Here are excerpts from our December '98 newsletter.

New Staff Members!

Tutor Talk 

Greetings and Merry Christmas! We've had a new group of tutors trained in the September and October workshops that we'd like to welcome to Prospects. They are: Thelma Jackson • Shabnum Durrani • Joanne Ross • Trevor Davison • Barbara Hindman • Karen Tracey • Randy Sivak • Christina Arnold • Aimee Villeneuve • Hal Simonson • Michael Gupta • Samin Ahmed • Vashti Thompson • Dale-Anne Yakimchuk • Sophie Coyne • Gerlinde Sergi • Gisele Nissen • Moira Tadvalkar • Victor Misutka • Irene Shankar • Rhonda Richards • Arlene Stoley • Gillian Hamblin • Natalie McAdam • Alaura Buckingham • Christine Pun • Phyllis Reynar • Balji Rattan. May you have many happy hours of learning together with your students.

We have also just finished the Math in Daily Life, Learning Styles and Comprehension Strategies workshops. I'd like to encourage all tutors to consider attending one or more upcoming Additional Tutor Training sessions early in the new year. On Saturday, January 30, two workshops are being presented: Spelling Made Easy and Writing for the Reluctant Writer. For four consecutive Tuesdays, March 2, 9, 16 and 23, we are presenting Sound it Out: Phonics Strategies. Call the Prospects office to register or sign up yourself on the sheets located on the Learning Centre's bulletin board soon, space is limited.

I'd also like to take this opportunity on behalf of the students to thank all of our tutors for their valuable time they have contributed to Prospects this year. Your dedication and hard work is very much appreciated!

Other volunteers:

We have a number of committed volunteers helping behind the scenes. A big thank you to Deborah Kary who has come in to help on Wednesday evenings doing office jobs. You are a great help to us Deborah! Thank you also to the library volunteers: Beth Dutchak, Brenda Cunningham and our library consultant Ginny El-Zorkany for their many, many hours of dedicated service. Your generous gift of time is really appreciated ladies!!

- Lana Olsen

Literacy and Parenting Skills (LAPS)

Prospects Literacy is offering a new family literacy program that encourages parents to learn new parenting skills and to improve their literacy skills at the same time.

Parents are given journals and every week write down the key words in that night's lesson. They also jot down questions or observations during the week to share with the class. Participants learn about parenting through storytelling, role playing, cartoons and visits from Elders. Handouts are written in clear language.

There are three separate programs: Aboriginal LAPS, ESL LAPS and mainstream LAPS. This fall, Prospects is delivering four LAPS programs: two Aboriginal and two ESL.

Aboriginal LAPS

One and a half year old Teigan, black eyes bright, one finger in his mouth, looks around the play area at the Red Road Healing Society. He is wearing tiny high top runners, a red pullover and denim blue overalls. He turns away and toddles off down the hall to the room where the LAPS program is running. He pushes open the door and peeks in, checking to make sure his mother is there. His proud mother laughs when she sees him and says, "Yes Teigan, here I am. You go play with Carmen now." Reassured, the baby takes Carmen's hand and heads off.

His mom turns to the class and says, "I read that article Colleen gave me about leaving a clingy baby. It said I am not supposed to try and sneak out to avoid Teigan's crying. I'm supposed to say 'I'll be back soon.' After a while Teigan will see that I always come back and will trust me. I think it's working."

Teigan's mom is one of eight parents attending a LAPS program at the Red Road Healing Society. The program began with a Pre-Session where I talked about the impact of European settlement on Aboriginal peoples. Joanne Pom Pana, Red Road's Director, then spoke about the healing process which is increasing among individuals and communities across North America. Another night an Elder, Nellie Carlson, visited and spoke about passing on values and traditions to our children. It has been a wonderful experience with both tears and laughter.

The parents have been very supportive of each other, offering helpful suggestions for other people's problems. As the facilitator, I have learned a lot too and am looking forward with confidence to the LAPS program just starting at Ben Calf Robe School.

- Colleen Crozier

English as a Second Language LAPS

The aim of the ESL LAPS program is to help with parenting skills, to learn English vocabulary and to discuss customs abroad and in Canada. As well, we hope to assist parents develop their reading and writing skills.

So far we have two groups going. The first one is at the Edmonton Chinese Mennonite Church. The second one is at Changing Together at the Mennonite Centre.

We have a lot of fun. By talking together and sharing our experiences and ideas, we all learn to be better parents. I have learned a lot about other cultures. We have found that children are the same all over the world and that these simple parenting skills can be applied in any family. In the ESL LAPS, we have spent time discussing schools and parent-teacher interviews.

Just for fun at one session, I pretended to be a three year old throwing toys and the parents had to try to stop me. Our parents immediately responded, using skills from our discipline class. One parent took the toy away from me; one parent put me on time out for three minutes; and one parent showed me how to play with the toy. When I played with the toy and did not throw it, I received lots of positive feedback. Good work, Moms!

- Christina Arnold

What's New in the Centre for Family Literacy Project

We are now almost a year into this project and things are moving along well. We have developed an excellent information package to promote the project. You can take a look at it on the bulletin board by the coffee area. We have also completed a large provincial Needs Assessment which was sent out to literacy and family literacy programs, school boards, libraries, social service agencies, health centres and government ministers. The Needs Assessment showed strong support for the creation of a centre for family literacy. We have a one page summary of the Needs Assessment Report for anyone who would like a copy. You'll find copies in the coffee area as well.

The results also showed a need for promotion of family literacy, for providing information, resources and training, for research, and for support to programs in local communities around the province. We already get many phone calls and visitors asking about our family literacy programs, so we hope to be able to provide some of these information and training services at a provincial level, as well as continuing with our own local programs.

We have been working closely with our partners in the project: Success by 6®, United Way, the University of Alberta, the National Literacy Secretariat and Alberta Advanced Education. We want to make sure that we develop the Centre carefully so that it is successful from the start. Before Christmas we will set up Planning Committees to begin to look at areas such as facilities, programs, and funding. These committees will develop action plans to help us make the Centre happen!

If you want to know more about what is happening in the project please ask Maureen or Diane. We'll be glad to share information with you.

- Maureen Sanders

Literacy Works

Congratulations Don!

Library News

We have just hired a librarian to help us with the large task of converting our library to the Dewey Decimal system. Welcome Stephen Green-Dowden to Prospects!

Please be patient with Stephen and his library volunteers during the coming months while the library goes through the change. We look forward to a finished new system in the new year!

- Lana Olsen

The Dallas Cowboys

by Jean Bugnet, Allison Day, Sherrill Jeffery, Greg Morley, Karen Tansem, Margaret Wilson

The outlaws are on a dude ranch at the Ponderosa near Calgary. The outlaws are called John Wayne, otherwise known as The Duke, Charles, and John Hoss.

They go horseback riding. All of a sudden, the cows charge. The cowboys leap on the cows to save themselves. They meet the gang, The Gun Slingers, and the girls. They put their guns away and have a party!

The End

A Woman Called Karen

BY PEGI WILSON

Karen is a happy woman. She likes stories. She likes to make people happy in class. At school, she is so happy. She makes people at school laugh like in a straw house. She is a good. She likes music, and she is a good woman.

She is puffing like a wolf and is determined. She fell in the pot. She was lost. She was both so happy and sad.

That Was a Bus Ride to Remember

by Robert Tate

It was a long time ago when I could remember going on a field trip with my schoolmates. That was the school bus ride

I could remember. I could remember lots of different things that happened going down the road at sixty miles per hour. The tire blew up, so the bus started careening towards the ditch but the driver kept it on the road. The further the school bus went down the road, the bumpier it became, so the driver had to reduce the speed to fifty miles per hour. When the driver got through the terrible things on the road, John and the schoolmates got to where they were going, which is the Banff National Park.

At the Banff National Park, there were beautiful green trees and chirping sound of birds. The birds were a variety of colours and kinds which flew around looking for food after the camper left the National Park. The camper had to put the garbage can away from the tent at night because of predators that snoop around at night. In the tent at night, they kept a rifle in case of danger. When morning came, we went fishing down by the river.

After the adventure, we all packed our belongings and went home.

Halloween

by Cynthia Dutchak

Robert and Ross and I went to Capilano Mall trick-or-treating on Friday. We also went to get Robert's picture taken. Robert had fun on Halloween. Robert was dressed as Tigger on Halloween. We started at 5:30 pm and we stayed out until 8:00 pm. Robert was very tired.

Jean's Story

by Jean Bugnet

This is a story of Jean. Jean might move into a house. Jean is excited and nervous. Then she lost the keys, and she lost the address!