Release date: May 12, 2009

When Toan Lam-Sullivan of the Holgate branch library walked into a room full of quietly working small children, there was a sudden explosion of noise as they ran to follow him like the Pied Piper.

The children were all bilingual Vietnamese-speaking three to five year olds who, with their parents, are part of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization's (IRCO's) Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Parent Child Development Services program. This school readiness program is conducted three or four-times-a-week at Lent Elementary School and at the library. Lam-Sullivan comes to the classes regularly to read stories and lead activities. Funded by Multnomah County, the program serves API families who speak their native language at home. One of the goals of the program is to ensure that the children can succeed in school by teaching them the skills they will need in kindergarten. The sessions for this class are conducted in Vietnamese, with the exception of Lam-Sullivan's storybook readings and songs, which are conducted in English but he then translates the into Vietnamese.

In addition to Lam-Sullivan's visits to the classroom, each Tuesday, the group meets at the Holgate branch of the Multnomah County Library where they hear stories and learn to sing and dance. Representatives from the Midland and the MLK branches also come to the class each month.

Thuan Tran is one of three fathers who regularly bring their children. Tran, an engineer with Tigard Electronics, says, "I enjoy teaching my daughter and (seeing) how well she's learning." When asked what Amy has learned, he responded, "Writing, counting, coloring pictures, writing her name, and math - she can add and do a little bit of subtraction. She also recognizes the symbols for 'more than' and 'less than'."

Other kindergarten skills the children learn include respect for each other, following instructions, and forming and staying in lines.

Hanh Tran (no relation), who brings hear sons Huston and Tyler, says she was so happy with the program, which runs from September to June, she recruited her friend Alicia Nguyen, who now attends with her son, Daniel Ly.

"My son was signing at home. I asked where he learned that and he said "At the library." Tran stated.

Although the purpose is not to teach the children English, many of them are picking it up through the storytelling and watching cartoons on television. The program uses the Parents as Teachers curriculum, conducts developmental screenings on all enrolled children and conducts one home visit per month to each family, in addition to the three or four days of group classes. There is no cost to the families.

Hanh Huynh, and IRCO parent educator, has been leading this class for nearly 10 years. She also arranges transportation for families who need it in order to participate.

When children in the program enter kindergarten, IRCO closes the family's case. However, when the children begin elementary school and need assistance with homework, the non-English speaking parents often call Huynh seeking help. IRCO does have academic success programs for students between first and twelfth grades to which she can refer the families.

"I went on the internet and found IRCO had programs for preschool aged kids," said Thuan Tran. "I wrote IRCO a letter saying that my income is too high for Head Start but I can't afford a private preschool and they invited us to join this class. I'm really grateful."