Structure of workshops: Each of the first seven workshops begins with an overview that describes the sequence of events, the materials required and their distribution to participants. Each workshop also includes the following eight components:

i) a word of welcome and review of the activities carried out at home;

ii) the what, how and why (presentation of the workshop in the format of a scenario that could be used by the practitioner);

iii) a discussion of the concept presented in item ii);

iv) a demonstration (if needed);

v) the presentation of strategies used before, during and after reading, as well as games to play with letters, with the feature activity being "Write a story dictated by your child"; other activities include books for beginners, interactive writing such as journal writing with a partner, an activity of shared reading, etc.;

vi) a practical session that the parents do with their child during the workshop;

vii) a "recap" ofthe workshop; and

viii) the planning of activities to do with the child at home that week and the distribution of activity sheets.

The eighth workshop, which takes place in January, is devoted to the synthesis and evaluation of the program and ends with a small celebration.

Reading and writing activities: This model focuses on reading and writing. The practitioner's guide contains a list of children's books appropriate for beginner readers.

Other characteristics: The material loaned to parents includes 30-minute videocassettes that are also used in the workshops. Because the workshops take place in the school environment, the resource teachers and teachers encourage parents to fully support their children with simple interventions based on current trends and the results of research.

Comments: The model Lire et écrire a la maison has been successfully piloted in various socio-economic settings in schools in Montreal and Quebec. This model is different from the others in that it takes place at school, which facilitates the integration of the children. It also includes a visit to the local library.

Because it was designed to be implemented in Quebec, a Francophone majority setting, this model does not take into account the linguistic, cultural and identity issues that affect Franco-Ontarians, nor does it take into account the situation of French in a minority setting and the contact between the two languages in everyday life in Ontario. The centres that have chosen this model have tried nevertheless to integrate some of these aspects into their program.

Parents who have low literacy skills or little formal education or who do not speak, read and write with ease in French would have difficulty functioning with this model. However, Lire et écrire a la maison offers a very helpful tool for use in a minority setting, which is to record or buy books on cassette for parents who are allophone, have low literacy skills or are Anglophone.