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Taking Flight : Celebrating Literacy Through the Words of Learners (2000)
Edited by Donna M. Smith

A millennium project which spans the last 30 years of literacy in London/Middlesex County, Ontario. Features a collection of learner-written stories and articles from literacy workers sharing their experiences and giving insight into the personal rewards of being a literacy worker.
Cost : $10 (plus s&h)
Contact : Donna M. Smith, London/Middlesex Literacy Network, 305 Queens Avenue, London ON N6B 3L7
Tel. (519) 661-5182
Fax (519) 663-9013
donna.smith@treasure.lpl.london.on.ca
http://discover.lpl.london.on.ca/service/lonlit.htm

Adult Literacy Assessment Tool Kit (2000)
Illinois Literacy Resource Development Center et al.

Tool Kit was field-tested by library literacy programs across the US, and is designed to help adult literacy programs build effective and accountable programs while meeting the needs of learners, instructors, and funders. Suited to specific programs and broadly applicable to the full spectrum of literacy programs.
Cost : $35 US
Contact : American Library Association (ALA), 155 N. Wacker Drive,
Chicago, IL 60606-1719, USA
Tel. 1-800-545-2433
Fax (312) 836-9958
www.alastore.ala.org/

A Toolbox for ESL Tutors - An Instructional Guide for Teaching English as a Second Language to Newcomers (2000)
Frontier College Press

Provides tutors/teachers with practical lesson activities and ideas for lessons that can be adapted and or expanded depending on the student’s interest, goals and prior knowledge.
Contact: Frontier College, 35 Jackes Avenue,
Toronto ON M4T 1E2
Tel. (416) 923-3591, or 1-800-555-6523
Fax (416) 323-3522
information@frontiercollege.ca
www.frontiercollege.ca/
Available online at : www.frontiercollege.ca/english/public/online/Toolbox/cover.htm

It Guided Me Back to Learning : A Longitudinal Research Study on Calls to the Literacy B.C. Helpline (1999)
prepared by Sandy Middleton, Literacy BC

It was recognized that calls to the provincial toll-free literacy helpline provided a valuable research opportunity to explore the needs, aspirations, and experiences of adults with low literacy skills in B.C. The study offers the possibility of gaining unique insights into critical issues about participation in literacy education.
Contact: Literacy BC, 601 - 510 West Hastings Street,
Vancouver BC V6B 1L8
Tel. (604) 684-0624
Fax (604) 684-8520
literacy_bc@douglas.bc.ca
Also available online at: www.nald.ca/PROVINCE/BC/LBC/Research/Itguided/pg1.htm

AlphaRoute is an on-line literacy learning environment which will provide Literacy and Basic Skill delivery agencies in Ontario with the tools and resources necessary for distance or alternative delivery of literacy training. Centre AlphaPlus Centre in partnership with the National Literacy Secretariat, Human Resources Development Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, officially launched AlphaRoute in September 2000. Senator Joyce Fairbairn and Minister Dianne Cunningham participated in the opening ceremonies; along with Onésime Tremblay, Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Linda Monteith, Executive Director. Other launch sites included Thunder Bay Literacy Group in Thunder Bay, La Magie des Lettres in Ottawa, Fanshawe College in London and Contact North in Sudbury.

Participating Ontario Literacy and Basic Skill agencies will be phased into AlphaRoute delivery during the pilot year of operation from September 2000 to August 2001. Literacy and Basic Skill agencies in Ontario will be provided with full access to AlphaRoute environment as well as staff training for mentors and local facilitators, and ongoing technical and curriculum support. Once this first year of implementation has been completed, partnerships with interested literacy providers outside Ontario will be explored. It is planned that by the end of 2002, all Anglophone and Francophone Literacy and Basic Skill agencies will have access to AlphaRoute. AlphaRoute environments for the Native and Deaf learners will be launched in September 2001, and Literacy and Basic Skill agencies in the Native and Deaf streams will be phased in at that time.

What do learners have to say about AlphaRoute
Forty-six learners between the ages of 18 and 35 participated in an 8-10 week research pilot of AlphaRoute completing a minimum of 24 hours of on-line activities. Three English language centres participated, two from Ontario (Kingston Literacy Read-Write Centre and Beat the Street – Frontier College) and one from British Columbia (College of the Rockies); and three French language centres including two from Ontario (ABC Communautaire de la Péninsule du Niagara and La Magie des lettres) and one from Quebec (Centre Élisabeth-Bruyère).

Here’s what learners have to say about the learning experience:
“I thought I learned who I was from this. I always knew that I wanted to be a writer but I didn’t know how bad until the eight weeks on AlphaRoute.”
“You know, I took keyboarding before but I found it boring. I didn’t want to be there. But this, there’s different things you can choose from. It’s not just like, you know, writing. Or if you don’t want to do writing, you can do an activity.” “…usually, when I do a program, I’ll go there just to see how it is and then all of a sudden other things will come up and I drop out … like bad attendance or I get kicked out because of attendance. But I came here all the time and for me that’s good because I usually never do that.”

We invite the public to visit the Centre AlphaPlus Centre website at http://alphaplus.ca during 2001 to find out more about this exciting new on-line resource and the results of this pilot year of implementation.