Literacy Network of South Berkshire and Stockbridge Library partner on a new lecture series, Community Conversations
The Literacy Network of South Berkshire (LitNet) and the Stockbridge Library announce the launch of a new lecture series, Community Conversations, featuring lectures on fun, informative, and discussion-worthy content. The content will be organized and delivered in a way to be accessible to community members whose first language is not English and will be open to all members of the community to attend. The intention is for these lectures to provide an immersive listening and discussion opportunity for Berkshire area intermediate/advanced-level English language learners seeking to develop their language skills. The lectures are free and the content is for a general audience. Anybody is welcome to attend.
The inaugural lecture, The History of Chocolate, will be led by Great Barrington resident Deb Ryan and will be held on Thursday, May 26 at 5:30 PM at the Stockbridge Library. Ryan has worked in advertising and marketing for several chocolate-related companies, including Duncan Hines and Schrafft’s Candy Co. before becoming the president and founder of the Historic Division of Mars, Inc. She is also the producer of a film called Cocoa to Chocolate, which describes the chocolate making process.
About the series, Ryan, who co-contributed to envisioning the nature of the series, states: “The idea occurred to me from my experience as an adult language learner when I lived in France. It’s a chance for learners and other members of a community to get together and have a chance to practice speaking and listening in a relaxed, nonjudgmental, and no stress way.”
Lectures will run 20-30 minutes with 20-30 minutes of follow-up questions and discussion and will be a range of general-interest topics. They are scheduled to occur every six weeks.
The Community Conversation Series evolved out of an ongoing partnership between the Stockbridge Library and the Literacy Network of South Berkshire. The two organizations have joined forces to begin to develop programming and events and to provide resources for all community members, with a special focus on providing English/Spanish programming, opportunities for English-language learners and space in which to support such programming.
Community members are welcome to propose their own lectures or to suggest topic ideas for future Community Conversation events. To propose a lecture or for more information, contact LitNet’s Executive Director Leigh Doherty at ldoherty@litnetsb.org or (413) 243-0471 or Stockbridge Library Director Wendy Pearson at wpearson@cwmars.org or (413) 298-8140.
