The Boone County Public Library is reaching out to community members who speak English as a second language.

The library held a bilingual storytime event on June 1 that brought the library to families living at Mosby’s Point trailer park. It featured the library’s Community Center on Wheels.

Six children and their mothers attended the event, which featured stories read in both English and Spanish. Attendees checked out books and received cards with bilingual text offering activity ideas, suggested reading materials and information concerning early literacy. (more…)

The Boone County Public Library is reaching out to community members who speak English as a second language. The library held a bilingual storytime event on June 1 that brought the library to families living at Mosby’s Point trailer park. It featured the library’s Community Center on Wheels.

Six children and their mothers attended the event, which featured stories read in both English and Spanish. Attendees checked out books and received cards with bilingual text offering activity ideas, suggested reading materials and information concerning early literacy.

Organizers chose the Mosby’s Point location because there is a large population of residents who speak English as a second language and Spanish as their primary language. (more…)

Carly Andrews said education is a “social responsibility.”

“Children are the most sacred parts of the community,” she said.

Andrews, 34, started her new job June 7 as the head of school at Willowwind, the same place she taught language arts and humanities to fourth- through eighth-graders during the 2006-07 school year. She takes over for Matt Ruzek, who left after one year of leading the independent school on Iowa City’s east side.

After spending the last three years working on her doctorate and as the outreach coordinator for the University of Iowa’s international programs, she said getting to lead a school is a “lifetime dream.” (more…)

mphasizing how intimidating it is to live in a new culture and learn a foreign language, Rotarian Annette Reynolds said those tasks are much easier with some encouragement.

That’s why she and her fellow Rotarians are excited about their literacy initiative and giving new dictionaries to city residents who speak English as a second language, she said.

Reynolds, fellow Rotarian Dick Bateman, and a few other representatives handed out dictionaries Wednesday to adults at The Waltham Family School, which operates at South Middle School.

Giving a dictionary is about more than helping students learn the language, she said. It’s about empowerment, and sending a message that someone has faith in you.

“It’s an acknowledgement the person’s going to use it and learn English,” she said. “Can you imagine going to a new country where you don’t know the language, and someone said, ‘You’ll be successful. You’ll learn the language, don’t worry about it?’

“It’s something that says, ‘We think you’re going to be successful,’ ” Reynolds said. (more…)

Although education is valued both in the United States and Bangladesh, learning English for Bangladeshi students holds a much more vital place in their goals and aspirations. Only half the students reach the equivalent of the American 11th grade, he said. Many return to the surrounding rice fields to work for the remainder of their lives.

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Teaching English is nothing new for Kopachuck Middle School’s Jim Vaughn. He’s been doing it for the past 24 years, and he loves the eagerness his students exude, as well as the passion they bring to the classroom.

What was new was that Vaughn was in a classroom teaching English in 100-degree heat, a number that was only topped by his 120-student class size.

Vaughn recently returned from a two-week trip to Banghadesh, which neighbors India to the east, as part of a program run through the U.S. Department of State.

During his time in a tiny rural village, Vaughn taught English to students 11 to 16 years old. He also worked with English teachers on implementing new strategies to teach the language in a country where learning the language is one of the only tickets to success. (more…)

Our national leaders are charged with the difficult task of drafting and enforcing immigration reform policies. BRIDGES unequivocally supports our nation’s rights to limit the number of immigrants permitted to enter our country each year.

Likewise, we support our nation’s right to deport those who violate our immigration laws.

However, the passage of the controversial Arizona immigration bill signals a disturbing trend in the immigration reform movement.

The Arizona law requires immigrants in the state to carry proof of their immigration status. It also mandates that police can question anyone they believe to be in the United States illegally. Such a law begs racial profiling, resulting in the harassment of both documented and undocumented persons. (more…)