Do you want to talk to students and adults in your community about voting in the upcoming federal election? With less than a month to go, now is the perfect time to spark civic engagement in your community.
ABC Life Literacy Canada and Elections Canada have partnered to create resources for you:
A Guide to Voting: Why vote, how federal elections work and
how to register to vote
Get to know your Elections Canada office posters EnglishFrench
Upcoming Webinar
October 15th, 11am-12pm ET
Civic Engagement beyond the 2019 election Learn more & sign up
Canada Votes 2019
Helpful election information to share with learners, courtesy of Decoda Literacy Solutions' The Westcoast Reader. See page 2.
Learner Story: Saliha Muslum
My name is Saliha. I am from Syria and I have been in Canada for three years, I used to live in Turkey before coming to Canada. The reason for coming to Canada was because of the war happening in Syria and it was no longer a safe place for me and my family.
We lived in Woodstock for two years when we first arrived. Then we moved to Fredericton for two months because of my husband’s work. In that time, Lisa, the director of the Multicultural Association of Fredericton (MCAF), with Azza Seif, came to where I lived and told me that there is a new program called Skills Launch. They asked if I would like to participate in the program.
ABC Life Literacy Canada has added two new modules to its HSBC Family Literacy First program, both of which centre around numeracy and financial literacy.
Available in English, French and Simplified Chinese on FamilyLiteracyFirst.ca, the activities in Module 12 (Basketball Dreams) and Module 13 (Pedro’s Perritos) cover topics such as how to budget, how to save, and addressing needs and wants.
Facilitator Tools
A facilitator training guide is available for free download and facilitators can also participate in training through an online learning platform. Included are tips for delivering a workshop and taking families through the workbooks. Additionally, downloadable quizzes have been added to help assess learner knowledge and retention.
New Curriculum Grids
Curriculum grids for grades 1-5 help identify and align each of module 11-13’s activities with provincial/territorial education outcomes and benchmarks. Grids for the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec are accessible now, with additional provinces and territories to be added in the coming weeks. Download the sample Ontario grid.
We Want Your Feedback!
Please provide your feedback to help up make the HSBC Family Literacy First program better! The first 100 individuals to respond to the survey will receive a $25 gift card!
Upcoming Webinar
October 23rd, 1pm-1:30pm ET
How you can use our new family financial literacy resources. Learn more & sign up
New UP Skills for Work Workbooks Have Arrived
We've added three additional workshops to our UP Skills for Work employability skills program on the topics of Stress Management, Adaptability and Confidence. The program aims to help develop the key employability skills that employers look for when hiring. As with all previous workshops, each is supported with a workbook that practitioners can use to help guide their facilitation. Read the news release.
Youth Teaching Adults is Now Available in French!
Youth Teaching Adults provides an opportunity for youth to develop their leadership skills through teaching technology to adult learners one-on-one, and for learners to increase their digital literacy skills. The program, which was introduced earlier this year, is now available in French. Read our news release for more information, or to sign up to host a workshop, visit our website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines health literacy as "the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions." Health literacy is an essential life skill. In Canada, 60% of adults and 88% of seniors have difficulty with health literacy.
You can take part in Health Literacy Month by raising awareness of its importance and helping your learners to build confidence to advocate for their health and understand how to access health care. Download our free ABC Health Matters resourcesas a guide!
And the 2020 Family Literacy Day Theme Is...
Take 20 in 2020! Back by popular demand is our Take 20 campaign, which is a natural fit for the incoming year. Take 20 encourages families to take 20 minutes every day to make learning together a priority. We'll once again be offering free activities for download...stay tuned for more details!
The State of Literacy in Canada
Earlier this month, ABC Life Literacy Canada joined a group of organizations and individuals committed to promoting literacy for all to prepare a statement ahead of the federal election. Released on International Literacy Day, the statement "Choose Success" was issued to ensure that literacy is one of the issues on the radar of our politicians.
You can read these documents in English and French and help spread the word by distributing them to your network. Please use the hashtag #literacy4all or #alphabétisationpourtous.
ABC Team Update
We're thrilled to welcome our new Senior Programs Manager, Sadia Khan, to the ABC team this month. She'll be working with our regional coordinators to ensure the smooth delivery of our Money Matters, UP Skills for Work and HSBC Family Literacy First programs. You can reach Sadia at skhan@abclifeliteracy.ca or 416-218-0010 x.130. Welcome, Sadia!