Family Literacy Month and NCFL Founder

"Literacy is the stem of the flower.  If you don't have a strong stem, none of the other petals of learning (work skills, reading to your child, getting a driver's license and more) can happen"  So says Sharon Darling, the founder of the National Center for Family Literacy in the video about her life below.  Watch this 17 minute video to learn what family literacy is all about.  It is one of 4 videos below about adult literacy in our link to U-tube productions available in VALF's blog.

Volunteer literacy programs can celebrate November as Family Literacy Month in small and big ways.  Here are examples:

• Provide literacy lesson using picture books this month.  Help parents learn to read words while getting tips on how to read to their child.  The parent can then take the book home to share with their child.
• If you are working with a very low literate parent or with someone who does not read English, use wordless picture books or bilingual books.  This makes sharing stories easier.
  
• Hold a family festival night.  Invite parents who are students to  come with their children to enjoy stories and books together.  Provide food, make crafts, give books away and more...
  
• Invite your library staff to provide a program and tour of the library for your families.
• Write a letter to your newspaper's editor or post on the paper's electronic publication highlighting the problem of adult literacy in the context of the family.  Share your learner's success stories as related to their children.
• Share other ways in the comments for this blog post....
  

 Most volunteer programs lack the resources to provide a comprehensive family literacy program, but many can provide special activities to encourage families learning together.   A comprehensive program has 4 components (Children are learning, Parents learn how to work with their children as related to literacy, Parent and Children Interaction Time also called PACT where children and parents play and read together and an area that is most important, ADULTS LEARNING BASIC LITERACY SKILLS. You can learn more about all components at the link to NCFL.

So much of the time, schools, libraries and many others tell parents to read to their child forgetting that many parents of struggling readers can not read very well themselves.  If a parent lacks the skills to read, they are often embarrassed about it and can not read to their child. 

Volunteer literacy programs are vital because they help parents gain these basic skills which will be passed on to their children!

Register Today for Free Workhop on October 23

Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors

Register today for the Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors Workshop on October 23, Friday in Leesburg. For times and location go to our wiki. The brochure posted on the wiki has more details.  E-mail literacyflorida@hotmail.com to register.

National Writing Day -- October 20

National Writing Day is October 20. If you would like a fun way to encourage your learners to write, go to FloridaMemory.com and try out the State Library of Florida's writing tool. Florida memory is full of pictures around many Florida topics. A subset of these have been pulled together around short stories, books and topics like Dogs, Key West, Flight, Hurricanes and more.

A writer can select one of the pictures and then write their short story about it. You end up with a word document with a Florida picture. You need to save the story to your computer. The site does not save it.

If your literacy programs would like specific pictures based on your community or a topic, email snewell@dos.state.fl.us.

Health Literacy Month

Happy Health Literacy Month.... There are many resources for Health Literacy. One is a private consultant who has some free resources on her site, including a health literacy logo.

Here is a good resource for easy to read material.. It is the Institute for Health Literacy Advancement.

List Serve as In-Service for ELL Tutors

The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) has a very busy discussion list for serving English Language Learners. Your volunteer literacy group may want to set up one email account for a volunteer to monitor discussion lists like this one.

Also, this discussion list is a good way for volunteers to get in-service. To sign up for the list go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage/

Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors

Register today for the Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors Workshop on October 23, Friday in Leesburg. For times and location go to our wiki. The brochure posted on the wiki has more details.

Explore the “Fast Track Reading” course developed specifically for lower-level readers by the Jacksonville Public Library. The system incorporates a unique, accelerated approach to reading instruction that focuses on syllable division, syllable types, and other word attack strategies.

VALF is hosting this free workshop. The library has found proven instructional strategies that work with basic reading students who have not succeeded in other programs. Sharon Hastings Jaskula, long time manager of the Jacksonville Public Library’s award winning literacy program, is the program presenter. Register today by sending your name, program name, telephone number, fax number and e-mail to literacyflorida@hotmail.com. Also include your title (Program Manager, Tutor Trainer, Tutor, Teacher etc.)

The Jacksonville Public Library developed this program with funding from a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), a federal grant administered by the State Library and Archives of Florida.