Kids’ literacy program makes learning fun for newcomers
Squamish mother Kamaljit Bains says her five-year-old daughter is already reaping the benefits of a local program that helped her prepare for kindergarten this September.
Bains’ two-year-old son is next in line.
“It was very good,” Bains said of the Immigrant Parents As Literacy Supporters program, which daughter Manisha took six months ago with classmates from countries such as Japan, China and India. “Because of this program, she’s ready for kindergarten. She learned a lot of poems and songs and she also did the alphabet. It really helped my daughter.
“My son went twice and he learned how to hold a pen,” added Bains, who moved to Canada from India in 2004.
“He wanted to go because his sister was there. He was doing colours, painting. It was really helpful for both me and my children (be- cause) at home we speak Punjabi.”
The IPALS literacy program at the Squamish Welcome Centre is for immigrant families and their young children, with a focus on preschoolers. The 10-week program gives caregivers new strategies to support their young children in literacy development.
Activities include pre-reading and pre-writing, math, arts and crafts, learning about streets and traffic signs, rhymes and songs, technology, field trips and simple ABCs. Parents also learn about childhood development.
“When my son is three, he’ll take the same program,” Bains said. “And it was really helpful for me as well. I learned how to teach my daughter at home.”
Squamish’s IPALS co-ordinator is the Welcome Centre’s Trudie Neubert, who also teaches.
Neubert said the program is a wonderful addition to the Welcome Centre’s activities because
it gives immigrant parents the knowledge they need to support their children in literacy development and in their transition from preschool to kindergarten.
Neubert said the program, developed by Decoda Literacy Solutions’ former director Fiona Morrison, receives funding from both Decoda and the Raise-a-Reader campaign.
Neubert said the centre ran two IPALS programs last year, one specifically for Squamish’s larger Punjabi community and the other for all other immigrants. This year, because of reduced funding, all immigrants were in the same class.
“It’s a program set up like preschool,” she said, “but the children are involved and we want the parents there because they’re learning alongside the children. Parents don’t have to pay, but we get $3,500 funding from Decoda, who developed the program, which is run throughout British Columbia. The other money we receive is from Raise-a-Reader …
“This year we had five families with their children. Last year we had 10 families.”
Neubert said she gets lots of positive feedback from parents.
“For us, it’s very important that children get confidence, especially when they’re from a different country and don’t speak English,” she said. “So they come into our program and learn English through songs, stories — both the children and the parents. They might have never heard Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.”
Neubert said while the focus is on early literacy, that doesn’t necessarily mean reading.
“They learn patterns. They learn shapes,” she said. “Some of them, if they’re ready, can learn their ABCs. We don’t attempt to ask them to read. If the child is ready, they might do it, but it’s more play.”