D. Neighbourhood

1. Guided discussion

* * * * * * * * * * * * * One way of moving from learners' immediate friends and family is through talking and writing about the environment(s) in which they work, study and live their lives.

* Using the blackboard to record answers for the whole group, or asking learners to divide into pairs, find out:

  • Who lives alone?
  • Who lives with a partner?
  • Who lives with roommates or friends?
  • Who lives with family including [grand] children?
  • Who lives in a house? an apartment? a trailer?
  • Who lives in a city? a village? on a reserve?

* Invite learners to discuss their homes, their neighborhoods and the things that occur there every day. Some questions to consider:

  • What do you see in your neighborhood that makes you happy? sad? angry?
  • What surprises you in your neighborhood?
  • What, if anything, would you change about your neighborhood?

2. Collages, maps and other visuals

* Map reading is a skill needed in a number of connections. Making a map of the area surrounding the learning centre or meeting place is one way of developing that skill; as well, map making gives learners more information about the area. The group could go on a walkabout and discuss what they have seen - shops, bus stops, offices, parks, etc. The tutor can make the basic framework for the map and have learners complete and label it, or learners can make the entire map themselves. They can then be asked to generate maps of the areas immediately surrounding the places where they live, visit or like to spend time.

* Learners can practice reading maps during or after the exercises in map making. There are many maps that the learners or tutor can bring in - transit maps, city maps, maps that advertise particular businesses, road maps and so on. Some things to do:

  • Ask each learner to trace the route she takes to school or work, or to mark all the places she goes in the course of a day, week or month.
  • On one map, mark all the learners' homes. Which learners live close to one another? Who has the farthest to come to school? Which learners live on the same bus or subway route?

3. A neighbourhood survey

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * The neighbourhood survey can be done in two ways. The entire group could go out together to make the observations, or learners can be asked to make these observations over time, for example, making note of things they observe in the neighbourhood at different times of day, over a period of several days.

* Ask learners to fill in the survey form (pages 46 - 47).


The Neighbourhood The Neighbourhood
Handout 46, 47

* After the data is collected, see if opinions among learners are similar or different. Ask if friends, or others in their households, share learners' opinions and observations of their neighbourhoods, or if they have different ideas about the people and environment in their neighbourhoods.

* After discussing their findings, you may want to invite local representatives, service workers and others to discuss questions and problems, if any, that arise from the survey, such as:

  • Why is this neighbourhood unsafe?
  • When is the trash collected? Why isn't it collected regularly?
  • Where are the public telephones? Why aren't more streetlights working?

* Follow-up work could include letters to local newspapers reporting on problems and/or solutions to particular issues in the community.

4. Reading: "Church"

Florence Wright's story may encourage women to look at ways in which support may already exist for them within their communities and/or how they might work to build better support networks themselves.

* Read the story (page 47) with the group.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * Another book, Two Old Women, by Velma Walls, speaks powerfully to women's strength and solidarity, and against ageism, and presents a very different perspective on day-to-day survival.

Church
Reading 47

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