Leaps and Bounds in Literacy

Question: What do the following two words have in common?

Discourage
Cauliflower

Answer: They both include all five vowels – a e i o u. If you answered correctly, well done! These two words were brought in to class by one of the students in Intake Two of the Brewarrina First Nations Adult Literacy Campaign. At the end of Week Five, there are approximately twenty students attending classes regularly down at Blessings. By this stage in the Yes, I Can! lesson series, students know all their vowels and have started learning consonants. They are building their confidence and learning skills and beginning to write sentences. Apart from reading and writing skills, each lesson develops conversation skills with topics relevant to local and global issues. So far, students have had discussions about such wide-ranging issues as friendship, writing letters, the importance of culture and peace.

Led by local staff Mary Waites, Janelle Frail and Tahnee Eyre; Cuban Advisor Chala Leblanch; and Australian Advisor Alex Dixon; Intake Two students are already part of a learning community, sharing morning tea and conversation daily before and after classes. Every few weeks, we hold a student BBQ to celebrate our ongoing successes. We have also been very privileged to have Lillian Lucas, Regional Development Officer for Literacy for Life Foundation, join us in the last few weeks. If you are interested in finding out more, pop down to Blessings at the old Backpackers or call Mary Waites on 0474992894.

You might also have noticed a film crew following staff and students around Brewarrina. We are very excited to have Blackfella films with us, who are making a documentary on the Intake Two Yes, I Can! campaign. Another exciting development for the Literacy for Life Foundation is our expansion out to Weilmoringle, with classes set to begin in mid-July. The campaign will run in the same way as in Brewarrina, as a CDP supervised activity and with Work and Development Orders available for those who have fine. All are welcome to come along to the launch of the campaign out at Weil on the 28th June. For more information, please contact campaign coordinator, Tannia Edwards on 0475016277.

Source: Brewarrina News

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