sorry about that - my message was sent before I finished writing!  See below for the rest......

________________________________

From: womenliteracy-bounces at dev.nifl.gov on behalf of Brenda Bell
Sent: Wed 11/23/2005 7:33 PM
To: The Women & Literacy Discussion List; The Women & Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] RE: literacy instruction in Afghanistan


David --
 
Here in Afghanistan you will find a variety of instructional approaches with different underlying principles, everything from a 'pure' Freirian problem-posing and analysis approach to very decontextualized direct teaching of basic skills.  
 

>From what I can tell (all materials are not available yet), the new UNESCO-Afghan Ministry of Education literacy curriculum takes a broad view of literacy skills (including verbal communication skills, reading, writing, numeracy skills, problem-solving) and encourages learners to participate in their communities and develop lifelong learning habits. Topics include religious and social values, economy, health and environment, security and human rights, agriculture and livestock, and life skills (a category that looks sort of like a mixture of  pieces of EFF standards, common activities and role maps!).  However, the curriculum framework that I have seen doesn't give any guidance to the teacher on how to teach in a contextualized way.  There are three levels in basic literacy and three in post literacy that detail the expected reading, writing and math competencies.  If any one wants more details, let me know.

 
To illustrate an ecclectic approach, I'll give a few details about the LCEP approach to literacy teaching.  (And invite Lisa, Katy and Vickie to post information on Learning for Life, the health and literacy initiative that Lisa mentioned).  During the early stages of program design, the following definition of literacy was developed by the Afghan lead trainers:
 

Literacy is understood as Swadimoszish tawanmandi (Dari for reading for critical understanding of one's world) rather than Amozish tawanmandi  (Dari for reading and writing).  

 

"Literacy is the fluent, context-specific and effective use of oral and written language in ways that lead to self empowerment, good governance and a deeper understanding of local knowledge, resources and skills.  It is the use of the language of unity in relation to self, daily life and environment; the use of language to improve one's self confidence and living conditions (individually and in cooperation and consultation with family and community; and the gaining of knowledge and understanding of human rights and the broadening of one's vision and understanding of the world beyond the known and familiar."   

 

The program's guiding principles include, among other statements, a commitment to learner-centered, participatory teaching and learning that is purposeful and meaningful; and a commitment to developing curriculum materials that draw on the experiences and materials of daily village life

 

Carrying out these principles has been another matter  - not impossible - but not easy. In an effort to supplement the training and support for the 386 women and men who are teaching in LCEP's village learning centers, curricululm materials have been developed that help the teacher learn how to teach in new ways and to actively involve learners - through small group activities, full group discussion, and some group projects.  Teaching of reading and writing is a combination of whole language, whole word, and the Dari/Pashtu equivalent of phonemic awareness and phonics.  Teachers were disturbed that instead of starting with aleph (the letter A), they started with the word salam -- the standard greeting -- and the letter S.  But now most seem to like this different approach -- and were impressed that within a week, learners could read and write the phrase 'salam, Sima'  - and soon moved on to their own names and short sentences.  But -- teachers have become dependent on the curriculum materials developed in Kabul, and are not yet developing their own ideas, activities and materials that draw on local experiences and materials. That's the current challenge that the training and curriculum developers are addressing.

 

Does anyone else have difficulty living up to lofty guiding principles? 

 

            Brenda
 
 

________________________________

From: womenliteracy-bounces at dev.nifl.gov on behalf of David Rosen
Sent: Tue 11/22/2005 6:03 PM
To: The Women & Literacy Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan



Hello Brenda,

Do you see one underlying approach or  set of principles and values 
used in adult literacy instruction in Afghanistan?  For example, is 
this literacy for religious education, or is this literacy for 
empowerment (a Freirean model) or is this -- like a children's 
literacy model -- decontextualized basic skills, or do you see a 
contextualized approach incorporating livelihood (job skills) and 
daily living skills,  or something else?  Do you see -- as we do in 
the U.S. and other countries -- several different philosophical 
approaches being used?

Would you say the model (or models) used for women's literacy in 
particular focus on empowerment?

David
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net

On Nov 22, 2005, at 6:49 AM, Brenda Bell wrote:


> Daphne and all --

>

> In general, there are more women than men in literacy programs here 

> in Afghanistan.  In the government-run programs, figures for last 

> year show about 45,000 more women than men enrolled, out of a total 

> enrollment of about 385,500.  This is not surprising, given that 

> women were denied access to education under the Taliban government 

> and are so eager to learn.  But men are eager, too, having lived 

> for so many years in the midst of fighting with limited educational 

> opportunities.

>

> Classes for women and men are held separately.  There may be some 

> places in Kabul where literacy classes are held for women and men 

> together, but I'm not aware of them.

>

> As for literacy goals -- I can speak most directly from my own 

> experience with learners in the Literacy and Community Empowerment 

> Program -- both female and male.  During the recent internal 

> evaluation field visits to 16 villages in three provinces, we 

> talked with 409 females and 365 males, in 32 classes.  Their ages 

> ranged from 10 to over 40, with the majority in the 13-18 range.   

> (This program is primarily for youth and young adults, though open 

> to learners over the age of 10, with no upper age limit).  In the 

> structured discussions held with each group, we asked questions 

> such as:  why are you participating in this learning center? what 

> do you hope to do with the skills you are learning?

>

> The common response to the first question (why are you in this 

> class?), from both male and female classes, was -- to learn 

> reading, writing and math!  Of course.  But with further probing, 

> the young men said things like - to be able to read letters from 

> relatives in Iran; to read shop signs; to get skills to help my 

> family; to have a better future; to help our country develop; to 

> become doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, carpenters, metal 

> workers.  Young women said  -- to read and write letters to 

> relatives; to become teachers (most); doctors, engineers, shop 

> keepers (some); to do business in the bazaar; to learn everything 

> we can; to help our families and our community.  (O course, there 

> were many other comments -- these were the most common.)

>

> What do you think about these responses?  similar to what you would 

> have expected?

>

> Brenda

>

> ________________________________

>

> From: womenliteracy-bounces at dev.nifl.gov on behalf of Daphne Greenberg

> Sent: Tue 11/22/2005 2:34 AM

> To: womenliteracy at dev.nifl.gov

> Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan

>

>

>

> Brenda,

> I am wondering whether you see an equal amount (more or less) of 

> women and men in the literacy programs. Are the classes co-ed? Do 

> the men and women express similar literacy goals?

> Daphne

>

>>>> BBell at edc.org 11/21/2005 4:57:25 AM >>>

>

>

> Hello all -

>

>

>

> I'm in the midst of an interesting discussion with some of the lead 

> trainers for the Literacy and Community Empowerment Program.  I 

> posed some of David's questions about the history of literacy in 

> Afghanistan - starting a discussion that has sent several women off 

> to get more exact information, which they should have by tomorrow.

>

>

>

> Meanwhile, in the interest of keeping a discussion going with you 

> on this list, here is a summary of what a group of older Afghan 

> women and one younger man had to say:

>

>

>

> "The early literacy courses for adults were called 'elder 

> literacy.'  The courses lasted for 3 months and the methods used 

> were memorization and drill.  While the classes were mostly for 

> men, there were courses for women in basic literacy and some that 

> were related to vocational skills.

>

>

>

> "During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the number of 

> literacy courses increased, but according to the discussion, the 

> level of learning dropped.  "Really they were using literacy for 

> political objectives.  Literacy groups were formed but not much 

> learning took place.  They were used to implement the objectives of 

> the government.  Not many people became literate."

>

>

>

> They also said that during the 'mujahadeen time' when the U.S. 

> backed the mujahadeen fight against the Russians, literacy texts 

> were also politicized. They cited the now-famous (in some circles) 

> example of numeracy activities in which the items to be counted 

> were guns.

>

>

>

> "Now when we go into villages with our literacy program, some 

> people are very suspicious.  They want to make sure that our 

> program is not going to be like other literacy programs that 

> 'misled' the people. We tell them no, it is not the same.  You can 

> look at our teaching materials and at our lesson guides and see 

> that this is a program that will help villagers get the skills they 

> need to develop their communities. We are promoting peace and 

> empowerment. And we include quotations from the Qu'ran in our 

> materials.  This helps us."

>

>

>

> Perhaps some other members of this discussion list know some of 

> this history and can add more!

>

>

>

> Brenda

>

>

>

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