West Coast Reader

While we are at it, I thought I might post the link for the Westcoast Reader itself. It has everything you need to work through the newspaper for adult learners. It includes a teachers' guide and more.

You might want to get some of your learners started on this online edition.

http://blogs.capilanou.ca/westcoastreader/

Best of the Reader

You have all seen the West Coast Reader around. It is an outstanding newspaper for learning readers.

Now you can tap into the very best of it.

http://bestofthereader.ca/

This site takes you to some of the best stories, calendars and more. Check it out and see how you might use it with your reader.

Winter Wonderland

Good morning tutors.

Just a few things to get you to catch up.

I am back in the office after a short break, and happy to be here.

We have a few new tutors coming on from our first fall training.

But we still need more tutors as you are available.

If you are not tutoring at the moment and would like to get back into it, please let me know. If you don't want to start until the New Year, that is fine too, just let me know. We would love to have you back.

We especially need math tutors too. Now I know a lot of you were a bit shy about the math, but, realistically, it is adding, subtracting, mulitiplying, dividing, fractions, decimals, percents, a tad of geometry, maybe a bit of graph reading. I DO think quite a few of you could take this one, and we have super math books to work from at the Learning Centre.

So come on down, above the Bank of Montreal, if you haven't visited yet. We have tons going on here with the CALL program and the VERY busy ESL program too.

Once again, thanks for all you do. Without volunteers we would be in an awful mess (can you imagine) and we do appreciate all the time and hard work that goes into every lesson.

My very best

Deb

Rolling into Fall.

CALL - Community Adult Literacy & Learning is up and going.

This week we are starting our fall tutor training. It is a fairly small bunch, but we really want to get go tutors so it is worth it. The training will be an afternoon one, Wednesdays 1:00 - 3:30 or thereabouts. This might appeal to some people who don't want to drive out at night.

I hope you all saw those great articles in the Peak and Powell River Living about Nadine Shelton, one of our learners who won the Canada Post award for the whole of BC. Well done Nadine. And kudos to Georgina, her wonderful tutor.

If you know an adult who needs help with reading, writing or basic math just let me know and we will see if we can match him or her with a tutor.

We still need tutors, so if you are able to take a second person, just let us know.

Right now I want to say Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all you great volunteers. This would be a terrible program without you. Imagine I would have to run all over the place giving lessons and trying to keep up with the work all of you do. That is a nightmare for me. So, I am keeping you. Thanks for training and thanks for working with the volunteers and thanks for being there.

A B C

http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abc/

For helping your learner pronounce the letters of the alphabet, start with this little activity.

http://pbskids.org/lions/games/abcd.html

Letter ordering game. A bit of a kid's sound, but it could be useful.

http://www.beginningreading.com/Free%20Workshe.htm

Lots of worksheets and flashcards for the alphabet here.

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/kids/phonics/index.html

Press on the letter to hear the sounds of the alphabet.

Math Mastery

Another fine site loaded with math stuff.

http://www.mathmastery.com

There are all kinds of topics and free worksheets you can print out.

What I like best are the word problems.

Those teaching math, spend a few minutes here and I think you will get some good ideas.

Open House at the Learning Centre

Powell River's new Learning Centre is having an OPEN HOUSE!

When?

Wednesday, May 18th from 4-6 pm

Where?

At The Learning Centre - in the PREP Society Offices above the Bank of Montreal on Marine Avenue

What?

An Open House - come join us to celebrate the official opening of The Learning Centre!

The Learning Centre houses 4 programs:

- CALL (Community Adult Literacy & Learning)

- ESL SAP (English Second Language Settlement Assistance Program)

- The Powell River Diversity Project

- The Powell River Literacy Council

ESL SAP

PRDI

The Learning Centre is a place where tutors and learners can meet and find resources. It is a place where people can come if they need help improving their English/math or other skills. It is also a place where people can come to learn more about literacy or diversity and the local initiatives that are being carried out in those fields.

Come to our open house to learn more!

Light refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there!

New Campaigns

Watch out for our new literacy campaigns. Emma Laroque has two going. Look at the Peak to see Get Caught Reading. It is a photo once a month of someone in town reading. There is a part where you can send in your own picture to win a gift certificate. Why not try it out.

The other campaign is in Powell River Living. It is called Never Too Late to Learn and features people who have started learning something new. Our first feature is gardener Peggy Brown.

Tea and Cookies

Well they aren't exactly your mom's home made cookies, but Kelli and I go out and buy cookies for you and your learner at the Learning Centre. Please feel free to fill the kettle and have a cup of tea or instant coffee and grab a cookie or two. Anything else we can do to make you feel comfortable, just ask.

West Coast Reader

This little publication comes in once a month and we leave it on the large table in the main tutoring room at the Learning Centre and also in the rooms. Take a look and see if there any articles that interest you there.

Making Copies

Remember if you need to make copies for your tutoring lessons you can make them just across the hall at the PREP office. The machine is always kept off, so you just push the ON button and it will still show an error, but it will print anyway. If you run into trouble just check with Sue in the main office. She is a whiz at all things official.

Time to Vote

May 2nd is election day in Canada!  Do you or someone you know need help with understanding how to vote?

Come to a workshop on 

Saturday, April 30 from 10 am - 12 pm at The Learning Centre (on Marine Drive upstairs from the Bank of Montreal).

In this short 1-2 hour workshop we will talk about:

- who can vote

- what ID (identification) you need

- where you go

- election vocabulary

- each party's ideas

Who is this for?

- new Canadians (you do not have to be a citizen to come to this workshop)

- adult learners who have questions about voting

- first-time voters

Questions?

Contact Emma, Deb or Kelli at 604-485-2004 or emma@powellriverliteracy

Math Games

Rather a nice little game site for math games for beginners.

http://www.gamequarium.com/addition.html

Try a couple of them and see what you think.

Weekly Update #1

Hi Folks:

Here is what is happening this week.

We have moved everything around. We have made the tutoring rooms available to anyone who has booked that space on a weekly basis.

We have moved all the bookcases into the big central room and we have created a nice meeting and learning space.

We have booted our own desks out into another office just inside the foyer so that we don't interfere with the business of learning.

So have a look for your favourite books and resources out in the main room. Hope you like all the changes.

Take a look at our glamorous and colourful new book rack. Isn't it a beauty? We hope it will tempt some of you to try and check out a new book or two.

We are also happy that VIU is back operating again. Any of you waiting to get into the tutoring rooms can get back to that space again.

Any questions, just give me a call 604 413-1021. Thanks

Deborah Calderon
Community Adult Literacy & Learning
604 413-1021 (cell)call@prepsociety.org

Learning to Use a Search Engine

http://199.71.28.160/WEL/issue3/SearchEngine/SearchEngine.html

This is a little slide program with a narration. You can work right along with the computer on your own computer.

Try it.

Beginning the Computer

http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/MW/MicrosoftWord.html

Here is another good site for helping a beginner learn the computer.

Have a look at the contents to get a good to follow guide for your learner.

Where's the Mouse

http://www.maryannlibrarian.com/class1.htm

A great site to teach adults how to use the computer. Each section has skill building and practice exercises.

Very useful.

Library Visit

The tutors who have just been trained this year are invited to a session at the Powell River Municipal Library on April 7th at 6:30 pm.

This is a continuation of the training so please do join us. You will meet with Jo Michelle Seidl, the assistant chief librarian. She will show you around the library to spots you might not know about where there are resources for you or your learner.

It is is a great opportunity to get together too and compare ideas.

If you are from an earlier training and you didn't get a chance to come to the library before you are more than welcome to come.

Please let me know if you are coming at call@prepsociety.org

Thanks and see you there.

giant computer buttons

http://www.internetbuttons.org/

for people who are just learning how to use the computer, or for older folks who find the whole thing intimidating, check out these giant use buttons.

Once Upon a Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNxLxTZHKM8

This is a lovely oral story done by Andy Griffith (Andy of Mayberry). It is just fun to listen to, so sit back and enjoy his style.

Eileen's Recommendations

ricklavoie.com

that is the fellow who made that wonderful cd

learningchocolate.com

http://www.dys-add.com/

Bright solutions for dyslexia

http://abcteach.com/

Good general resource

superteacherworksheets.com/grammar

Good for grammar

www.rhlschool.com

Free worksheets

esltower.com

ideas for esl

esl-galaxy.com

more for esl

ESL ideas and Wonderful Sites

Here are some sites that Kelli recommends you check out.


Idea Cookbook for ESL teachers: www.eslcafe.com

Online practice for students: http://a4esl.org

Online listening practice for ESL students: http://www.esl-lab.com

Variety of activities for teachers & students: http://www.manythings.org/

Writing lab for students & teachers: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl

Simplified New Stories: http://www.simpleenglishnews.com/

Resource Network for ESL Teachers: http://www.tefl.net

Athabasca University ESL website evaluation:
http://www.athabascau.ca/html/services/counselling/english/websites.htm

Goal Setting Lesson Plan

This is a nice tight lesson plan unit to follow with your new learner. It helps you discuss goals and gives you broad ideas about which direction to head in.

http://www.readsaskatoon.com/volunteers/Goal_Setting_Lesson_Plan.pdf

Go Ireland

http://www.youtube.com/user/nationaladultliterac#p/a/u/1/TtD-MmntdgU

Great little videos from Ireland explaining how to read a 24 hour clock. There is also one on how to read tickets and timetables.

Ireland is such a leader in this movement.

Reading for Life Volume Two

http://www.themlc.org/sites/9290fbae-86dc-4ed1-9fc8-7bfabe4766ba/uploads/Reading_for_Life_Volume_Two.pdf

This one seems even more exciting:

Unit 10 Maps

Unit 11 Graphs

Unit 12 Menus

Unit 13 Coins and Currency

Unit 14 Measurement

Unit 15 Letter Writing

Unit 16 Comparison Shopping

Unit 17 Banking, Bills and Budgets

Unit 18 Table of Contents

Unit 19 Driving

Unit 20 Automobile

Unit 21 Elections

Unit 22 Legal

Reading For Life Volume One

http://www.themlc.org/sites/9290fbae-86dc-4ed1-9fc8-7bfabe4766ba/uploads/Reading_for_Life_Volume_One.pdf

This is a great instructional booklet of ideas for adult basic education literacy. Here are some of the units.

Unit 1 Pre Literacy Activities

Unit 2 Ads: Job, Product and Housing

Unit 3 Labels: Product and Medicine

Unit 4 Telephone

Unit 5 Signs

Unit 6 Jobs

Unit 7 Medical

Unit 8 Calendar

Unit 9 Clock Time

A Little Light Reading

http://www.literacybc.ca/Research/LearningWithoutBorders.pdf

This is a little document that every tutor should scan through. It has all kinds of tips and ideas about adult learners and how to work with them.

Just take a moment and look at it, would ya folks?