• Encourage learners to watch for new vocabulary as they listen to Elders or read written material. Learners can create personal dictionaries in small notebooks, a section in a binder, or findex cards to record new vocabulary and meanings. Discuss how new vocabulary relates to root words and familiar words. Learners can identify new vocabulary words for the whole group to learn. Or each findividual or small group could generate its own vocabulary list. The group may want to have weekly formal tests; or people may prefer to work in pairs or small groups to practice and review vocabulary words.
• Use the portfolio method or other forms of self-assessment to evaluate work instead of formal marking. This allows learners to become more analytical about their own work – a skill which will be useful in many other aspects of their lives.
• Encourage regular debrieing as the project progresses. Group discussion about how a part of the project has gone encourages critical analysis and evaluation.
• Encourage the group to celebrate its successes – both findividual and group achievements. Talk about hopes and plans for the future and how the project has affected your views and approach to life.

Books about Participatory Education

Teaching Adults to Read: A Balanced Approach, by Pat Campbell, published by Grass Roots Press and the University of Alberta in 2003. ISBN: 1-894593-18-9. Available from Grass Roots Press. Read the final chapter of this book for a good overview of participatory education.

Educating for Change: Community-Based/Student-Centred Literacy Programming with First Nations Adults, by Carmen Rodriguez, published by Province of BC, Ministry of Advanced Education, revised in 2001. ISBN: 0-7726-4606-6. Available from Grass Roots Press.

Learning about Participatory Approaches in Adult Literacy Education: Six Research in Practice Studies, edited by Mary Norton and Grace Malicky, published by Learning at the Centre Press, Edmonton, in 2000. ISBN: 0-9687155-3-2. Available from learningcentre@compusmart.ab.ca. Tel: 780-429-0675

Participatory Practices in Adult Education, edited by Pat Campbell and Barbara Burnaby, published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., New Jersey, in 2001. ISBN: 0-8058-3705-1. Available from Grass Roots Press.

Educating for a Change, by Arnold, Burke, James, Martin and Thomas, published by Between the Lines and the Doris Marshall Institute for Education and Action, Toronto, 1991, ISBN: 0-921284-48-9

“It Brought a Richness to Me” A Resource Manual for Participatory Literacy Practitioners, by King, Estes, Fingeret and McCullough, produced by Literacy South, Durham, NC, 1993. Available from Literacy South, Snow Building, Rm 202, 331 W. Main St., Durham, NC 27701 Tel: 919-682-8108

Making Meaning, Making Change, by Elsa Roberts Auerbach, published by Center for Applied Linguistics, Illinois, 1992, ISBN: 0-93-735479-1