NEW! Literacy and Parentings Skills Good Practices ( *Revised June 2008.)
NEW! National LAPS Survey (The full report is available at the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education website: www.saee.ca/pdfs/039.pdf)
LAPS manuals
The LAPS programs are delivered by a trained facilitator that follows the LAPS manual specific to the particular program. Manuals available include: LAPS Mainstream, A-LAPS, LAPS-ESL, and Grandir avec mon enfant. These manuals are the curriculum for the LAPS programs. They have each been extensively researched and field-tested to provide the maximum adaptability for different settings and relevance for each particular audience.
Grandir avec mon enfant est la version française de Literacy and Parenting Skills (Alphabétisation et compétences parentales). C'est un programme innovateur destiné à développer leurs compétences parentales. Il vise aussi à aider les parents à lire et écrire davantage en français et répond aux besoins spécifiques des parents.
Grandir avec mon enfant is the LAPS program adapted for francophone audiences. The curriculum follows the same structure and guidelines of the the other LAPS programs and is enhanced with culturally relevant material. Facilitators are French speaking and are trained by French speaking trainers.
The LAPS-ESL supplements were developed to correspond to the Canadian Language Benchmarks Levels 1-8. ESL educators that wish to implement LAPS-ESL will be able to further tailor the program to the needs of the learner based on an assessment of the learner's proficiency.
Parent-Child Interactive LAPS-ESL materials
The five sessions included in this package correspond to the five sessions included in the original LAPS-ESL package. They have been modified to incorporate children and parent-child interactive activities. Pilot sessions indicated that both parents and children enjoyed the activities. These sample sessions will encourage the involvement of both parents and children in the development of language and literacy.
LAPS for Teens is a project that will target teenage parents with low literacy skills. It will seek to empower these parents by improving their literacy skills and addressing issues that are specific to parenting as a teenager. This program will follow the same philosophy and organization as the other programs in the LAPS family.
PATHS is a community response to English as a second language literacy and language development. PATHS is a handbook of materials that can be used by organizations that do not have a background in literacy programming. Health clinics, employment agencies and other organizations that work with individuals with low English literacy find this is an excellent resource. It provides valuable background information and a series of workshops so that even facilitators without a background in literacy education can implement the program. Nine topics have been developed and include: Cultural Sensitivity, Community Involvement, Barriers to Literacy, Evaluating Progress, Providing Literacy Friendly Services, Recognizing and Assessing ESL Literacy Needs, Taking the First Steps, Volunteer Involvement and Integrating Family Literacy Programs.
The Ontario Native Literacy Coalition’s Completing the Circle: Teaching Our First Teachers –
Literacy and Learning for Aboriginal Families (LLAF)
The Ontario Native Literacy Coalition’s Completing the Circle: Teaching Our First Teachers – Literacy and Learning for Aboriginal Families (LLAF) The ONLC has been working on a new family literacy program based on FESA’s A-LAPS model. This will lead to a culturally relevant family literacy package primarily for use in Ontario with the Ojibwe, Cree, Oji-Cree and Mohawk people, but it will be flexible enough to be easily adapted to other groups. We are all very excited about this adaptation, which also includes Essential Skills Training Activities. This will be helpful to those ready for slightly more formal literacy skill development! In the fall 2008 FESA achieved a shared copyright with the ONLC.
So, Where Are the Males?
This tool kit was developed as part of the Moving Forward project that explored strategies and approaches to attract men learning English as a second language, to ESL learning programs. So, Where Are the Males was created to assist community agencies interested in providing language and literacy classes for males learning ESL. The tool kit allows the community agency to evaluate its own readiness to provide such a program, explore strategies for attracting the target client, and to examine seven tips for implementing a successful language and literacy program.
Parenting After Family Violence
Research has shown that abused women typically experience feelings of low self-esteem and a lack of personal control and autonomy. This can compromise their ability to be effective parents in that they tend to doubt their instincts and end up resorting to the tactics used by their abusive partner simply because they lack knowledge of alternate methods of parenting. The Parenting After Family Violence sessions educate abused women on positive parenting models, as well as offer strategies on dealing with their children’s trauma / behaviour which is greatly impacted through being exposed to violence in the home.
The LAPS-Path to Learning video is a dynamic, information-filled orientation that portrays the Literacy and Parenting Skills program (LAPS) as it operates in a variety of settings. Glimpses of the Mainstream, LAPS-ESL and A-LAPS sessions reveal strategies to encourage parents in their efforts to build on their children's language and literacy development. Information on community partnerships, facilitation skills and literacy facts are sprinkled throughout.
A-LAPS-Expanding Horizons video
Expanding horizons is an orientation to the A-LAPS program. It features footage of real A-LAPS programs in action. Different stakeholders weigh in on the importance of literacy programming for the aboriginal community and how A-LAPS is making a difference in their communities. Examples of A-LAPS integrated into other community programs provide useful ideas for new facilitators. This video also features testimony from participants on the need for learning in their own lives and how A-LAPS has fulfilled that need.
La vidéocassette Grandir avec mon enfant - LAPS donne un aperçu du programme aux personnes intéressées à devenir animatrice. Elle donne des informations au sujet du programme ainsi que les grandes lignes de la formation pour animatrice. Les témoignages de participantes aux sessions de Grandir avec mon enfant soulignent les bénéfices d'un tel programme pour les communautés francophones.
The Grandir avec mone enfant video is an introduction to the program for individuals wishing to implement the program in their communities. It gives information on the program itself and guidelines for potential facilitators. Testimonials from program participants highlight the benefits of implementing the program in francophone communities.
