Holiday Fiesta for North Valley SLO and Friends

The highlight of our holiday season was a grand fiesta at the gorgeous, historic Stevensville Hotel to celebrate the return of Caitlin Reilly, my daughter, who has been living in Nicaragua for the past three years. Caitlin was working for the Peace Corps there for 2 1/2 years and has been working recently at the American Nicaraguan School, one of the International Schools. Hispanic music kept the party mood lively and Oscar Macz played guitar music and sang songs from his native Guatemala. There was a wide variety of foods to sample along with punch, wine, and many, many desserts. The hotel was "jam packed" with people who were all eager to talk with Caitlin about her adventures in Nicaragua and her plans for the future. Our Spanish Language Outreach group sure does enjoy planning and hosting celebrations. A grand time was had by all!

Until next week, Nos Vemos! Amy

New Year brings new ideas

Hola! After our busy holiday season, it is time to get back in the swing of weekly blogging about our Spanish Language Outreach at North Valley Public Library. Our eclectic group has been referred to as the NVPL Spanish Conversation Group (SCG) but we are endeavoring to create a formal name. The SCG recently reviewed reading lists recommended from Criticas and Reforma, national groups promoting Spanish Language Outreach. SCG recommendations and requests were submitted to NVPL Director, Renee McGrath, who purchased many new materials of expressed interest for NVPL Spanish collection development. Three members of NVPL SCG are not only native speakers relocated from Mexico, Chile, and Guatemala but all are also certified teachers. What excellent resources for our program! Many of our less fluent members have moved beyond juvenile onto young adult materials. Among the most popular items are audio books in Spanish and the "Destinos" video language program in the format of a TV novella or drama series popular in most Hispanic cultures. It is so exciting to watch people progress! Our English as Second Language gatherings have been inactive recently due to work related obligations; however, our ESL instructor is making plans to begin new classes soon. Adios!

From WebJunction -- a couple of SLO-related webinars in November. One is tomorrow (11/10) -- sorry for the short notice.

Reaching Spanish-speaking Agricultural Communities
On November 10 Patricia Rempel, University of Alberta; and José Garcia, King County Library System, will share research on perceived use of public access computers by Spanish speakers in rural Washington. The webinar will include real-life examples of library use in these rural communities and the results of outreach efforts by the libraries studied. More info and registration » http://evanced.info/webjunction/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=1624


Using Social Media to Make the Case for Supporting Library Services
On November 19 learn the background of social websites, how to use these websites for advocacy, and how to advocate for services for Latinos and Spanish speakers. A panel of guest speakers include Meredith Farkas, Norwich University; Fiona Bradley, IFLA; Marci Merola, ALA; Max Macias, Portland Community College; and Loida Garcia-Febo, Queens Library. More info and registration » http://evanced.info/webjunction/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=1623

Chef Jorge

Chef Jorge Morales was born in Miami of Colombian heritage He now lives in Stevensville and has a gourmet catering business called Cafe Mundo . Jorge gave a demonstration of how to prepare two recipes (one from Costa Rica, one from Mexico) along with cultural background of the country's cuisine and the history of each recipe.

Fiesta Latina

Here you see members of the North Valley public Library Spanish Conversation Group who did most of the decorating, cooking and organizing of what turned out to be the most attended event in the 100 year history of the Library with over 160 people.

Final report on Hispanic Heritage Month at North Valley Public Library

It was a fast paced, event filled month! So many new faces and new ideas. Some of the events that took place were historical and cultural presentations, travelogues, musical and dance performances and cooking demonstrations. We were able to work with "Global Grizzlies" the student-run organization from U. of M. doing work in developing countries, nationally recognized musicians performing Mariachi and Flamenco music, native people from Chile, Guatemala and Mexico, world travelers, and a chef from Colombia. Watch for some photos of events to follow this post.

Piñata Fun and Latin Dance Night!

On Thursday, Oct. 8, Missoula Public Library celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a fun-filled day of events. In the afternoon, we learned how to decorate piñatas with Eileen Cummings of "Spanish Anyone?"



Then we turned down the lights and turned up the music for Latin Dance Night. Missoula's local Flamenco group Patio Andaluz gave a beautiful performance of a variety of flamenco dances.




Members of the Downtown Dance Collective demonstrated salsa moves so fast that we could not even catch it on camera! However, they did slow things down a bit teach the audience some basic moves. Everyone also enjoyed tapas from Columbia, Mexico and Spain from The Silk Road.