Both my parents were born and raised in Mexico. After they married, they moved to Oakland, California, where they raised five children, two girls and three boys. I was the youngest. We lived in Oakland. My father couldn’t speak English and had a hard time finding jobs. He took whatever job was available. We were poor but happy. I remember waking up in the morning and hearing my mother singing in the kitchen all the old Mexican songs like Cielito Lindo, La Cucaracha, an

As you read my story, I hope it will help you understand that you are not alone. From the age of six, I realized that reading was a problem in school. When I was asked to read out loud, it was very hard as well as embarrassing. The other kids would laugh and say hateful things. That’s when I started to close myself and I would not read out loud anymore. As the years went on, I felt alone. It seemed that no one could or would help me. At home, there was very little patien

The English Conversation Group at the Hub from 8:45-9:45 am will be held in Room 12 on the following dates: March 28 April 4 No class April 11 due to spring break April 18 May 2 May 9 Also, the English Conversation Group at Cesar Chavez will have a spring break the week of April 10. #ECC #conversationcircle #english #springbreak

Two of Literacy Plus’ English Conversation Circle tutors gave us some conversation questions they created and used in their circles. Jennifer and Jane have been ECC tutors for Literacy Plus for seven years, and have been leading the group at Weekes Library. They organized their conversation questions into interesting topics, and now Literacy Plus has made them available to you as pdf files so you can download, print, and use them in your circles. Click on the image to navigat

I remember when my mom worked at Grand Lanes Bowling Alley in old Hayward. I enjoyed working with her in the children’s day care play room. When I was old enough I joined the junior bowling league on Saturday morning. Learning to bowl was a lot of fun and I was good at it. The captain had the best bowlers compete with the coaches and I won a prize when I beat the coach. I went to several tournaments and we bowled all over the east bay. I won many pins and trophies in the