Mini-Grant Program 1996

The Plumas County Literacy Program provides family literacy programming for families in its community through the Families For Literacy Program (FFL) sponsored by the California State Library. Although begun as a basic literacy effort for adults, the program began ESL tutoring in January of 1995 for 18 students in the Portola area. Five of these students and their families were also participating in Family Literacy activities. Through the SLRC grant and the combining of some ESL and family literacy activities, the program was able to increase staff and offer FFL activities as part of the ESL class time.

Collaborating Partners and Agencies

Feather River Community College: instructional advice & materials
Soroptimist International (Portola & Quincy): donations for books
Plumas County Library: space, materials, equipment, referrals
Community Action Agency: grant funds
Northern California Literacy Coalition: training, advice
Northern California Literacy Resource Center: training, resources

Description of Project

Students in the ESL/FFL Project meet "in class" two mornings per week. Young children do reading and craft activities in a separate room while parents study. For the last half of the two-hour session, all are brought together for family literacy activities which include reading aloud, arts and crafts related to the books read, puppet shows and other stimulating emerging literacy activities. Staff model for the parents how to hold the books, how to choose books for their children and the importance of talking with and to their children. Children are given free, quality books to build a home library. Families are encouraged to use the free, lifelong resources of their public library and are introduced to its staff and facilities.

Project Budget

SLRC Funds =	$4,550
ESL Funds =	$750
EFL Funds =	$2,500
TOTAL	$7,800

How the SLRC Grant Benefited This Project

The SLRC grant provided the program with the extra staff necessary to operate the combined classes. Because of the additional staff, more attention was provided to individual needs and to eliminating the barrier of childcare which had inhabited several students from attending classes previously. Both children and parents learned to enjoy learning and playing together.

Several of the male students in the project have gotten better jobs and two are studying for the Citizenship Test (Plumas County Literacy Program will soon be a test site). Most of the women feel more comfortable with reading and speaking English and want to continue their studies; a few plan on working toward the Citizenship test. All enjoy the family interaction, new stories, crafts and games. This is a group which has always valued the importance of the family but did not know how to apply these family values in a learning/education environment for their children..

Personal Anecdotes

Two of the sons of students in the ESL/FFL class are named Mario. In order to avoid confusion, the instructors refer to them not by last names, but as "Mario One" and "Mario Two." The children think this is funny and staff use it as an opportunity to reinforce the importance of numbers and math.

The students, their families, and Literacy staff had a Thanksgiving potluck dinner. Family Literacy activities were held with a Thanksgiving theme. The Families For Literacy Program gave away free children's books. Everyone one had a great time and the students immediately began planning a Christmas dinner which also was a great success.