NWT Literacy Week is a good time to consider what role literacy skills play in your life, and what you can do to support literacy. We’re all impacted by literacy – as individuals, family and community members, employees, employers and taxpayers.
The adage “use it or lose it” is as true about our literacy skills as anything else. If we don’t exercise them, literacy skills get rusty. For me, math skills are most likely to become weak due to underuse.
Literacy and essential skills have many benefits. Our family, friends or other community members with high literacy skills are able to succeed at school or the job they want. They can fill out forms, understand written information and solve problems. Employers invest in skills development because they know it saves them money if their employees are able to do their jobs well and efficiently.
As taxpayers, we know that adequate investments in literacy create citizens better able to contribute to their families and communities. Society benefits, and costs for health care are reduced.
This week, we encourage you to consider the importance of literacy skills in your life and in your community. Talk about literacy on social media, including our Facebook page and Twitter feed. As it’s our 25th anniversary, let us know how the NWT Literacy Council has made a difference in your life. You could add to our list of 25 Ways We’ve Made a Difference.
Exercise your literacy skills. We can help. Look at our 25 Ideas to Use Your Literacy and Essential Skills Every Day. Our 25 Favourite NWT Literacy Council Resources will be of interest to literacy practitioners and to parents of young children.
Participate in a community event. We organized two events in Yellowknife, Read on the Street and the Family Literacy Pajama Jam, which is tomorrow evening. Something is happening in most, if not all, communities. If you’re organizing an event, we’d love to hear about it. Send us your pictures so we can share them with others.
Happy NWT Literacy Week everyone!
-- Kathryn Barry Paddock
