets.

Eventually, the people of Uruk used these written symbols to not only represent different concepts, like grain or fish or sheep, but to also represent the spoken sounds that people used to express those concepts. Once they had symbols for different sounds, it became possible to write out names or other words phonetically. After that innovation, the Sumerians were able to write down more than simple inventory lists. They could also create increasingly complex documents. Their written output ranged from lengthy epic poems and wisdom literature, to genealogies and lists of kings.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

How Audiobooks Can Make People More Literate ▬ Medium

How Audiobooks Can Make People More Literate
Professional audiobook narrators help bridge the ‘understanding gap’

AudioFile Magazine

Medium: 9.08.2018 by AudioFile Magazine *

Educators and cognitive scientists recognize that “reading” is a very broad term. In the audiobook community, we already know that “reading” can and does mean critical listening as well as visual understanding of printed text. Pushback still comes from some who believe that “to read” is to decode visually. I like to call them reading “print-bound purists.” As most long-established “eye-readers” know, assumptions about characters, plot direction, and capacity to grasp how facts in chapter one will be required in chapter seven, can and do miss the mark on any first complete reading of a book. How many of these print-bound purists re-read texts — silently, of course, as 20th century pedagogy taught many of us to be a requirement of “skillful” reading?

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Professional audiobook narrators, in fact, are the people who do that essential pre-reading for us before we sit down to acquire the author’s work by listening to interpretive choices that make sense the first time around as listening readers. Professional narrators, having familiarized themselves thoroughly with the book before the recording session begins, know and impart appropriate pacing and alterations in inflections that we can have from the get-go when we hear their reading. Passages dense with significant and complex information are delivered in a manner that allows us to concentrate point by point instead of rushing by without collecting what we need for understanding the next stage of the work. And when personal names may be too close for eye comfort, narrators introduce specific tones — if not outright voices — that allow us to distinguish between speakers readily.

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Try these audiobooks as examples of how reading comprehension can receive significant boosts from hearing skilled narrators:

What do I need to understand about this character?

The War that Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, read by Jane Entwistle

How can I make sense of all these technical explanations when I’m not even sure which clause is important?

Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, read by Dion Graham

Who’s who when I see a cavalcade of character names that I can’t distinguish among quickly?

Death Notice, by Zhou Haohui, translated by Zac Haluza, read by Joel de la Fuente

* AudioFile Magazine
reviews and recommends good listening, top-notch performances and dynamic listening experiences. We do not sell audiobooks.

READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

Literacy ▬ Spanning the US :: Lee MA :: Cocoa FL :: Philadelphia PA

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@litnetsb

Four LitNet Learners Are Recipients Of Diane Laurin Memorial Fund
Berkshire Edge: 4.28.2021 by Amanda Giracca

The Literacy Network of South Berkshire (LitNet) recently announced that Guadalupe Miranda, Claudia Villamil, Viviana Moreno, and Carolina Escobar are the recipients of the Diane Laurin Memorial Fund Scholarship, a grant for LitNet learners established to honor the memory of LitNet Board member and colleague Diane Laurin, who passed away suddenly in 2009. LitNet’s volunteer tutors were asked to nominate learners who fit the scholarship descriptor: learners who demonstrate commitment to their learning goals, to improving their financial stability, and to gaining independence, and who will use the fund to further their educational and civic goals. The $150 award is to be used as the recipient sees fit.

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“It was such a pleasure to read the nomination letters from tutors and to then hear the sense of gratitude and inspiration from the learner recipients upon receiving these unexpected funds,” said LitNet Executive Director Leigh Doherty. “My guess is Diane Laurin herself would feel very proud to be able to acknowledge such committed people who are on the road to transforming their lives.”

Diane Laurin was the publisher of Laurin Publishing in Pittsfield and throughout her life was involved with several area nonprofits, educational programs, and cultural venues, and was serving on the board of LitNet at the time of her death.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 17

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

 

Literacy for Adults 
in Brevard

Volunteer Programs Helps Adults With Literacy
Hometown News: 4.29 2021 by Josh Whitener

The adult illiteracy rate in the United States is 21% according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Literacy for Adults in Brevard (LAB) is a local nonprofit staffed by volunteers from around the county who work with adult residents on literacy composition. LAB started in 1971 and the organization will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in October.

“It actually got started in Titusville by a group of Methodist women who wanted to help the migrants,” said Vicky Dunn, volunteer and vice-president of LAB.

For the past five decades the organization has helped residents qualify for jobs, work towards citizenship requirements and improve the quality of their reading and writing skills.

“We’ve been up and down and all around with how many volunteers we’ve had and of course COVID has had an impact on us,” she said. “We were pretty quiet during 2020. We couldn’t meet in the libraries which is our primary space to see our students, but we’re coming back to life now. A lot of our volunteers have already had their vaccine and we’re reaching out to our students that we’ve had to see if they are ready to start up again.”  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. olds

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

 

Beyond Literacy

Beyond Literacy: Combining Nearly 90 Years Of History Into One Org
Generocity: 4.29.2021 by Grace Shallow

Access to a college education changed Enrico Crispo’s life about 25 years ago.

“I went to a public high school in a blue-collar town in North Jersey, and I was lucky to get an athletic scholarship to go to a good college and get a good education,” Crispo said. “For me, education opened a lot more doors.”

Crispo now serves as the board president of Beyond Literacy, the product of a merger between two long-standing Philadelphia organizations—the Community Learning Center and the Center for Literacy. He credits the The Nonprofit Repositioning Fund and William Penn Foundation for providing critical support and funding to aid the merger and its strategic planning activities.

Beyond Literacy (BeLit) will focus on expanding opportunities for adults through education and workforce readiness.

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Education gaps are a prevalent issue in Philadelphia. According to an interactive mapping tool by the National Center for Education Statistics, 32 percent of Philadelphians lack basic literacy and 49 percent lack basic math skills. These numbers have serious implications; a report by the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board linked low levels of literacy with poverty, poor health and the likelihood of incarceration. The same report noted adult education as a powerful driver of the local economy.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 13

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 18-19 yrs. old

(college level entry)

6 Benefits Of Literacy In The Fight Against Poverty ▬ Concern USA

6 Benefits Of Literacy In The Fight Against Poverty

@Concern

Concern USA:  8.27.2020 by Olivia Giovetti

Literacy, as part of education, is a fundamental human right. Yet there are, according to UNESCO, 781 million illiterate adults (over the age of 15) around the globe. Over 63% of those adults are women. In countries like Niger, literacy rates are as low as 24%.

Fundamental human rights are just that — fundamental. These figures are also important because literacy (and numeracy) is one of the key ingredients to ending extreme poverty. As former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in 2015: “The future starts with the alphabet.”

Here are 6 benefits of literacy as a tool for breaking the cycle of poverty.

1. LITERACY IMPROVES HEALTH

Literate patients also have an easier time following instructions from their doctors, and literacy is a key benefit during a health crisis.

2. LITERACY PROMOTES “LIFELONG LEARNING” AND BUILDS SKILLS

Literacy and numeracy are a prerequisite for a broader education. Students who struggle to read (often due to language barriers in the classroom) are more likely to drop out of school before they can complete a basic education. This can set off a vicious cycle: literacy rates increase as levels of completed schooling increase.

3. LITERACY IMPROVES THE ECONOMY AND CREATES JOBS

Literacy is a powerful tool against poverty. If all students in low-income countries had basic reading skills, 171 million people could escape extreme poverty. Illiteracy comes at a high price. According to the World Literacy Foundation, illiteracy costs the global economy $1.5 trillion annually.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 9

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old

(Eighth and Ninth graders)

The Man Who Taught Millions Of Americans To Read Before Being Forgotten ▬ Washington Post

The Man Who Taught Millions Of Americans To Read Before Being Forgotten

Project Gutenberg EBook 
McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader, 
Revised Edition

Washington Post: 5.23 2021 by Jess McHugh

When an Ohio publisher released William Holmes McGuffey’s school primers in 1836 and 1837, McGuffey was an ancient languages professor at a rural college.

He quickly became an influential voice in the 19th-century common school movement, and his McGuffey Readers became something more: books that educated millions of Americans.

Over the course of the next 100 years, nearly every president as well as influential figures from Henry Ford to Laura Ingalls Wilder learned to read from McGuffey’s primers. Yet today, McGuffey is hardly a household name outside of conservative Christian home-schooling circles.

McGuffey was a purist — to his detractors, an extremist — a Calvinist preacher who believed that dancing was a sin and once expelled so many students that come springtime, there was only one senior left to graduate.

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But McGuffey’s Readers would strike a chord far beyond Oxford, their influence spidering out into a country just beginning to create public school systems. As Americans debated how to educate an expanding number of citizens, McGuffey’s books offered a convenient answer.

The Readers could guide children from learning the alphabet all the way to high school materials, as each volume increased in skill level. Just as importantly, with their tales of self-made men, American revolutionaries and Pilgrims, they served as a conduit for White, Christian culture. In that way, McGuffey Readers were about much more than teaching spelling and grammar.

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This Calvinist-inflected idea of American identity made its made mark on generations of schoolchildren — McGuffey’s Readers have sold at least 122 million copies — and helped found a tradition of God in the classroom debated to this day.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)