HUNGER
26-21
The group leader asks similar questions about this picture and the word HUNGER.
The discussion eventually leads to questions like, Why is there hunger? and Can
we do something at the family level to improve nutrition? What? What can we
do at the community level?
Each of the key words, along with its picture, serves as the starting point for
a 2-hour session. The first hour is spent discussing what the word means to the
members of the group, as we have described. The second hour is spent learning
how to write the word, sound out the letters, and use those same letters to form
other sounds and words. Because the group explores the meaning of each word
before learning how to write it and use the letters it contains, becoming literate
takes on immediate personal and social importance.
The first 4 weeks of this literacy program in Netzahualcoyotl are spent analyzing
the key words and the pictures that go with them. During the 5th and 6th weeks,
the students practice reading and writing. For this, simple illustrated stories are
used that help the group analyze problems that are important in their lives. Since
some words and phrases in the stories are left blank, the readers fill them in
according to their own experience. So students actually participate in writing
their own stories.
By the end of 6 weeks, the students not only have learned to read newspapers
and announcements, but have gained confidence in their own ability to master new
skills and to begin to change their situation.