GCF Learns Fun Reading Lessons

GCF Learns is a free, yes I said FREE!, online site to learn basic reading and speaking skills. You can learn other skills too, like microsoft products. The basic reading site focuses on 1,000 words with a variety of activities for different learning styles. It has a section for ELL and another for basic reading.

If your student is comfortable with games, he or she will like the reading game activities. This site is available on a smart phone. This means students can learn on the go, standing in line or waiting in the car to pick up their child and more.

Many lessons include video and/or audio. A student can use it even if they have lower reading skills. There is even a lesson on how to bake a cake.

Options for getting a GED in Florida

Librarians and adult literacy tutors need to warn students they can not earn a GED online. A company has just been found guilty of making millions of dollars by duping adults into thinking they can pay for a high school diploma with very little work required.  If it is too good to be true --it is. Tell adults this fact.

Here is the state link to information on taking the GED test in Florida.

Banned Books Week: Using Graphic Novels in Adult Literacy

The American Library Association just shared this press release about banned books week starting Monday. Graphic novels  can make reading more interesting for low level readers are highlighted by ALAthis year.  

Here are why (source ) graphic novels work with people with lower literacy.

Reading graphic novels:

• Engages reluctant readers & ESL patrons.
• Increases reading comprehension and vocabulary.
• Can provide a bridge between low and high levels of reading.
• Presents an approach to reading that embraces the multimedia nature of today’s culture, as 2/3 of a story is conveyed visually.
• Provides scaffolding for struggling readers.
• Presents complex material in readable text.
• Helps patrons understand global affairs.
• Offers another avenue through which individuals can experience art.

Here is the ALA press release. It lists the ten most banned graphic novels. Literacy tutors should  visit their library  with their student to browse the graphic collection together. The drawings will make it easier for a student to select one or more titles to read during tutoring and as practice between lessons. 

Share popular titles used in lessons with your student on this blog.

http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=5133

It may surprise some to find out there are hundreds of reported attempts to ban books every year in the United States. It may be even more astounding for them to hear that since 1990, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has received reports of more than 18,000 attempts to remove materials in schools and libraries for content deemed by some as inappropriate, controversial or even dangerous.

Banned Books Week, Sept. 21 – 27, 2014, reminds Americans about the importance of preventing censorship and ensuring everyone’s freedom to read any book they choose. According to ALA’s OIF, for every banned book reported, there are many more that are not.

This year’s Banned Books Week is spotlighting graphic novels because, despite their literary merit and popularity as a format, they are often subject to censorship.