Community Partner Spotlight: Novato Library Bilingual Reading Buddies
Reading Buddies (RB) is a one-on-one tutoring program for students in grades K-5. The program helps students build literacy skills and develop a love of reading after school in a relaxed and supportive environment. Branch librarian, Hector Garcia, guided Dominican service-learners to better understand the larger context and the issue of racial and educational inequity in Marin County. In Spring 2023 semester, this partnership piloted a Spanish-English bilingual Reading Buddies program at the S. Novato branch library. We had total of 8 service-learners with Novato RB this semester, 4 of them were Spanish speakers.
Dominican student Anthony Rondon reflects his reason for wanting to participate in this opportunity, sharing:
“Since I grew up bilingual, I could relate with the students and have a better understanding of what they’re struggling with reading-wise. When taking part in Reading Buddies, I noticed that most of the kids were bilingual, but mostly spoke in English, and this was something I wanted to change. I wanted them to be able to practice reading both in English and in Spanish which is why I would read both types of books with my buddies.”
Additionally, two service-learners in the CASC Community Engaged Research Methods class worked with Librarian Hector Garcia on parent outreach, event planning, and literacy assessment that are all part of the library branch’s effort to provide multicultural and multilingual programming for the community it serves.
From April 13th to April 15th, the S. Novato branch hosted their first ever Primaveras event. The library started off the weekend events by having the Dominican Women’s Soccer players join students in the RB program in person to play a soccer game.
Meredith Hagler, a service-learning student in an Effective Communications class, and soccer player, recruited four of her teammates to be part of this event. In her weekly reflection, she shared :
“The event was truly amazing. We split the teams up and gave them positions. I got to meet Gigi too (RB student)!! She is a great soccer player and even scored three of our goals. There were at least 30 kids there and all of them were so into it and having an awesome time. It was definitely something I will never forget.”
On April 14th, the library had an opening ceremony for the Irene Magaña Collection Liberation, which includes the Spanish language collection. Hector shared that it was a significant accomplishment to have the Spanish-language collection at the center rather than on the side, hidden away from the public. Now, everyone who is interested can easily locate their favorite book in Spanish.
Finally, on April 15th, the library hosted a carnival-like event for all the family. The celebration included with drag story time, Lotería games with library vocabulary in Spanish, and music by Chulita Vinyl Club. Dominican student, Ally Bold, a student in the class, Social Justice and Ethical Action, reflected on her experience at the event:
“. . . a transgender storyteller told stories about inclusivity and discovering her self identity, which was an amazing and inspiring story to hear. Seeing the youth and family members support the event and attend with an interest in nurturing the community and caring for one another, reminded me about the importance of communal involvement and wellness surrounding the reasoning for resisting community stereotypes and advocating for housing, immigration, educational, job, and human need resources.”
