EVENTS

International Literacy Month Book Sale

We will be running the third annual International Literacy Month Book Sale in September. It will open the weekend before International Literacy Day on September 8. We will be planning a month of workshops and public events around reading, writing and storytelling. Watch our web site for more details on times and place. Mark your calendar, and keep your book dollars! As we have in the past two years, we will be donating certificates for new books to community organizations and schools with limited resources.

Literacy and health update

Pfizer gift
Pfizer Canada has contributed funds to the Health Literacy Project being carried out at the Montreal General Hospital (MUHC). Combined with a contribution from the hospital foundation, this gift will enable us to begin the third phase of the project that is deepening our understanding of how to communicate more effectively with hard-to-reach patients.

French version of Phase 2 report
The French version of the Phase Two report and the Executive Summary from the Health Literacy Project at the Montreal General Hospital (MUHC), “More than Plain Language: Adapting Health Communication for Hard-to- Reach Patients,” will be available on our web site by the end of May.

The Centre for Literacy

News from The Centre
SPRING 2003

Improving reading in the workplace:
An innovative approach

Adults who need to improve their reading skills often do not have the time to move through instruction that measures progress grade by grade.

That is what makes Peter Mosenthal’s approach to teaching reading so appealing. Mosenthal, a renowned psycholinguist and reading specialist, argues that there are a limited number of document structures used in the workplace, and that workers can improve their reading and writing skills rapidly, respecting their prior knowledge. The key lies in understanding these document structures and mastering specific strategies for reading and writing them. This method links to the Essential Skills profiles created through Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) and to the research base underlying the IALS and ALLS.

While Mosenthal’s approach is especially pertinent in workplaces, it also has applications in other formal and informal adult learning environments.

Professor Mosenthal and colleague Michael Hardt have created an intensive workshop for educators and instructors that enables them to design rapid and effective teaching interventions in their own milieus. The Centre is pleased to be bringing Mosenthal and Hardt to offer this training at two Canadian sites, Montreal and Calgary.

A travel subsidy, based on need, of up to $500 per participant (to a maximum of 50 people) is available for 25 participants in each of the workshops. The subsidy is for travel in Canada only.

Visit our website www.centreforliteracy.qc.ca for details on the presenters, the schedule, the fee, and the criteria for subsidies.