ActionAid's literacy programme, Reflect - the basis for a non-fiction, literacy hour resource pack - has been taken up in over 40 countries since it began in 1993. It aims to develop children and adults' literacy skills by exploring issues relevant to their lives. In other words, children and adults lean, to read and write while reading and writing about their world.

Textbooks are not used in Reflect circles, as learning sessions are called. Instead, learners draw graphics such as maps, calendars and diagrams, which depict aspects of their lives. Typical graphics show the natural resources in an area, the income and expenditure of a household, or agricultural problems over the course of a year. Key words are introduced as labels to match he visual information and these words are broken down into syllables and learned through a range of group activities. Students hen reflect on what they have learnt and decide on an action point that they can undertake to make improvements to the quality of their everyday lives.

Reflect can be applied to a range of situations and is being used in the developed world in adult literacy classes, community education, work with refugees and in teaching English. Resources from Reflect circles across the world have been combined with its principles to create an education resource pack for key stage 2.

Learning Global Lessons
Learning Global Lessons is divided into five units, each focusing on a national literacy strategy genre using a Reflect graphic and a specific area of the developing world. In unit four, for example, children develop recount writing skills by studying a 24-hour recall circle created by children in Netrakona, northern Bangladesh. The unit focuses on using literacy skills to understand how a 24-hour recall circle relates to the average day of Hasima (a girl) and Tasmil (a boy) - the recall circle graphic highlights unequal gender relationships. Children are encouraged to relate the gender issues raised by the experiences of northern Bangladeshi children to their own lives, and the unit suggests they create their own graphic to consider issues such as whether boys and girls use playground space fairly.

The idea running through each unit is that after gaining knowledge, understanding and skills around national literacy strategy text types and Reflect graphics, children move on to evaluate and assess this information, form their own conclusions, prepare for and take action, and reflect on the process.

The 50 non-fiction literacy hours in Learning Global Lessons can be adapted to suit schools' needs. Tasks are divided into four steps of complexity for children to work through and there are opportunities for extension work in subjects such as geography, citizenship, art and science. Each unit refers to a number of subject areas and the teacher's notes include suggestions of related activities.

Learning Global Lessons aims to deliver the non-fiction aspects of the National Literacy Strategy in an innovative and stimulating way by focusing on the concerns of children in different countries It also enables children in this country to learn how to make positive changes for themselves, their local environment and the wider world.

The charity ActionAid works with the world's poorest people across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, to promote their rights to food , education, healthcare and other essentials by working in partnership with communities business and governments

 

Learning global lessons costs £22. Contact ActionAid for more information on 01460 238000 or email deved@actionaid.org.uk website www.actionaid.org

 
 
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