HUNTINGTON BEACH : Teaching Parents to Teach Their Kids

Fidel Ayala, 26, and Maria Salazar, 27, want to learn English to get better jobs and also to help the couple’s three children with homework.

Herlinda Tarelo, 28, said she, too, hopes that by being in the Family Literacy Program she can help her three children succeed in school.

Ayala, Salazar and Tarelo are among 50 who enrolled in the literacy program that started a year ago.

The program targets parents with young children in the primarily Latino community known as Oak View, near Oak View School. The program is supported by federal grant money and volunteer tutors, said Carolyn Healy, family literacy coordinator.

“Our goal is to teach basic English skills needed to read and write so they can read to their kids,” Healy said.

The program has 35 volunteer tutors, but Healy said more are needed because of the program’s growing popularity. “I have a waiting list of 30 families waiting for tutors,” she said.

Tutor Mary Lorge of Fountain Valley, the office manager at at her husband’s accounting firm, said she became involved as a program volunteer in May because of her Latino roots and her desire to give back to her community.

“I always felt akin to the Mexican people and I feel I can do something to help them get a better living in this country,” she said.

Healy said volunteers must tutor two hours a week. They do not have to speak Spanish. She said tutors will learn skills during a training workshop to communicate with Spanish-speaking students by using techniques such as visual aids.

A tutor-training session is scheduled for next month at Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. The 15-hour workshop will be on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 on Jan. 16, 18, 23, 25 and 30.

For information, call (714) 375-5104.