CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Literacy Event Honors “Learners” at Central Library

The Newport/Mesa ProLiteracy celebrated International Literacy Day today in the Central Library Friends Room, where a standing-room only crowd of about 100 people gathered to share foods from around the world as well as literacy accomplishments.

Isabel Sevilla, 35, of Costa Mesa, was honored with the Rochelle Hoffman Memorial Award, given each year to a standout “learner” in the Literacy Services program. The award is named for a Corona del Mar woman who volunteered as a tutor before her death in 2004.

Sevilla moved from Mexico in 2000 and has worked as a nanny, but her grasp of only basic conversational English was holding her back, she said in an interview before the ceremony.

“My English was horrible,” she said. “Every time, I had a lot of things in my head, but they wouldn’t come through my mouth. My past tense verbs, how to have a conversation…It was not enough for me. I said, ‘I will learn English.’”

Sevilla began to search for a program to teach her English, but her schedule and transportation issues were a problem until she learned about the Newport Beach Library’s free Newport/Mesa ProLiteracy program. The program pairs volunteers with “learners” in one-on-one lessons that the pair arranges to suit each other’s schedules. Sevilla began working in January 2010 with Laurie Hoagland, spending about two hours a week plus two hours or more each week on homework.

Hoagland said Sevilla was a true success story.

“When she came, she had rudimentary English and wanted to read and write,” she said. “Now she’s preparing to pass the GED test, which is very difficult.”

With Hoagland’s encouragement, Sevilla also is writing her family’s history in English. So far, she said she’s written 23 stories based on childhood conversations with her 105-year-old great-great-grandfather’s cousin, exploring her family’s move from Spain to Mexico and their lives there.

Receiving the Rachel Hoffman Memorial Award was a “very great honor,” she said.

“I didn’t expect to be the winner, but I’m happy with that,” she said.

Rochelle Hoffman’s daughter, Renee Hoffman Heath, attended the event.

“She would be so excited, she would be so proud,” Heath said. “Keeping one of her greatest passions alive and kicking — she would be thrilled. This is a great way to keep her spirit alive.”

The library’s literacy program was established in 1986 and trains about 50 tutors each year. Currently, the program has 112 active tutors, 132 active learners and 23 learners on waiting list. For more information on the program, including how to volunteer or seek literacy help, click here.