DR. BOB LAUBACH STUDENT FUND

The third annual Dr. Bob Laubach Student Fund request for student projects is on! A Student Fund of $2500 was established by Laubach Literacy of Canada in celebration of Dr. Bob's 80th birthday three years ago - specifically to support student activities.

The deadline for submitting your proposal to the Development Office is April 20, 2001. The winning applications will be announced at LLC's conference in May in Charlottetown, PEI. Criteria for proposals can be found in the March 1999 issue of Literacy Connections (visit www.laubach.ca and click on "Newsletter") or contact the Development Office and they will send you a copy.

Trainer's Corner

The Training and Certification Committee met on January 26th and 27th, 2001. In addition to the usual business, much of our time was focused on reviewing Training by Design, which Laubach Literacy Action (LLA) has already adopted for all of its councils. We were fortunate to have Todd Evans of LLA explain the implementation process and both the positives and negatives of such a system.

Training by Design enables trainers and councils to focus more on the training needs of the community and less on one specific series of books (ie. Laubach Way to Reading). It outlines information that is key to a quality literacy workshop and allows a variety of resources to be reviewed within a workshop.

LLA's system also allows for other community experts to participate in a workshop without being a certified trainer, although certification is still available and encouraged. Training by Design has been a complex process, which LLA believes has led to more effective and relevant training for its volunteer tutors.

You will be hearing more about Training by Design at conferences, in Literacy Connections and on-line. Your input is valued. Please forward all questions and/or comments to: Diane Hunt, 65 Nevers Road, Lincoln, NB E3B 8R7, email: dianehu@nbnet.nb.ca

The following LLC trainers were certified at our January meeting. Congratulations to the new Trainers-Literacy:

• Beverly Hulan and Lillian Moores (NF);
• Susan King (NS); Josette Forde (QC);
• Lori Beckerton and Cynthia Henkelman (ON);
• Nancy Grantham (AB)

Supervising Trainers-Literacy:

• Ed Chaffey (QC) and Bev Clarke (ON)

Master Trainer-Literacy: Bev Clarke (ON)

Submitted by: Bev Clarke, Provincial Training Officer-ON for Diane Hunt, Training Certification Committee Chair

A Stress Success Story!

The Stress Buster workshop, made possible by the Dr. Bob Laubach Student Fund, took place in Moncton, New Brunswick in September 2000 at the New Brunswick Community College.

The facilitator was Kenneth Doucet and he showed the participants how to deal effectively with stress and to cope with it in our daily lives. Often, laughter is the best medicine!

Many thanks to Laubach Literacy of Canada and the Dr. Bob Laubach Student Fund for making this day possible for many students and also to Julie Kean Marks for handling all of the registrations.

Yvonne Westall for the NB Student Advisory Committee

Welcome New LLC Councils!

A great big Laubach WELCOME is extended to the newly formed LLC councils of Your Strength Is Our Strength Club Inc. in Peterview, Newfoundland and also to Makwa Sahgaiehcan Literacy Council in Loon Lake, Saskatchewan.

Good-bye and Hello

In the last issue of Literacy Connections, you were introduced to many new staff members, including Rina Gallant, although she had been working part time with Laubach since August 1999. Rina has since decided to pursue other endeavours and it is with a sad heart that we say 'farewell and best wishes' to her.

To assume Rina's duties at the Distributorship in Saint John, NB is Kevin Lagos. Welcome, Kevin!