May 1999
The "What's New!" page is intended to showcase current news, events, publications, projects, and any other items that concern literacy and the Region IV Hub. Check out past issues under What's New Oldies.
California's Sesquicentennial Needs Adult Learners' Stories
The State Literacy Resource Center of California is inviting adult learners throughout the state to help celebrate California's Sesquicentennial by writing a story about how and why they (or their parents or grandparents or great grandparents. etc.) came to California. The stories will be published on the web along with a possible hardcopy book.
This New Mexico Coalition for Literacy site explores New Mexico's history and the genealogy of common Hispanic names and is for by adult learners interested in improving their reading skills. It teaches how to make a "family tree" and how to use the Internet to find out information about one's family history. It was developed through a Western/Pacific LINCS mini grant.
The New Mexico Coalition for Literacy is a statewide nonprofit organization providing financial support, technical assistance, and a full range of instructional resources to volunteer-based literacy programs in the state of New Mexico.
Visiting the Doctor is a web site for ESL students. It is especially helpful if a learner has recently come to the United States from another country and needs to visit a doctor. The site helps ESL students practice language needed in getting medical care through vocabulary lessons and activities. This site was developed through a Western/Pacific LINCS mini grant.
The CNN San Francisco bureau and the Western/Pacific Literacy Network (Western/Pacific LINCS) have partnered to develop an online adult literacy site that benefits all learners and instructors. The Learning Resources site (http://literacynet.org/cnnsf) offers web-delivered instruction using current and past CNN San Francisco bureau news stories. Each story module includes the full text of each story and interactive activities to test comprehension. The learner can choose to read the text, listen to the text, or view the broadcast through streaming video.
The Western/Pacific Literacy Network is working closely with the reporters and staff at CNN SF. The Network has established a team of master adult education instructional designers to develop the stories and assessment activities. The goal is to have a current, consistent, well designed site that benefits all learners and instructors. The stories are developed with assistance from a grant from GTE to the Western/Pacific Literacy Network.
The site has received positive instructor and learner responses from many parts of the World including Australia, France, India, Israel, Korea, the Arab Gulf, Norway, Great Britain, Vietnam, Canada, Japan, and most states
The 1999 Adult Literacy and Technology Conference will be held at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 29-31, 1999. The conference will highlight research surrounding and hands-on applications of technology uses in adult basic education instruction. For more information, go to the 1999 ALT Conference web site.
