Wa Correia - SLO Volunteer Extrordinaire

OOPS! Somehow this photo of Wa was not included in our last post. So, here she is! Today Wa just created a gorgeous poster collage of photos from last year's Hispanic Heritage Fiesta. Wonderful marketing tool!

Wa Correia - GREAT Volunteer

Hello, All. This month we are waiting to hear if our project "Hispanic Heritage Month" will be funded by the Missoula Community Foundation. Meanwhile, we are moving forward with our plans for our play "Cenicienta" or Cinderella in Spanish. Many of our native speakers will play the major roles. Oscar Macz (Guatemala) is working on adding more dialogue to the script and has agreed to be our director. Oscar will also perform during our kick off event, Hispanic Fiesta, on First Friday, Sept. 3rd, in Stevensville. Oscar plays guitar and sings beautiful songs, many of which he has written himself. Wa Correia (Mexico) was featured recently as Volunteer Extrordinaire by the RSVP - Retired Senior Volunteer Program. Here is a photo of Wa. She is very busy giving so much of her time and energy to help others. We encourage anyone who has photos of interest to our Spanish Language Outreach bloggers to submit them to the blog. This fall I have plans to attend nearby schools during Parent-Teacher nights to "reach out" to those folks of Hispanic heritage. I will provide them with information on all we offer at our North Valley Public Library. I will even do my best to communicate in Spanish! Amy Ling

Working on play "Cinderella" in Espanol

Hello, All my fellow bloggers! Recently our group "Reunion en Espanol" has been planning the activities of upcoming "Hispanic Heritage Month" at the North Valley Public Library. One of the most involved (and so far, FUN) projects is the play (la obra) "Cinderella" or "Cenicienta" which will be presented in both Spanish & English. Catalina Gerner will be working with new member Noemi to help migrant workers in the Flathead Valley during cherry picking season this month. Catalina will be working with the children while Noemi will be working in the mobile medical clinic. Some of us would like to have a photo submitted with each new SLO blog post. Here is a picture of NVPL Reunion member, Joseph Gallagher, this spring when Erika & Alfonso Schumann & I went hiking near his home close to the national forest. The schedule of events for Hispanic Heritage month at NVPL will soon be completed and posted. As always, your suggestions are welcome.

New Friends, New Plans

NVPL has the good fortune to be the site of internship of University of MT grad student, Amber Lynch, as she prepares for her K-12 certification. Amber will be working to help promote our SLO program to more organizations and businesses. She will help us create marketing materials for NVPL Hispanic Heritage Month in September. This year we are planning to translate the story of Cinderella into a Spanish screen play with members of the NVPL Reunion en Espanol (Spanish Conversation Group) performing at the Stevensville Playhouse community theater. Guatemalan native, Oscar Macz, is not only translating but also changing the story to a screen play. Other ideas for 2010 Hispanic Heritage Month include our community fiesta on First Friday, Main Street, Sept. 3rd, travelogues of Puerto Rico & Peru and a class on Cuban cuisine. We are hoping our outreach efforts will encourage Hispanic natives to visit our library, visit our Spanish conversation group and participate in our events. If anyone has any suggestions, for our ongoing outreach or for our month long celebration of Hispanic Heritage, please share them with us.

Stevensville & Missoula SLO groups get together

Hello, Spanish Language Outreach followers! This month the Missoula group joined us in Stevensville to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. There were over 20 of us at Fiesta en Jalisco. Great food, great conversation in Spanish, including with the restaurant staff. The managers bring young Mexican immigrants to the US all the way up to MT to work in their restaurant. While here, they practice learning English and familiarize themselves with our American culture. The Missoula group meets twice a week; once during the day at the public library, once at night at a local brew pub. Another gathering of those interested in Hispanic cultures is the bi-monthly "Salsa Dance" at the Elks club in Missoula. Last week several of our group (Ana, Marina, Joseph, Erika) attended the dance. We are in the beginning stages of planning our annual Hispanic Heritage month events to be held throughout Sept. We will submit a grant application the the Missoula Community Foundation and hope for the best. Alfonso, husband of our dear friend, Erika Schumann, is currently working on a landscape architecture project in China for 3 months. Erika was just informed by their landlord that they need to find a new place to live. She will be re-locating to Missoula soon. We will miss her warm personality, especially me, to whom she has helped in so many ways, particularly breaking the barrier to speaking in Spanish, even if it isn't perfect. We remain good friends for life. Here are a few photos of our Cinco de Mayo dinner.

What's Happenin' in Stevensville w/ Reunion en Espanol?

Hola, Amigos! Our SLO conversation group is one of my favorites because it is so informal, relaxed and FUN! People drop in whenever they want, no expectations of regular attendance, no formal agenda. We continue to draw in newcomers from time to time and each one brings with them a new and interesting story of their life, how they came to live in Stevensville, their background with Spanish language, details of their families, etc. This week we got to know Noemi Bassler who is "una enfermera" (nurse) who follows the migrants who harvest the fruit in Northwestern Montana. We will meet sometime soon to brainstorm about what her Hispanic patients or clients may need that our library can provide. On a personal note, my daughter, Caitlin, just renewed her contract with the American Nicaraguan School in Managua, Nicaragua where she teaches 7th grade Latin American History. Over the next two years, she will be taking her Masters program in Managua focusing on International Education. Next week our SLO group "Reunion en Espanol" will celebrate Cinco de Mayo at our neighboring restaurant "Fiesta en Jalisco" which won an award for Best New Business from the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce. Congratulations, Amber & Antonio!

WJ

This announcement was just posted by WebJunction.

Spanish Language Outreach Course Revamped and Relaunched
WebJunction's Spanish Language Outreach course has returned to the WebJunction catalog after an extensive makeover. This self-paced course contains a wealth of information, techniques and tools you can use to jump start your library's outreach efforts to your local Spanish-speaking community. In celebration of the relaunch, we are offering both of our WebJunction courses for half price through the end of April. And for those of you who do volume purchases for your staff—the discount applies to your staff, too.