Library focuses on reading, writing, speaking

This library is one of 34 libraries to receive $5,000 grants to teach their residents to speak English. DP

By Andrea Natekar, Tribune

eastvalleytribune.com: Non-English speakers in Chandler could soon have an easier time learning the language of their new country.

The Chandler Public Library, which is finding itself dealing with an increasingly diverse population, wants to be more accessible to English learners.

And it just received a $5,000 grant to reach that goal.

The library was one of 34 nationwide to receive a grant from the American Library Association as part of the "American Dream Starts at Your Library" initiative, which helps public libraries increase literacy services to adult English learners.

According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 11 million U.S. adults - about one in 20 - have such limited English skills that they can't read a newspaper or understand the directions for medication, and recent immigrants account for most of this group.

The association says libraries, because of their accessibility, are in a unique position to help these immigrants acclimate to a new culture.

Census data says that nearly 22 percent of the population in Chandler speaks a language other than English at home. According to the American Library Association, much of that is because of local high-tech industries that have drawn people from all over the world to the city.

Gloria Ivwurie, a retired military servicewoman and a library volunteer, said she sees that play out in her conversational English classes, where many students are the spouses of workers who came to Chandler to work in the technology sector.

Kae Sawyer, a community outreach coordinator at the library, said she wants to use the grant money to create an English-learner Web page on the library's Web site, which would include easy-to-understand information about the library's services, as well as information about citizenship and immigration.

And the library will be able to buy more books and resource materials to help teach English to adults, she added.
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