Discussion Guide for Theme 1: Literacy is What Makes Learning Stick
This guide provides ideas and suggestions for a discussion with participants following the
viewing of the “Literacy is Like Velcro” Video. The video was developed to be used with an
audience that is actively involved in community activities, but which has little or no specific
knowledge about literacy work in the community. This video might be used for your first
meeting with the following groups or individuals:
 members of the business community,
 at a Kiwanis Club luncheon, or
 in a meeting with City Councillors, health care providers, the police, etc.
Accordingly, the discussion topics are designed to explore some basic ideas that underlie
literacy work, especially the notions of lifelong literacy across all the activities of life, and to
get people thinking about how they can be literacy mentors in their day-to-day activities.
The video raises some important topics about how we think about literacy. Three of them are
identified below. You will need to adjust the level of detail in your discussion depending on
how familiar your participants are with literacy issues.
You will require a flipchart or whiteboard for each of these discussions.
The two key messages that this theme is emphasizing are:
 Literacy is like “velcro.” It makes all other learning stick.
 Literacy happens in surprising places.
Topic 1: Literacy Happens in Surprising Places – Everywhere and Always
Objective:
Ensure participants understand that:
i. People at all stages of the life cycle are constantly increasing their literacy
skills through learning, whether or not they are consciously aware of it.
ii. There are many places where learning happens and literacy skills are
developed. Specifically, literacy DOES NOT just get developed by sitting in
a classroom with a teacher at the front of the class. Literacy can be
developed through participation in sport and recreation, at church, in the
grocery store, at restaurants, calculating the nutritional value of a meal;
measuring cooking ingredients, etc. Indeed, literacy can be developed in
virtually any waking activity that people engage in “everywhere and
always”.
iii. Many people in the community from professionals to volunteers play
important roles helping people improve their literacy.
Exercises:
1. Using a flipchart, on the left half of the page, ask the group to identify some of
the places that a person finds themselves on a typical day (for example, at the
breakfast table, in a car driving or taking the bus to work, interacting with
workmates, going out for lunch, taking a child to the doctor/dentist, preparing
dinner, taking the kids to lessons, attending a neighbourhood meeting, etc.)
2. On the right hand side of the page, ask the group to help identify the “literacy
opportunities” in each of these activities. For each activity, ask the question:
What literacy skills are being or could be developed in this activity? (for example,
at the breakfast table you can practice reading the cereal box, measuring milk or
sugar, counting teaspoons of sugar, analyzing nutritional information, etc.; at
sports you can practice teamwork, oral communication, problem solving, etc.)
3. Discuss what insights this exercise provides for knowing WHERE literacy skills can
be improved and WHO in your community has a role to play in helping people
increase their literacy skills (e.g., literacy skills can be improved through almost
all activities; everyone can be a literacy mentor).
Topic 2: Literacy is about more than reading
Objective:
Ensure that participants understand that there are many different kinds of literacy.
i. Many of your participants may not be familiar with the idea that literacy is
about more than reading. After all, most of the stories about literacy that
appear in newspapers and the popular media focus exclusively on reading
skills. Understanding that literacy includes all of the skills that are needed
to participate fully in the world around them will therefore be a
breakthrough moment for some of your participants.
ii. It is important to give participants the time and support they need to
explore, acknowledge, and take personal ownership of this new way of
thinking about literacy. Embracing this understanding of literacy will enable
participants to see more clearly the role that they can play as literacy
champions and mentors in their own day-to-day activities as health care
providers, police, sport coaches, managers, or whatever they do in their
work.
Exercises:
1. On a flipchart, with the help of participants, list the different kinds of literacy
skills that are used by International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey and the
Essential Skills Framework. These are:
a. Reading
b. Writing
c. Numeracy
d. Problem solving
e. Team work
f. Document use
g. Oral communication
h. Thinking
i. Computers
j. Continuous learning.
2. Ask if anyone was surprised to see some of these skills listed as literacy skills. Ask
if it is easier to understand these as literacy skills when literacy itself is defined as
the skills to participate fully in the world around you. Discuss the merits of this
definition that focuses not on reading but on participating.
3. Finally, introduce the idea that literacy is a lifelong challenge. As some people
say, “Literacy is not an off/on switch.” It is NOT the case that people become
literate only once in their lifetime; we all have to keep becoming literate if we
want to continue to participate fully in the world around us. Ask participants if
they can think of examples to illustrate this point.
a. You could prompt with the example of computer literacy. Increasingly, we
need computer literacy to function in the home (from playing games, to
looking up information on the web, to communicating with friends, to doing
your banking, etc.). That said, no one ever has all of the computer skills
that they will need for their lifetime, for two reasons: people’s needs
change (i.e., we will use computers for new activities such as paying bills or
doing Power Point presentations), and technology changes (so we are
constantly learning new applications or software).
b. Now apply the same logic to oral communication skills (we use language in
different ways depending on our circumstances like what work we are
doing) and other literacy skills.
Topic 3: Be Intentional
Objective:
Help participants understand how they can be intentional about supporting literacy
development in whatever work they are doing.
Exercise:
1. With the group, make a list of WHO in the community plays a key role in helping
people acquire literacy skills at different stages of the life cycle. For example, in
early childhood we learn especially from our parents; as a youth we learn from
school teachers, sport coaches, and from what we read or hear in the media;
adults learn from work colleagues, media, professionals, etc.
2. Use this discussion to make the point that all community leaders, whether they
know it or not, are literacy partners. One of the goals of the Community Literacy
Action Plan is to help all community leaders to become Literacy Champions.
3. On a flipchart, brainstorm what it means to be intentional about literacy support
and use specific examples to illustrate each point. Examples may include:
a.
A sport coach would support literacy development and understanding
intentionally by working with team members to improve their problemsolving skills to execute a play.
b.
A health care provider could support literacy development and
understanding intentionally by showing patients how to measure an
amount of medicine.
c.
A grocery store worker could support literacy development and
understanding by showing a customer how to compare prices, etc.
4. Ask each participant to jot down on paper two or three examples of activities that
they could adopt in their own work to support and develop literacy intentionally.
If you prefer, this can be done in small groups. Ask for two or three people to
share what they have written down.