A void in the community of Humboldt will be filled, at least for the next little while.
Four local organizations have been awarded a grant to use, in partnership, toward addressing literacy needs of area residents.
The Humboldt Regional Newcomer Centre (HRNC), Partners Family Services, Carlton Trail Regional College (CTRC) and Reid-Thompson Public Library have been given $6,500 by the Saskatchewan Community Literacy Fund (SCLF), a fund that helps community-based organizations address local literacy needs that aren't being met by other programs.
The Humboldt Regional Newcomer Centre works with new families and immigrants to the area on a daily basis, helping them find housing and employment and settle into the community, one of those ways through teaching the English language.
But their mandate is only to help those 18 years and over, said Janine Hart, director of the newcomer centre.
"For their children, we provide colouring books and little activities like that to play with while we work with their parents, but we don't have a long-term program in place to address a child's literacy needs," Hart said.
Well for 20 weeks, that will change.
The organizations have banded together to implement three six-week programs for that time, which will be run out of the Reid-Thompson Public Library once a week. Intended to be a way for families to bond, the three sections of the four and a half month program will be interactive, hands-on and will engage children and their family members in understanding, and using, the English language.
"It's so crucial for children to be able to read and speak English, and do it well," Hart said, remembering a time back when she lived in her native England, when her daughter Georgina, only four years old at the time, recited a monologue from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream for her school.
"In England, by the time children are five years old, they're expected to know how to read on their own," Hart said.
"There's heavy emphasis in the school system on literacy," she added, something that isn't as predominant in Canadian school systems, or at least to that length, she has observed.
"It's so important for children to enter high school knowing how to read and write. When you have a love of books, that carries on into school" Hart said, explaining why they feel this grant will be an essential need to families struggling with literacy.
"It's intended for adults, because it can help them in the job hiring process and in their daily life as well, and for kids, because they'll have a better success rate in school with this type of teaching," she said.
Hart also noted that the literacy program will ease a social pain as well.
Although the program is for any resident of the area, a new immigrant or not, Hart mentioned that it's commonplace for children who don't speak English as a first language to feel alienated at school, and to have other children treat them like an outcast.
"They're seen almost as disabled, as having additional needs. And really, the only thing separating them from their peers is a language barrier. That's it," Hart said. "This program will address that problem."
Although the local schools have English as a second language instruction, there are no local organizations that offer these types of classes, free of charge; the CTRC conducts similar classes but for those 18 years and older, not youths or children.
Hart is also hoping the program will help children express themselves, both as an individual and their cultural identity, if they're from a different country or heritage, and more importantly, that it will decrease fears toward another person's culture.
The first part of the 20-week program will be a rhythm and rhyme session, where children will study and read books like Dr. Seuss and poems of a similar nature, which encourage learning new words through repetition.
The second part will be a storybook workshop, where children are read a story and a sack filled with props related to that story are given to the kids, to go through and use to act out the plot.
The third part is focused more toward older youth and adults and will be cultural or heritage stories as retold by elders.
Regardless of the program's aimed demographic, families are encouraged to attend the sessions.
"We're hoping to not only bring families closer together through literacy, but break down any language barriers or cultural fears that children may experience at school," Hart said.
The grant will help fund facilitators for the 20-week program and any other props or tools they may need. After the program is over, the four organizations involved will review its impact and decide if it is something that is a permanent need in Humboldt.
If so, then they hope to apply for funding from another group, as the SCLF is a one-time project.
The organizations are still finalizing the logistics of the program before an official start date is announced.
