Library to host a literacy day

If you’re reading this, you probably understand the importance of literacy skills.

Volunteer tutors and their students in the Newport Beach Public Library’s literacy program will celebrate those skills today when they observe International Literacy Day.

The Newport library’s literacy program began in 1986. Today, about 50 to 60 tutors are trained and 150 adult learners are served through the program each year, said Cherall Weiss, the library’s literacy coordinator. One-on-one tutoring and group classes are offered.

Today’s event will honor the program’s participants and a special award will be presented in memory of Rochelle Hoffman, a literacy tutor who died in 2004.

Weiss said she also hopes the event will raise awareness of the estimated 40 million people in the U.S. with poor literacy skills.

“We are using it as a way to let the community know about the problem, our program, as well as the tutors and volunteers that commit a lot of time to the program,” she said.

Being able to read has improved students’ lives, but tutors have gained from the program too.

Weiss began as a tutor and liked it so much that six months ago she quit her job in finance to work for the literacy program.

Another tutor, Ilma Cunningham, joined the program in June and already has reaped rewards. Cunningham said her student, a woman from South Korea who knew English but wanted to improve her skills, has already become a friend.

The two women discuss local events and have gone shopping together.

Tutors and their students are supposed to meet once a week for an hour, but Cunningham said she and her student always spend at least an hour and a half together and they never skip their meetings.

“Although I guess I’m her teacher, I don’t really feel like that,” Cunningham said. “I feel like I’m an acquaintance who is helping her enlarge her vocabulary.”

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