Literacy News From Texas

EFFECTIVE PRACTICES:
Focusing the ABE Classroom on the Family

by Meta Potts. National Center for Family Literacy

Every member of your ABE classroom is also a member of a family. Some are parents and grandparents, others, without children of their own, are part of an extended family. ABE instruction, then, will be more meaningful, relevant, and useful when it connects to the most important institution in our society -the family. Encouraging communication within your classroom setting that is transferable to the family setting can heighten interest and facilitate growth of language learning which is intergenerational. Incorporating the following four suggestions in your ABE classroom will shift the focus from the individual to the family as a whole.

Set up the physical environment to reflect the emphasis on communication.

Include small tables for group discussions which emulate table time conversations. Set up message centers to allow class members to communicate with each other in writing, a strategy that can be transferred into message centers at home.

Build in opportunities for learner inquiry.

Model and teach good questioning techniques that will foster inquiry and answers between adults and children. Build in opportunities for learners to create hypotheses, to modify and extend, and discuss how these activities can be transferred to the family setting. Develop cooperative learning situations, encouraging group research, revision, and publishing. Include interactive video and audio computer software packages in the instructional package which have family appeal and application.

Encourage learners to bring items from their home environments to share as teaching tools.

Use picture albums, birth records and baby books to set up experiences in genealogy. Encourage learners to tell their own stories and then write them. Encourage explorations into beliefs and customs by using family recipe books, traditional clothing, uniforms, hats, and other items as starting points for inquiry.

Develop strategies that encourage learning to learn, critical thinking, holistic, and integrated systems.

Encourage the plan, act, and self-monitor methods for organizing and reviewing exercises for adults and demonstrate the correlation and use of predictable books for children. Make every learning opportunity a problem-solving opportunity.

Source: COABE Newsletter, Summer 1995.