Family and community literacy is about bringing people and organizations in a community together around literacy and learning, through everyday activities. It’s about recognizing and building on the literacy skills that everyone has.
The NWT Literacy Council promotes a community approach to developing and supporting literacy. This not only strengthens the learning that takes place, it also contributes to the development of healthier people and stronger communities. One of our strongest community-based programs is family literacy.
Family literacy is about bringing families together. It refers to all the ways that families learn together, such as talking, singing, cooking, reading, growing and harvesting food, having fun out on the land and many other activities. Families can help their children learn by involving them in everyday activities: sort socks while you do the laundry; talk about food while you make your grocery list; sing songs while you do the dishes; read stories together; share your language with your children. Studies show that children can learn more than one language at a time and that learning more than one language helps their brains to develop and grow.
Family literacy programs and family literacy nights provide opportunities for parents, caregivers, children, other family members and community members to take part in fun learning activities together. Ask your local school, daycare, family support program or library if they have a program in your community that you can attend.
Through our workshops and training, the NWT Literacy Council helps organizations to offer family literacy programs in communities. We provide free resources and we have a small amount of funding to support community organizations, with people who have taken our family literacy training, to offer programs.
See our other community-based programs under ‘Literacy’.
