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Adult Literacy Lessons continue at Glenwood

 

Adult Literacy: 2009
 
Glenwood’s adult literacy classes continue to meet on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon in the school library. It is encouraging to see how important these lessons are to some of the adults. One of the main problems facing adult literacy classes is the drop out rate. Adults often find it an interruption in the school routine and believe that little can be achieved in an hour or two each week. The other problem is that adults sometimes believe that having reached an age where they are approaching retirement, and having got through the system without literacy skills, there seems little point in learning and persevering in learning something new and demanding of them. ‘Homework’ is important and that means putting in the time outside of work hours to prepare for the next lesson. All this makes it easy to give up!
 
We are delighted to have the people coming to our lessons all pass the KZN Department of Education Level One, Language, Literacy and Communication last year. Two people wrote the IsiZulu paper and two wrote the English paper and they were awarded certificates at our Prize-giving in February. We are hoping to have the same results with Level Two this year! Mr Nkosi and Mr Mhlongo particularly, are keen and hard working and we are confident they will be successful.
 
I sometimes think that the teachers are more rewarded than the adult learners. It is so exciting to have a list of questions at the beginning of a lesson from someone who has listened to the news, seen a message or advertisement on a billboard, or a poster on a lamppost, ask what a word means and why it is used in that context. It is only when you teach English as a second language that you see how complex it must be through eyes of the learner. The lessons don’t stop at literacy. We often need to discuss social issues, the economy, and world news. We believe that these classes are part of our school’s social responsibility and would like to see our classes to grow. You can’t force someone to attend an adult class – it needs to be voluntary. Anyone wishing to find out more about these classes which are open to outside people in the Glenwood community, may contact me at the school. 
 
Mrs J Criticos
MIC: Adult Literacy
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