Family Literacy Page 8
Program Development Materials

From Alberta:

Building the Fire, Aboriginal Family Literacy (1996) Project Report and Book of Students' Stories

Edited by: Katherine Gullion
Sponsored by: Aboriginal Family Literacy Project, a partnership between Lakeland College's LEARN (Literacy Education and Reading Network) program and the Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre in Alberta

This is the report of a project initiated to develop a program that would meet the literacy needs of the Aboriginal community in Lloydminster. The goals of the program were to:

• encourage parents to read to their children everyday
• improve the students' reading, writing, and/or math skills
• build confidence in each student to continue his/her literacy and/or employment goals
• increase cultural pride and self-esteem in each student
• enable parents to be positive role models for their children and in their community
• empower students to make positive choices that would affect the quality of their lives and their children's

The report is intended to encourage others to continue to research, experiment, and discover materials and ideas that meet the specific needs of the community being served. The report: describes the structure of the Building the Fire program; offers suggestions for preparation, instruction, and course content; and discusses student assessment, documentation, and program evaluation.

There is also a small book of stories by students from the Building the Fire Aboriginal Family Literacy Program.