April Offers Literacy Promotion Opportunities

From Poetry Month, to Library Week, to National World Book Day, April gives literacy supporters a variety of options to promote the importance of reading and math literacy and to showcase how their adult basic education and literacy programs help adults improve their literacy skills:

The Month of April is:
• National Poetry Month
What you can do:
-- Have your adult learners take part in readings, festivals, book displays, and workshops
-- Have adult learners write poems and then read them during a Poetry Night
-- Have students pick a favorite poem that they can carry in their pocket, then share with others on April 17, “Poem in Your Pocket Day”

For more information, go to:
-- Academy of American Poets
-- Poem in Your Pocket

• Mathematics Education Month
While most discussions about adult literacy have focused on reading skills, “numeracy” or math literacy is just as important, especially when it comes to employability.
-- The theme of this year’s Mathematics Education Month is “Math and Voting.” Check the Web site at Mathematics Awareness Month for ideas
-- For noteworthy adult math literacy practices, links to other helpful sites, and research report from the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), go to: Mathematics in Adult Education and Literacy
-- For more sources: U.S. Department of Education

Weeks in April...
• National Library Week (4/13-19/08)
What you can do:
-- Make sure that the adult learners in your program have library cards
-- Take adult learners on a tour of the local library
-- Encourage students to attend library seminars that help with ESL, career advancement, health and financial literacy (taxes due 4/15 – libraries usually have workshops)

For more information, go to:
-- National Library Week
-- American Library Association and Adult Literacy

• TV Turnoff Week (4/21-27/08)
The idea is not to just turn off the television set, but to read more as a replacement activity. In her study What Reading Does for the Mind, Anne E. Cunningham, an associate professor at UC/Berkeley reported that reading increases an individual’s vocabulary more than talking or direct teaching does; it boosts a person’s general knowledge; and reading helps keep memory and reasoning abilities intact as a person ages.

What you can do:
-- Encourage adult learners to turn off the TV and read aloud to their children
-- Have a contest among adult learners to see who can spend more time in reading, writing, math, or English-as-a-second-language activities during the week
-- Have adult learners make a trip to the library instead of watching TV

For more information, go to:
-- TV Turnoff Week

April 23 is...
• World Book Day
UNESCO created World Book Day to promote reading, publishing, and copyright laws. April 23rd was selected because in Spain, April 23 is St. George’s Day, where roses are given as gifts each time a book is sold.

A report released last year indicated that one in four adults in the U.S. did not read a book during the previous year. World Book Day offers an excellent opportunity to encourage reading for pleasure.

What you can do:
-- Have adult learners read a book and write a brief report on what they liked about what they read
-- Ask adult learners to research a favorite author and talk about that person’s writings during class

For more information, go to:
-- World Book and Copyright Day
-- One in Four Read No Books Last Year: news article