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Literacy Facts, Statistics and Lifelong Learning
For Life Fact Sheets
Literacy Alberta has developed a series of fact sheets highlighting literacy and how it relates to health, employment, justice, family life, and more.
All files require the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader.
Keeping Literacy in Your Life
- Your brain is a muscle that needs exercise. Use it or lose it! Read something every day.
- Reading can happen anywhere — at the bus stop, hockey game, and doctor’s office — even the bathroom!
- Let your child help you cook and have him or her read out the ingredients from the recipe. Doubling the recipe builds great math skills.
- Support your local library by becoming a member. Take one book out at least once a month. Libraries are a great place to spend a rainy day!
- Literacy is a gift that doesn’t come easily to many people. Share your gift by volunteering at a local literacy program.
- Here’s a game to play in the car for younger children: write out the alphabet on a piece of paper. Ask you children to watch the letters on the license plates of passing cars. The first child to cross off all the letters is the winner.
- Keep in touch with family and friends by sending birthday greetings, anniversary cards, notes and emails. Remember to use correct grammar and punctuation to keep your language skills strong.
- Start a family photo album with your child. Below each picture, help your child write a story describing it. Future generations will thank you for it!
Literacy and You
- Be a lifelong learner. The demands of our society are changing every day, and literacy skills not used on a regular basis do deteriorate. Keep your skills up-to-date.
- Encourage others to be lifelong learners. Support your friends, family members, and neighbors who are upgrading their education. If you have developed a relationship of trust with a person who has a literacy problem, your understanding and support may help them join a program, and your ongoing encouragement may help them continue with it.
- Read with your child. Studies show that parents are the most important teachers of their children. Early reading experiences provide positive brain development to start a child’s life of learning.
- Volunteer your time in a literacy program in your community. Many literacy programs depend on volunteer tutors and will provide you with the training and support to work with learners. Some agencies may be looking for community members serve on their board of directors.
- Donate money. Literacy programs can only serve a small percentage of the people with literacy needs. More support would allow more people to get the help they need. Most agencies can issue tax receipts for charitable donations.
- Speak out for literacy. Let politicians and community leaders know that you think literacy and lifelong learning are important issues in our society.
In Your Community
- Think about the difficulties faced by people with lower literacy skills. Make sure people can easily find their way around your business, school or agency. Be selective in how and where you use signs, notices and any displays of printed materials. Arrange them so that the most important messages stand out clearly.
- Make help available without singling people out. Simply ask “Would you like me to fill that out with you, or would you prefer to do it yourself?” rather than “can you read?”
- Do a “literacy audit” to identify and address the barriers that your organization may be presenting to people with low literacy skills. For a sample audit checklist, contact Literacy Alberta 403-410-6990.
- Make literacy an issue and a priority at your staff and/or Board meetings.
- Build links with literacy partners in your community. Look under “Learn” in the yellow pages to find the literacy groups in your community. Invite speakers from literacy groups to speak to your group.
- Meet with literacy groups to discuss ways that your organization might work together or even develop partnerships. Discover and discuss where your concerns and interests overlap. Ask literacy workers for their advice on the best ways for you to communicate with less literate people so that your business or service becomes more accessible.
Literacy is everyone’s issue!
Everyone can do something to promote literacy & lifelong learning!
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