Tahoe Production House recently went on location and in the classroom to film for “Read with Me”. We got to go into a real classroom at Incline Elementary School, and see how this program was run with teachers and students. It was great to see the interactions between the teachers and the students. Reading Skills are important!
What is Read With Me?
Our mission is to bring volunteers to schools that serve disadvantaged students to help them develop to their maximum potential. Our primary effort is to provide English speaking role models for children who are in need of indivdual assistance in learning to become fluent in English.
Take a look at one of the lessons below:
ABOUT READ WITH ME
Started in 2004 at the request of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Superintendent of Schools, Roberta and Clay Klein started a fund at the Desert Community Foundation and asked the pastor of their church for his assistance in recruiting volunteers. Father Howard Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church readily agreed. The District had been using English speaking volunteers to the extent, they could get them to go into the schools in the district that had no English speaking people in the community. Roberta asked the Superintendent if he would provide buses if they could recruit volunteers who were fluent in English through churches and other organizations.
Read With Me was born and now brings volunteers from seven churches to five different schools. The schools are all in areas of high poverty with a majority of the parents untrained in academic English. They love their children but cannot help them with English.
In 2013, Read With Me received a Golden Bell Award for English Acquisition from the California School Board Association. We believe the program is totally replicable in other areas that face similar challenges in providing tutoring and mentoring for disadvantaged children in a classroom setting.
