New Resource Available

Posted: June 26, 2008

Completing the Circle: Teaching Our First Teachers

Literacy and Learning for Aboriginal Families (LLAF)

It’s taken a year but we have the final family literacy packages printed and available now. Since ONLC is a not for profit charitable agency, this resource is being sold on a straight cost recovery basis plus shipping and taxes. This resource is also available on CD.

The Completing the Circle package consists of a shrink-wrapped hard copy document and CD. The resource is divided into 8 main sessions and an optional pre-session. Main session topics include:

Speaking and Listening Skills

Passing on Our Values and Traditions

Schools and Our Children

Building Self-Esteem in Our Children

Talking With Our Children

Discipline

Let’s Talk About Food

Families as Teams

Each session is self-contained and can be used as a stand-alone teaching unit or as part of a larger sequential training package.

This material is designed for use with Aboriginal adults and was developed with input from an Ojibwe Elder and an Advisory group made up of experienced literacy practitioners from the Native literacy stream in Ontario and an Aboriginal education specialist from the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres (OFIFC). It was carefully developed to be culturally appropriate for use with Aboriginal people with elements such as Medicine Wheel teachings, story telling, and traditional prayers built into each unit and original artwork done by a Native artist.

One of the key features of this resource is that it is based on literacy and essential skills development. Each unit contains a set of Key Word Families and weaves literacy into the practical learning related to each session topic in a way that meets the needs of adults with both lower and higher literacy levels.

Each session comes with a fully articulated Facilitator’s Guide that makes use of the resource very simple and straight forward and the Introduction and Appendix contain all the background information needed to run the program effectively. The final few pages of each session contain an exhaustive listing of Aboriginal books for children to read, for parents to read to children, and resources for adults seeking more information on the subject matter. Where appropriate there are also listings of web-based resources.

Each session is full of activities that encourage active participation, the use of talking circles, that honour the knowledge and skills of the parents who are involved and encourage participants to learn from one another in a respectful manner.

The cost for this 495 page, 8½” x 11”, resource is $46.00 plus shipping and taxes.

The cost of a CD only is $10.00 plus shipping and taxes.

If you are interested in receiving a copy please contact the ONLC office. We will set aside a copy for you and send you a detailed invoice. There are a limited number of copies available which will be sold on a first come, first served basis. If interest outstrips demand, an additional printing may be done in the future.

Please note that the ONLC does not have access to credit card transactions.

You can reach our office by phone at 519-371-5594 or 1-800-971-2255 (toll free within Ontario). Emails can be directed to onlcadm@bellnet.ca.

Written communications should be addressed to the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition at 946 Third Avenue East, Commercial Unit 3, Owen Sound, ON, N4K 2K9.