Learning English and American culture

California: That thinly sliced yellowish square, wrapped in its cocoon of plastic and known to American mothers everywhere, was a mystery to Jeongsil Jeon. But it was a required ingredient in the sandwiches she needed to make for her son's school party. "What is American cheese?" Jeon asked her tutor, eager to participate in the Pleasanton community as a school volunteer. The South Korean mother is one of 90 students in the Pleasanton Library's Project Read program, a one-on-one free tutoring service that teaches literacy skills to Pleasanton residents. It's a program that can be a launchpad for the students' day-to-day success in the community at large.

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