Introduction

Tools are developed and refined in response to people’s needs. The SARAW program is a wonderful literacy tool that has been developed over time and continues to be refined by participants, instructors and tutors.

The Companion to SARAW was also developed for an expressed need. We saw a need to expand the SARAW program’s capabilities within the framework of the computer program. We wanted to design an exercise workbook that would cut down on instructor and tutor preparation time, and give some direction for learning. We felt that the READ section of SARAW was an untapped wealth of learning opportunities if one knew what to do with the information.

We decided to take the stories from READ and develop a Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) for each one including some:

• Background information to generate thought and discussion on a certain topic;
• Questions covering facts, vocabulary and inferences about the subject matter;
• Other activities based on the subject of the story designed to further develop writing skills.

We also decided to use the same stories to develop basic grammar exercises. Working in the SARAW classroom in Regina, Saskatchewan, we found that many of the participants, while they could read fairly well, had trouble with simple grammar. To improve their skills, we lifted many sentences directly from the READ section of SARAW and used them to help refine:

• sentence structure
• capitalization and punctuation
• showing possession and using contractions
• building better sentences
• constructing paragraphs

Finally, we developed a chapter especially for volunteer tutors and instructors that includes specific activities that could be done using different sections of the SARAW program including:

• writing letters in the proper format
• using the newspaper
• language experience stories
• other activities

Our goal is to ultimately make learning as easy and interesting as possible for people using the SARAW program. We hope we have begun to accomplish this goal and welcome any feedback to make the workbook useful for all participants, instructors and volunteer tutors.