Aboriginal literacy

In this report, the Conference Board of Canada (http://www.conferenceboard.ca) studies BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc, which operates the remote Ekati Diamond mine site in the NWT. The majority of the company's workers come from the Aboriginal communities in the region, a population with a strong oral, rather than written, culture. Workers often have little or negative experience with schooling, and, consequently, low literacy skills.

This learner's toolkit begins by providing general information on literacy such as the meaning of the term "literacy" and an explanation of the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey. It then focuses more specifically on literacy in Nunavut, looking at the literacy levels among adults in Nunavut and the types of programs needed by adult learners in that region.

This Elections Toolkit includes information that literacy instructors and tutors can use to promote civic participation and literacy development in voting‐age learners. It is divided into three sections.

Literacy instructors can use this election how-to resource, developed by the Northwest Literacy Council, to teach their students about the election process. Elections come with their own vocabulary, jargon and challenges. They can be intimidating to a learner who is not familiar with the process, but elections are also a great opportunity to build literacy skills.

Cooking is great family activity. When parents prepare a recipe with their children, they are teaching the children not only cooking skills, but also literacy skills. There are several cooking and literacy extender activities included in this kit. However, preparing any recipe involves literacy. Any time spent talking and doing things together helps preschool children to develop language skills.

This How to Kit provides you with information on making family books and ideas for creating homemade books. A family book is a memory scrapbook for kids and their parents. They are a great way to engage children and families in reading and sharing together. A family book includes pictures, mementos, stories and drawings.

This How-to-Kit provides an outline for creating a baby book, a unique and lasting way to remember baby's first years. This kit is one in a series of How to Kits that can be downloaded from the NWT Literacy Council website at www.nwt.literacy.ca. This baby book kit can be used with parents in a pre or postnatal class or with parents with children in a preschool or daycare program.

This text, developed by the NWT Literacy Council for a basic English course, contains five "photo stories." The stories can be used to initiate discussion on northern topics like dog racing, fishing, sun dogs, the Arctic Winter Games, and crossing the Mackenzie River on a ferry. The instructor can select the handouts needed to teach or reinforce different concepts.

The NWT Literacy Council published its first bibliography of Aboriginal books in 2006. Since that time many new works have been created by aboriginal authors, illustrators and translators. This second bibliography contains new works as well as other works not included in the first listing.

Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival is a great novel for the 120 level. It is approximately at the Grade 6 reading level according to the Fry readability score. In this story, the author recounts a story about hardship and triumph that has been passed on from mothers to daughters for many generations.