Category Archives: Podcasts

Banned Books Week 2014 – ESL students share their thoughts

Banned  Book Week 2014Once again, this year Professor Shirley Nuhn’s ESL students are creating podcasts that discuss Banned Books Week, which runs from Sept. 21-27.  Links to their podcasts are included below.  NOVA Annandale ESL students have been helping the library recognize Banned Books Week for many years, with their podcasts on the subject first added to the library’s website in 2009.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating essential American freedoms:  to read, to seek knowledge and to express ideas. Even if the ideas are unorthodox or unpopular, we are supposed to have access to them without limitations. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to censorship and its results.  It is sponsored by the American Library Association and the National Coalition Against Censorship, among others.

The books displayed in the library during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, these books have remained available.  Come on in and check them out!

Hear what everyone has to say:
Aydin Bekiroglu
Farahnaz Mahvi
Ha Quan 

Professor Shirley Nuhn

Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2013

  1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
    Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence
  2. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
  3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
    Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
    Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
    Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
  6. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone
    Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit
  7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
    Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
    Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  9. Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
    Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
  10. Bone (series), by Jeff Smith
    Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence

Banned Books Week 2013 – Perspectives from ESL students

Banned Books SignOnce again, this year Professor Shirley Nuhn’s ESL students are creating podcasts that discuss Banned Books Week, which runs from Sept. 22-28.  Links to their podcasts are included below.  NOVA Annandale ESL students have been helping the library recognize Banned Books Week for many years, with their podcasts on the subject first added to the library’s website in 2009.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating essential American freedoms:  to read, to seek knowledge and to express ideas. Even if the ideas are unorthodox or unpopular, we are supposed to have access to them without limitations. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to censorship and its results.  It is sponsored by the American Library Association and the National Coalition Against Censorship, among others.

The books displayed in the library during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, these books have remained available.  Come on in and check them out!

Hear what everyone has to say:

Ibrahim Alousi
Huong Cao

Kevin Fuentes
Solange Vasquez Liza

Prof. Shirley Nuhn

Banned Books Week

Two ESL students and Professor Nuhn provided commentary for 2012’s Banned Books Week. ESL students’ involvement in Banned Books Week goes back a long way, and their podcasts for it began in 2009.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the national observance regarding the freedom to read. The American Library Association is the major sponsor. Banned Books Week for 2012 spans September 30 to October 6.

Please click on the links below to listen to the commentary. The files are in mp3 format. Thanks to Professor Nuhn for sharing these podcasts with the library!

Prof. Nuhn’s commentary

Nafia’s commentary

Kei’s commentary

ESL Students Speak Out About National Library Week

ESL professor Shirley Nuhn and her students from ESL 33 are helping the NOVA Annandale Library celebrate National Library Week, which runs from April 8th-14th, and School Library Month, which spans the entire month of April. This year’s official American Library Association-sanctioned theme is “You Belong @ Your Library”. Take a few moments and listen to these students talk about why they feel they belong at their library, and find out about some of the resources that the library has to offer you – for school, for work, or for home. 

Click the links below to hear what they have to say:
Professor Shirley Nuhn, Students: Edwin Velasquez, Gerardo Perez, Hoang Mai