Beginning A Literacy Program
by Nancy Woods
Director, Adult Literacy Action
Pennsylvania State University

 

BEGINNING A LITERACY PROGRAM ASSESSING THE NEED PROGRAM STRUCTURE BUILDING A PROGRAM MONEY MATTERS RECRUITMENT PROMOTION TRAINING HORIZONS

BEGINNING A LITERACY PROGRAM Increasing numbers of volunteers are responding to the invitation to "teach someone to read." The response is indicative of a heightened awareness of, and interest in, the problem of adult illiteracy, and many new community literacy programs are starting as a result. This booklet will offer some practical advice to those in charge of, or attempting to develop, a small literacy program. Illiteracy is rarely at the top of any list of social concerns, yet it is related to some of this countryís very worst problems. Adults who cannot complete job applications, read job requirements or follow written instructions may well be unemployed. Someone who cannot read faces daily frustration which may lead to emotional problems. Future generations are touched when parents who are illiterate cannot help their children; the same parents may even pass on to their children the attitude that education is not important. Clearly, by "teaching someone to read," a literacy program, no matter how small, is doing much, much more.