Literacy Now

This feature is the sixth and final article in a series that celebrates the accomplishments of National Affiliates of the International Development in Europe Committee (IDEC) of the International Reading Association (IRA). Their member organizations’ activity reports are compiled twice a year (in January and July), and we have summarized excerpts from these reports. Visit www.literacyeurope.org for more information and a list of national websites.

Spain
The Spanish Reading and Writing Association, known as Asociación Espaňola de Lectura y Escritura (AELE) is in the midst of preparing for their Ibero-American Forum of Learning and Literacy that will take place in University Federal Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) from October 26 to 28, 2011. The AELE collaborates with Research Group Literacy Literary (GPELL) linked to the Literacy Center, Reading and Writing (CEAL) in Brazil, and Association Portuguese for Literacy (Littera) to organize this forum with the theme “Where is literature?"  The forum proposes a broadening horizons of the discussion about the world and the literary texts, spaces, and discourses that give the forms to see where renewed transitions literature. This event will be attend by people from Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay and more. AELE and the Research Group of University Complutense of Madrid have created the Iberoamerican Network Research “Speaking, reading and writing practices: interrelationship between consigns and development of linguistic communicative competence”. This network is composed of researchers and teachers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay. Telemaco´s Writing Club “Write as readers” social project is in development in four countries: Argentina, Chile, Peru and Spain. The main aims are: a) Implement proposals that encourage, in children and adolescents, the interaction “reading and writing texts" from a book and work with its author; and b) Supporting teachers in the educational development of proposals related to the processes of reading-writing-literature (process shared). The AELE has created a network between towns and cities of the different Spanish Autonomous Communities (CPLE Network) with the following aims: a) To facilitate inter-institutional actions allowing the advance towards the right to appropriate the language as a fundamental tool for active and democratic participation in knowledge society, and b) To provide places and tools for the interaction between towns and cities through reading and writing, helping in this way to increase the reading and writing rates in our societies. At this point, there is around 20 towns and cities in this Network. Visit www.asociacionaele.org for more information about AELE. 

Sweden
Most activities of the Swedish Council of International Reading Association (SCIRA) are arranged in the local groups and include lectures, in-service courses, study visits at different institutions, and writing competitions for students. Local groups have working relationships with various institutions, organizations, and professional associations that promote literacy, such as universities, public libraries, and teacher organizations. SCIRA’s journal Läsning (“Reading”) is published twice a year, in March and October, and carries articles by renowned researchers as well as practitioners, and information about a variety of activities within the area of literacy, on national and international level. SCIRA is proud of their sucessful Autumn two-day conference held in Umea on October 15 and 16. The program was published in the Spring edition of Läsning and on the website (www.scira.nu). The conference focused basic skills, including reading and mathematics, from different perspectives. The annual meeting and the Spring board meeting took place in Trollhattan on April 2 and 3. Now, SCIRA is focusing on the 2013 European Conference, “New Challenges – New Literacies,” which will be held in Jonkoping on August 6 to 9, 2013. 

The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) has an extensive professional development program that recently included an international conference entitled Empowerment Through Literacy: Literacy Shaping Futures on July 15 to 17. National conferences included Talking to Learn: developing thinking in and through dialogue in London on June 24, New Methods for New Literacies in Sheffield on July 8 to 9, Writing and Writers in Schools in Birmingham in March, as well as the regional conferences Purpose and Pleasure in Writing in the Eastern Region in March, Talk to Underpin Digital and Traditional Literacies in Huddersfield on May 21, Learning Outside the Classroom in Cambridgeshire on June 23. In February, the Association  held a research symposium in London entitled Exploring Synergies in Literacy Research. The publish Literacy, Journal of Research in Reading, and English 5-11, as well as other publications available through a catalog found on their website. UKLA continues to support literacy projects in Zanzibar and Malawi and funds many other literacy projects. Visit www.ukla.org for more information about the United Kingdom Literacy Association. 

 

This feature is the fifth article in a series that celebrates the accomplishments of National Affiliates of the International Development in Europe Committee (IDEC) of the International Reading Association (IRA). Their member organizations’ activity reports are compiled twice a year (in January and July), and we have summarized excerpts from these reports. Visit www.literacyeurope.org for more information and a list of national websites.

Romania
The Romanian Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Association (RO RWCT), or AsociaŃia Lectura şi Scrierea pentru Dezvoltarea Gândirii Critice România, is working on a lot of strategic directions, included developing the LLPKA2 languages multilateral project Assessment and Evaluation in CLIL (www.aeclil.eu). The project included implementation, assessment, and evaluation of CLIL modules in primary school and secondary school, with the in-service teacher-training curriculum “Training CLIL through CLIL.” Their other projects include are the reaccreditation of the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking teacher training programme and developing the LLP Grundtvig multilateral project “Create—Motivate—Learn” under the umbrella of the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking International Consortium (www.cremole.eu). They advocate for the provision of mentoring support for disenfranchised young scholars within the Scholarship for Roma Highschool Students project (conference and publication) and for the introduction of critical thinking skills in the school curricula of Malawi and Zambia (done by three members of the organization). Members of the RO RWCT Association contributed to the Diagnosis Study: Factors with influence on the development of children’s literacy competences in Romanian primary education developed in a partnership led by the Romanian Ministry of Education. Visit www.alsdgc.ro for more information. 

Russia 
Reading Association of Russia (RAR) is continuing its successful national project “National Programme for Reading Promotion and Development in Russia” project, now in its fifth year, as well as developing project SWLT and the research project “Reading from Print and Screen.” They participated in the methodological seminar about the “PISA 2009 Results: Reading and Literacy Problems and Perspectives in Russia” in association with Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Education in Moscow in February 2011 and held a round table with the theme “Innovations in Reading Promotion” in association with The Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications in Moscow in March 2011. Their annual conference was be held in March 2011, and they held a conference entitled “Family Reading Past and Future” in April 2011, both in Moscow. Their conference with the theme “Reading in Education and Culture” will be held on November 22 and 23, 2011, in Moscow. The began a new Scientific Board on Reading in association with Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Education, Pedagogical Library, and they are on their fifth issue of their publication, Homo Legens. For more information, visit http://www.rusreadorg.ru. 

Slovenia 

BRALNO DRUŠTVO SLOVENIJE, the Slovenian Reading Association, organized a seminar and a round table on September 8, 2011, with the theme “Razmerje med besednimi in slikovnimi sporočili (Relation between textual and visual communication)” and will also published collection of scientific papers. The members of the Slovenian Reading Association collaborate with The Ministry of Education on reading promotion. The members of the Association's branches organized meetings for promotion of Slovenian writers and to promote reading on educational programs on local TV. 

 

This feature is the fourth article in a series that celebrates the accomplishments of National Affiliates of the International Development in Europe Committee (IDEC) of the International Reading Association (IRA). Their member organizations’ activity reports are compiled twice a year (in January and July), and we have summarized excerpts from these reports. Visit www.literacyeurope.org for more information and a list of national websites. 

Israel

The Israel Reading Association has fruitful alliances with the wide range of associations in Israel who have shared interests in literacy and reading: The Associations of Teachers of English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Ethiopian, Yiddish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese; The Script Group for Language Tests; and The Center of Educational Technology. They continued to promote the research projects in the content area of “Mother Tongue and Second/Foreign Language Reading” in seven Teachers’ Colleges and five Schools of Education and through their Ministry of Education. The National Committee continued to examine Mother Tongue teachings both in Hebrew and Arabic. The Hebrew-Arabic Bilingual Reading Project (HARP) is developing very well and a new Bulletin of the National Academy for Arabic language was established. The 39th volume of the Journal of Teachers of Arabic in Hebrew-Speaking-Schools came out in January 2011. The 40th volume will be released in October 2011. The Association held many regional in-service conferences in 2011, including a conference on the topic of “Women in the Middle East” in Ramat Rachel in December 2010 with an attendance of about 260 members. They hosted a study tour of International Reading Association (IRA) members in November 2010 and the winter IDEC/FELA meeting in January 2011. (IRA members can read more about the IRA member delegation to Israel in the October/November 2011 issue of Reading Today.)

Latvia 
In the past year, Latvijas Lasīšanas asociācija, or the Latvian Reading Association (LatRA), organized seminars and workshops for teachers, parents, and school librarians on latest developments in children’s and youth literature and the implementation of critical thinking approach in the educational process at school. They participated in the Latvian radio programs on the development of literacy, joined in the Days of Book in March, and cooperated with the Latvian Association of Book publishers. They also participated in the LLP Grundtvig multilateral project “Create—Motivate—Learn” under the umbrella of the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking International Consortium (www.cremole.eu). The Association partners with the Education Development Centre to organize professional training courses for different target audiences aimed at developing the critical thinking skills and for further development of Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking program in Latvia. Visit www.iac.edu.lv for more information about the Latvian Reading Association.

 

Norway
The Norwegian Reading Association (NoRA) arranged a seminar for teachers in Bergen in April 2011. The theme of the seminar was “English as a second language in dyslexic students,” and the English 2 Dyslexia test was presented. NoRA is planning a seminar for teachers in November 2011 with the theme “Computer writing–learning to read.” They publish the NoRA Bulletin twice a year and have Inter-Nordic cooperation and exchange bulletins. To learn more about NoRA, visit www.nora-les.no.

 

Subscribers should prepare themselves before heading to the mailbox. The excitement could be overwhelming.

Thrilling changes and new features are in store for The Reading Teacher, IRA’s most prominent journal and the best-known resource for classroom teachers in the elementary and middle school grades. A new editorial team has been vetting submissions over the past year and also working on a graphic redesign. As subscribers will soon discover, the new look is bold and the content sizzles. 

The inaugural issue, which releases in September, includes a treasure trove of classroom strategies and teaching tips that can be readily utilized as teachers start the new school year. Insightful and easy-to-read articles authored by active teachers and leading literacy professionals provide lots of takeaways for new and experienced teachers alike.  Book lists, schematic action charts, sample student work, online screen shots, and helpful links, offer only a glimpse of the resources that The Reading Teacher provides, and it’s all presented with the classroom in mind.

Strict Focus on the Practical

According to the editors, Diane Barone, University of Nevada, Reno, and Marla Mallette, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, RT’s focus has been deliberately adjusted. Barone and Mallette say they will continue to seek “well-written, original descriptions of research based instruction that improves literacy learning of children through age 12,” but the articles will be written with a different intention.

This feature is the third article in a series that celebrates the accomplishments of National Affiliates of the International Development in Europe Committee (IDEC) of the International Reading Association (IRA). Their member organizations’ activity reports are compiled twice a year (in January and July), and we have summarized excerpts from these reports. Visit www.literacyeurope.org for more information and a list of national websites. 

Germany  
In 2011, the German Society for Reading and Writing, or Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Lesen und Schreiben. e.V., published Volume 12 of the series “Beitrage der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Lesen und Schreiben” with the title Mehrsprachigkeit – Chance oder Hürde beim Schriftspracherwerb? (Multilingualism: chance or risk for literacy?), edited by Sabine Hornberg and Renate Valtin. Their annual congress took place on April 8 and 9, 2011, at Humboldt-University, Berlin, with 120 participants. The topic was “Girls and boys in school. How to develop reading competence, reading motivation, and positive attitudes toward school.” PowerPoint presentations are available at http://www.dgls.de. Member Christine Garbe was successful in getting funding for the Comenius project BACULIT (Basic Curriculum for Teachers' In-service Training in Content Area Literacy in Secondary Schools). Visit www.alinet.eu for details. This project was based on the results of the international ADORE study “Teaching Adolescent Struggling Readers – A Comparative Study of Good Practices in European Countries” funded by the European Socrates Program from 2006 to 2009. View a summary of the project’s results at www.adore-project.eu. Visit www.dgls.de for more information about the German Society for Reading and Writing. 

Greece
The Greek Reading Association is also called the Hellenic Association for Language and Literacy (HALL). In 2011, the Association has continued to expand its various activities. They send a newsletter to all members. The proceedings of the conference titled “Writing and Writings in the 21st Century: The Challenge for Education” were published in a CD-ROM of over 600 pages. They also organized regional in-service seminars promoting literacy in primary education.

Ireland
The Reading Association of Ireland (RAI), or Cumann Léitheoireachtanah Éireann, just held their 35th Annual RAI Conference at the Church of Ireland College of Education in Dublin from September 29 to October 1. The theme was “Creating Multiple Pathways to Powerful Literacy in Challenging Times” and included keynote speakers Prof. P. David Pearson (University of California, Berkeley) and Dr. Bernadette Dwyer (St. Patrick’s College, Dublin). For more information see http://www.reading.ie/conferences. RAI presented five seminars between January and July 2011. The presentations delivered at each seminar are available to download at http://www.reading.ie/seminars. The seminars explored a range of topics including comprehension, spelling and writing instruction, literature circles, and assessment. The spring edition of Reading News, the RAI newsletter, included articles on assessment and reading and writing instruction as well as RAI’s Mission Statement and statement on Key Principles of Effective Literacy Development. The autumn 2010 edition of Reading News is available to download on the website, and the spring 2011 edition will be available shortly. As part of continuing efforts to promote the RAI and literacy education nationally, the RAI is currently establishing a number of regional branches across Ireland. Regional branches of the RAI have been established in Limerick and Cork. Visit their website, redesigned in 2010, at www.reading.ie.