Tri-Cities Adult Literacy & ESL Working Group The Adult - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Tri-Cities Adult Literacy & ESL Working Group

 The Adult Literacy & ESL Working Group is open to those who have an interest in Adult Literacy.  We are quite unique in the province as many of the organizations involved compete for the same federal funding but collaborate for joint projects that benefit the community.  Members include: ❖ Douglas College ❖ SHARE Family and Community Services ❖ Members of each of the Libraries in the Tri-Cities ❖ School District 43 Continuing Education ❖ S.U.C.C.E.S.S. ❖ ISS of BC ❖ Tri-Cities Literacy Outreach Coordinator

 Our working group has run a variety of programs in the past, including a seniors writing, health literacy and essential skills workshops and a writer’s talk.  However, funding has decreased so we only have 2 large focuses each year.  We do an annual Canada Day LINC picnic and the Learn About series.

 We started running workshops for newcomers to Canada on Canadian culture in 2016.  Our group brainstormed ideas  4 topics, 12 sessions in the evening at each of the libraries in the Tri-Cities  We aimed to collaborate with local partners who could deliver the workshops as part of their role.  It also saved us lots of money to not have to pay speakers

 Libraries provided free space  Working group members shared sessions with their students as well as sharing sessions on social media  Open to public, registration required through Literacy Coordinator  We provided tea and cookies

 While well advertised, there are less classes in the evenings so we had lower turnout  Some events had only a handful of attendees  Registration vs actual attendance was about 50% sometimes  Covered the same topic too many times  Evenings were hard on LOC  We tried a survey hoping to get ideas for additional sessions. Very little response

 Ran sessions during the day – attendance went up astronomically!  No real duplication of sessions at various libraries. We ran each session once during a period of time.  Added additional types of workshops  Dropped tea and cookies saving us money

 Great collaboration between partners to ensure participation  Libraries provide free space  We’ve run it at a theatre attached to the Port Moody City Hall which gives us space for 200  City staff gave us free space at city council chambers  Most speakers are free and this type of talk is part of their mandate

 For the rare speaker that we do have to request, we’ve given $25 gift cards to Tim Hortons  Generally speakers adapt their presentation to work with our participants  FVRL designs all the posters for free  Sessions are interactive and we always leave time for questions

 Civic  Aboriginal responsibility  Scams  Social events  Hiking &  Food camping  Biking  Hiking  Home safety  Elections  Fire safety  Family Literacy  Winter safety

 Winter planning and safety  Small business and entrepreneurship  How to give back by volunteering  Community gardens and plant safety