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How To Use The Directory
Before you begin
your search, it is helpful to know that there are nine possible ways to search
for family literacy projects: Program Name,
Sponsoring Organization Name,
Language of the project,
Age of the child, Program setting, Location (province/territory),
City, Prototype
Model, and Type of Family Literacy
Activity.
At the present time,
it is possible to use only one search category at a time. However, there are
plans to develop search capability by a maximum of three categories.
Prototype Model and Activity Categories warrant further description
before you begin your search.
Activity
Categories lists projects according to six types of family literacy which
have been identified in the literature as follows:
-
Intergenerational - Literacy instruction offered to both parent and
child and both are seen to be the primary beneficiaries of the program. Ex.
Family Learning Program, Ontario; Parenting and Family Literacy Centres,
Ontario; Families in Motion, British Columbia.
- Focus on Parent
or Primary Care-giver - Adults are the primary participants in training
which includes ways in which parents may develop children's literacy at home.
Children are assumed to receive indirect benefits. Childcare may be provided
while caregivers attend sessions. Ex. Book Mates, Manitoba,; Prints,
Newfoundland.
- Parent
Involvement- The focus is on increasing parental involvement in child
literacy development through joint caregiver-child sessions which engage both
caregiver and child in literacy-related. activities. Ex. Parent-Child Mother
Goose, Ontario; Come Read With Me, Saskatchewan.
- Family Literacy
Activity for the General Public - Focus on public awareness or informal
participation for literacy enjoyment. Ex. Reading Circles of Frontier College;
library shared story time; family literacy 'tents'
- Projects for
Family Literacy Resources- Materials, resources made available to support
family literacy. Ex. Books for Babies projects; book bags projects.
- Family
Literacy Professional Development- - These activities and/or
materials are directed to practitioners either for providing initial staff
training or for continuing education (Ex. Come Read With Me Facilitator
Training).
Prototype
Models
Model family literacy
programs have provided several frameworks from which new family literacy
projects have developed. Twelve prototypes have been identified which represent
a variety of intergenerational and parent involvement family literacy
approaches, as well as practitioner training. These models are briefly
described below., References are also included for further information on
family literacy prototype models.
Books for
Babies - These programs have been implemented in many communities across
Canada, usually operated by volunteers in conjunction with hospital or medical
centre sponsorship. Either identified before or during delivery stay in
hospital, mothers receive a visit to explain the importance of reading to
children from birth. After their hospital stay, parents receive 'book bags'
containing books for reading to their infants, along with tips on how to read
and talk to their young children.
Book Mates -
Developed by Dr. Beverly Zakaluk of the University of Manitoba, this model
offers a series of workshops for parents of preschoolers that emphasize: 1) the
value of reading to preschool children, 2) functional literacy which draws
children's attention to environmental print that conveys meaning throughout
daily activities, and 3) the role of writing in early literacy development.
Facilitator training is offered so that members of the community can conduct
workshops.
Come Read With
Me - Developed by the Saskatchewan Literacy Network in 1993, this prototype
model provides both facilitator training and direct services to parents and
their children. Programs are located in a variety of community and school
settings. Program goals for parents and children include: encouraging reading
as a 'fun' and valued activity for both parents and children; aiding parents to
help their children develop pre-reading and reading skills; helping parents
with low literacy skills read to their children; encouraging parents to pursue
further adult education opportunities. Facilitator training is three days long
and includes resource materials and certificate of participation on completion.
Training includes: issues in family literacy, steps in starting a program,
reaching 'hard to reach' parents, overcoming potential problems in leading
groups.
Home-Based Family
Literacy (Parents As Teachers, HIPPY) - Designed to help parents support
their children's literacy development and school success, this program may be
run through community centres, libraries, and school boards. A
paraprofessional, usually a trained parent from the same community, visits a
parent at home and works with her or him to enable the parent to participate in
parent-child literacy activities. Parent assistants may work with 10 to 15
families, and each program has a coordinator for every 12 parent assistants.
Literacy resource materials are available that focus on language and reading
with children.
Kenan
Intergenerational Model (Even Start, Toyota Families for Learning, National
Center for Family Literacy) - This model is a community-based program which
strives to improve parents' basic skills and attitudes toward education as well
as to improve their children's ability to learn. Participants may enroll for up
to 18 months in a full day program which includes: 1) adult education for
parents, 2) early childhood education for preschoolers, 3) parent and child
together time, and 4) parent group discussions on parenting.
Learning Together
Workshops - Developed by the Adult Education Section of the Nova Scotia
Department of Education and Culture to achieve the goal of providing accessible
family literacy resources and facilitator materials, communities conduct family
literacy workshops without costly prior training. Workshop manuals, paired with
easy-to-read parent booklets allow communities to plan and implement family
literacy workshops that meet specific local needs.
Literacy and
Parenting (LAPS) - Developed in 1995 in Alberta by Elaine Cairns and
Laureen Mackenzie, LAPS is a five module training program for family literacy
practitioners. Two manuals of resources and family literacy session outlines
are provided in courses for future LAPS facilitators. Candidates for training
have been literacy and ESL (English as a Second Language) coordinators, and
staff of organizations that provide ongoing family services.
Homespun -
Developed in 1991 in Alberta, this program was adapted from Motheread, the
North Carolin literacy program for women in prison. Homespun offers in-class
instruction for parents and caregivers on reading with children. Using a
variety of children's literature, parents discuss children's reactions to
books, personally respond to literature within their own homes, and address
related parenting and educational issues.
Parent-Child
Mother Goose Program - Developed by Celia Lottridge, this non-profit
charitable organization has operated several on-going parent and child groups
in the Toronto area since 1986. Since 1993 the program as developed training
workshops and resources which enable other organizations to offer the program.
Parents and their young children attend weekly sessions (usually in ten-week
cycles) for about one and a half hours each week. Activities centre on oral
literature - rhymes, songs, and stories, with parents and children all seated
in a circle. Teaching is directed to parents with children participating,
napping or wandering, as is appropriate to their age. There is informal
discussion of how rhymes can be used in daily life. The program accommodates
families who are non-English users. Resource materials (rhyme collections,
songs, stories) and a program video are available in facilitator
training.
Parents' Roles
Interacting with Teacher Support (PRINTS) - Developed by Drs. William T.
Fagan and Mary C. Cronin, this program is designed to empower parents to foster
the literacy development of their young children. Parents are empowered to take
on five literacy roles across five contexts of a child's life: talk, play,
environmental print, books and book sharing, and scribbling/drawing/writing.
PRINTS is structured, yet flexible, and parents become co-partners in its
implementation. The Program runs for 12 sessions of approximately two hours
each and is also suitable for preschool and kindergarten teachers. Facilitator
training includes three-day workshops with facilitator's handbook, training
manual, and facilitator training video. Program materials include a parent
video and parent handbook.
Reading
Circles- A major component of Frontier College's family literacy program
focus across Canada for over a decade. Designed to strengthen child and family
reading, a Reading Circle is a club where adults and children come together to
read for pleasure. In settings surrounded by books, group reading and
literacy-related games, Reading Circles are community-based, volunteer staffed
family literacy projects.
United Kingdom
Basic Skills Agency Intergenerational Family Literacy - Four demonstration
programs were developed in 1993 to help parent improve their own basic skills;
to support child literacy and language development, and help parents discover
ways to support their children's literacy learning. There is a high degree of
uniformity in practices across programs, based on voluntary participation and
clear objectives for parent-child joint literacy development. A required
commitment to a course (96 hours over 12 weeks of participation) enables
families to focus on achieving goals. Parents set clear objectives for
themselves and their children at the outset and this encourages group cohesion
for parent support. Parent sessions include structured opportunities for
writing and reading in the context of practical family activities (recipes,
safety, health issues) and ways to help children develop language, literacy,
and numeracy. Joint sessions for parents and children together are coordinated
with the parent sessions, in order that parents may use the content of a parent
session in the joint session. Parents receive immediate feedback on what they
can achieve with their children and how to adapt to their children's needs.
Adult literacy sessions also follow Wordpower, a flexible adult literacy
accreditation system in the U.K.
References
Morrow, L. M.,
Tracey, D., & Maxwell, C. M. (Eds.) (1995). A survey of family literacy in
the United States. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Thomas, A. (Ed.)
(1998). Family literacy in Canada: Profiles of effective practices. Welland,
ON: Soleil Publishing.
To have your family
literacy project added to the Directory or to update Directory information
about your project, contact the family literacy liaison organization for your
province.
Go to
CONTACTS on the search menu for a listing of
provincial contacts
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