There are many ways you can assist a participant in the SARAW program enhance their literacy skills. Skills that are relevant to the participant and help him or her in daily life are skills that will remain for life. In this chapter, we will explore some real-life activities that can aid a SARAW participant in becoming more literate. We will examine some teaching techniques, how to use the newspaper, and how to write letters, lists and messages.

In this section, we will look at other teaching techniques you may use to help improve literacy skills. Some of the following techniques have become the cornerstones of other literacy programs. You can try each one using the WRITE program in SARAW.

Language Experience Story

The Language Experience story is just what the name says - a story that uses the participant's own language and his or her experiences. Sounds simple and it is. Language Experience quickly demonstrations the connections between thoughts, spoken words and written language. Many non-readers or unsuccessful readers have trouble making this connection so you can help them do so by using Language Experience. It also helps you learn more about the participants when you use material and language that are relevant to them. Using the Language Experience approach, you can also help the learner to read things that are already in his or her environment like: church bulletins, raffle tickets, prescriptions, letters, birthday or other cards etc. Language Experience means using anything that is meaningful to the learner. The following is an outline of how to use Language Experience with SARAW participants. Note: this method is adapted from:
Tutor: A Collaborative Approach to Literacy Instruction, Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA), Follet Publishing Co., 1993.

Pre-writing Discussion

Talk with the participant before the writing begins. Talk about anything of interest to the participant. You might talk about their home life, what happened the day before, what their thoughts are on a subject, a favorite pet, anything. If you and the participant have trouble deciding what to talk about, don't hesitate to suggest something. Bring a magazine article, a picture, a newspaper story. Or talk about what was on the news the night before, what the government is doing or even the weather.

Give the participant time to talk. If he or she is hesitant, don't worry about some quiet time. Ask open-ended questions and give plenty of quiet time before you ask another.