Newsletter of the British Columbia Councils of Laubach Literacy of Canada - Volume 7 Number 1 - March 2003

Spring Conference 2003 Vancouver, April 3 - 6

The internet should help rather than hinder people’s literacy levels. We know the Worldwide Web can provide access to information resources of all kinds, and E-mail has virtually revived the practice of letter writing. But what about those who haven’t learned to read and write in the first place? Is internet technology useful to them?

We think so. There are many internet resources available for new readers, and more coming every day. For tutors, the internet can be a rich supply of resources to enhance their job and their mission.

The theme of this year’s Laubach Literacy of BC Conference is Connecting Adult Literacy. We will explore some of the opportunities available to those who choose to be “connected” to the many internet resources available today.

Helping us to become better connected is the Executive Director of the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD), Charles Ramsey from New Brunswick. NALD’s “storefront” is an excellent website that helps educators and learners to obtain the most up-to-date and comprehensive sources of adult literacy information available today. Check it out at www.nald.ca.

Other workshops

Screening for Success is a two-day workshop which aims to help tutors recognize and deal with different kinds of learning disabilities experienced by their students. Developed by the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada (LDAC), the two-day session will be conducted by Laubach Literacy of BC President Peg Beaton and Jan Seedhouse, Laubach Tutor Trainer.

Laubach tutors have also indicated an interest in learning more about family literacy. In other parts of the country, Laubach can boast some important family literacy initiatives. LL of BC board member Kim Jensen will share her experiences of a number of family literacy projects in British Columbia.

Charles Ramsey

Special guest Charles Ramsey

During the Saturday session we’ll be joined by Charles Ramsey, Executive Director of the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) in New Brunswick.

Prior to his appointment with NALD in 1995, Charles was Director of Program Coordination and Apprenticeship Training for the New Brunswick Department of Advanced Education and Labour.

His current professional interest is in harnessing the technology of the Internet to the service of the literacy community. To this end, NALD has created a community of literacy organizations on its Web server by designing, hosting and maintaining home page sites for national, provincial and regional nonprofit literacy and literacy-related organizations in Canada. It has created over 180 Web sites, provides an electronic infrastructure for literacy related information where the literacy community is able to find and/or provide information, and serves as an access point for resources through links to other educational resources on the Internet.

NALD’s primary focus has become the provision of information and resources useful to the literacy community in Canada on the Internet.

Charles was the 1999 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s award (New Brunswick) for Early Childhood Literacy in the Grand Parent category, and in 2002 NALD won an Honourable Mention in the UNESCO International Literacy Awards, in this case, sponsored by the International Reading Association.