I spent last week crafting felt stories, making ice cream, getting to know new people, and singing songs. No, I wasn’t on vacation; I was at the NWT Literacy Council’s Family Literacy Training Institute. Family literacy workers from all over the NWT gathered in Somba K’e (Yellowknife) to attend this annual training.
The NWT Literacy Council offered training on the basic theory of family literacy, how to run several of our family literacy programs, and the latest science on brain and language development. Charlotte Upton, the Council’s Family and Community Literacy Coordinator, and other Council staff members facilitated the training.
Often, people think of literacy as just reading and writing. However, at the Family Literacy Training Institute, we do our best to bust this misconception. We model many different kinds of literacy by making our training an interactive experience. Participants really seemed to enjoy the hands-on aspect of the training.
One participant said she had no idea literacy training could be so fun and interesting! Several participants said that the orientation to programs such as 1-2-3 Rhyme with Me, Story Time Adventures and Science Fun gave them the confidence to run similar family literacy programs in their community in the future.
One of my favourite parts of the Institute was our community mapping session. In this exercise, participants worked together with other people from their community to map the places that were important to them and to family literacy. After they finished drawing their maps, they presented them to the larger group.
During these presentations, participants were impressed by how much their communities have to offer. One participant was near tears as she told us how proud she was of her community. She reminded me that although there is still work to be done, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the things that people are already doing to support Family Literacy across the Northwest Territories!
Both Charlotte and I were so happy to have such an engaged and enthusiastic group of people at last week’s Institute. It was a pleasure to meet so many people who are excited about fostering family literacy in their communities. I can’t wait to hear about the programs and events they run in the future!
If you are interested in learning more about this annual training and how you can be a part of it, you can contact me at emily@nwtliteracy.ca or call 866-599-6758 for more information. You can stay up to date on all the training and events the NWT Literacy Council offers through our weekly electronic newsletter, Literacy This Week. Subscribe by going to our website.
-- Emily Smith, Family Literacy Trainee
