Have you known of a literacy class that was started, but all too soon it no longer met? The history of adult literacy has many examples of classes that started but soon stopped. Bones of dead literacy classes cover the pathway of literacy education.

Every bone on that pathway means disappointed adult students and teachers. Why do classes die? Because the students stop coming. Why do students stop coming? Sometimes, problems at home or work make it necessary for an adult to stop coming to class.

Though you may not be able to solve home or work problems, you can control what happens in the class. These are some things you can do.

How to sustain students’ interest in learning

Maintaining and sustaining the interest of the students in the teaching and learning process can be a herculean task if care is not taken. You should try to read the following five points for better performance.

Be Faithful with Your Time

Be there every time the class meets. Even if no student comes, be there! Be ready to start on time, but be understanding with those who may be late because of a problem at home or work. Close the class on time. Don’t make that wife late getting home to cook for her husband!

Be Friendly

In literacy classes, show interest in the family and work of each student. Ask them about their children, their family, and their work. Adults crave attention. Be the friendliest person they meet each week.

Visit Absentees

If an adult is absent once, ask other students about that person. After two absences, ask another student to visit him. After three absences, the teacher should visit the student. Why? Three absences put adults so far behind that they may decide not to come to class again unless the teacher promises to help them catch up with others in the class.

Be Sure Every Adult Learns Something New and Useful During Each Class Time

As they leave your class, if they have had a happy time and have learned something useful, they will likely return. The new things they learn will keep them with you, and they will still patronise on. Make sure you prepare the lesson that creates new value for them.

Be an Interesting Teacher

How? Show your interest in the students. Share your interests with them. A teacher who is interested enough will attract the students a lot. He or she will be able to affect the students’ lives positively. Also, if the teacher’s lesson is interesting, the students will be able to capture the value of learning.

How to be successful in the class

In the literacy class, the teacher can be successful as he adopts the methods discussed below very sensitively and carefully.

Learn all students’ names, needs and interests.

The teacher should be responsible to learn understand the names, needs and interests of the students. The knowledge about all this will make you perform well. Therefore, it is important to take care of all this in the teaching and learning process.

Greet students happily each time.

Never show your headaches! It is helpful and entertaining to do a quick five-minute drama. The Workshop Leader first enters the classroom showing by his face that he has a He leans on the table; he appears tired. He calls the roll and then asks what lesson they read last.

He sighs in a way that shows he wishes he were not there. The Leader then explains that he will go out and return with the same headache. He asks students to note the difference. The Leader enters with a smile, greets students and asks about their families.

(The Leader assures participants that the headache of the second teacher will usually go away if the teacher smiles!)

Bring interesting objects to class to show.

Real teaching aids and instructional materials are the pillars of the valuable teaching and learning process. It is what can make the learning understandable. When a teacher brings objects relevant to the class, his or her teaching will be real and live to the learners.

Think of exciting ideas or questions to discuss with students at times

Discuss what concerns them. Relate the teaching to the problems encountered by the learners and how the topic can solve the problems.

Sing cheerful

Choose from songs and let students sing their favourite songs while clapping and dancing. This is very good for young ones to learn fast. You can write some letters to teach the children on the board and turn the letters into rhymes and songs. What the learner emphasises in songs will not be forgotten.

Make and use flashcards, charts and other teaching

Using flashcards as games creates interest as it improves reading. When the teacher makes use of games and cards to teach children, their interests will be many.

Set a goal

To finish the primer, to finish the next reader, to read more and to set a goal that will take you to another realm of destiny, etc. The set goal will help to achieve your future goals and objectives.

Reach the goal

Step by step, keep making progress to reach the goal. You cannot achieve your goal in one day. You need to take the steps one after the other. Progress will be made when the steps happen one after the other.

Award the goal

Award certificates and seals (if used) as soon as possible after they are earned. Then set the next goal and repeat the process of reaching that goal.

We must not forget the worthy goal of using the skill of reading and writing to improve a person’s life and income. This is also a part of the “abundant life “spoken of during the devotional of the first day of the Workshop.

Figure 4 shows how to break one long goal into several short goals. Draw the diagrams on the blackboard as you explain that the upper line shows the difficulty of following one long goal until it is reached. The lower line shows how the same goal can be reached by several steps and awards.

Literacy Goals

PPI, PP2 and PP3 represent three post-primer books the new reader may need to read before being able to read the Bible. Your literacy program may have three or more books to prepare the new reader to reach the goal. These books may include books on health, agriculture, family needs, etc. (See Chapter 10.)

Teaching Notes

If you have learned and used the participants’ names since the first session of the Workshop, you will be able to ask your participants to learn all their students’ names, as suggested in 5. a. Make a game of knowing everyone’s name from the first session of the workshop

Have a literary songwriting contest during the Workshop, printed in a national news magazine or the newsletter for your churches. The songs can also be taught and sung at national meetings. Inexpensive awards can be given.

For 5. f, use a set of flashcards you prepared before the Workshop begins. Some flashcards should be made by each participant. Chapter 2: MATERIALS NEEDED FOR THE WORKSHOP shows what is needed for making flashcards. Make letters on flash cards as dark as possible so the letters can be seen from a distance.

Practice drawing Figure 4 on the blackboard before you begin to do it for the class. The idea to draw very light chalk lines on the blackboard ahead of time does work well!

This chapter offers you the best chance to explain the series of books in your literacy program which help students reach their goal of reading the Bible or becoming good readers. This step-by-step process.

You may want to teach “Languages” from Appendix 4 at the end of this session to prepare for the next session on teaching the primer. If time does not allow for this at the end of this session, it could be used to begin the next session. You can read more related posts on our education page of the site.