What is Literacy?

After School Program (ASP) started for the third (and last) term on 8 September. This week we had a visit from Philippa, a teacher from Australia who is visiting friends here. Philippa talked to the volunteers about her experience in the Accelerated Literacy system used in Australia to help children struggling at school because English is not their first language.

Of course, that is a challenge that many of the children at ASP have to contend with. So we were very interested to learn about the different components of literacy, and how to help the children grasp them.

Philippa explained how to use the system when reading books to the children, and how to tailor it to different ages and/or ability levels. It certainly held OUR attention – and we all rather enjoyed the book she chose (“The Bear’s Lunch”)!

Philippa then demonstrated with different groups of children at the ASP so the volunteers could see how it works in practice.
We’re very thankful she took her holiday time to teach us some new skills!