Notes to the Instructor

As a basic education instructor, I find that my students crave reading materials that lead to deeper understandings of, and connections to, the world that we live in. My students tend to have plenty of knowledge of human rights issues from lived experience. These issues are often closely linked to the reasons they find themselves in my classroom.

My goal with this course pack is to provide examples of everyday people who took a stand in everyday ways: refusing to go along with an unfair situation, writing letters, sharing their story, voting, using humour, and starting conversations in the name of social change. These are things we can all do to restore hope, advocate for ourselves, and build the kind of world we want to live in.

This theme-based, integrated skills course pack is designed to meet the learning outcomes for Adult Literacy Fundamental English Level 4, as outlined in the ABE in BC 2014/2015 Articulation Handbook. This is roughly equivalent to grades 4.5 to 6 in the K-12 system.

The curriculum in this course pack is based around the readings found in BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English – Reader 4. The reader includes nine level-appropriate, high-interest readings of 400-500 words. Convenient links to the readings are embedded in each chapter of this course pack.

Each chapter of the course pack contains:

• Pre-reading questions that can be used for individual reflection, journalling, or class discussion
• Vocabulary-building exercises
• Word Attack Strategies
• Comprehension questions
• Grammar lessons and practice exercises
• Writing tasks

For detailed information, please refer to the Level 4 Scope and Sequence.

This course pack makes use of a number of graphic organizers to help students organize their thoughts in a visual way. You can download the complete set of graphic organizers from Appendix 1. Students can also download and print them as needed, through the links embedded throughout the course pack.

In Appendix 2, you will find checklists to score the writing tasks assigned at the end of each chapter.

You may wish to use this program online, or you may wish to print it for your students by downloading it as a PDF. This program was designed to suit both options. Font size and line spacing can be adjusted in the online view, and have been enhanced for the print and PDF versions for easier reading. (In addition, both epub and mobi files are offered for students with e-readers and Kindles.) This course pack has been reviewed by subject experts from colleges and universities.

I hope these pages help learners to reach their individual literacy goals, while building capacity to create positive social change in our communities.

-Shantel Ivits