L&E eLearning Courses

As an introductory course in principles for literacy work in ethnolinguistic minority groups, this course includes an introduction to what a literacy program involves, including orthography design, pre- and post-literacy considerations, learning and reading theory and instructional methodologies. It requires a background knowledge of phonology. For further information, contact wanda_davies@sil.org. 

This is an introductory course in principles for literacy in ethno-linguistic minority groups. It is aimed at those who are engaged in literacy work on the field and feel the need for a bit more background and a wider view to add to the experience that they already have. It begins with an introduction to what literacy is, some history and the state of literacy in today’s world, then introduces some theoretical background for literacy work before covering a range of instructional methods and some basics of developing an acceptable orthography. It concludes with topics that pertain to literacy programs in general. For further information, contact wanda_davies@sil.org. 

This course pre-supposes that a person has already taken a course on the principles of literacy. It is geared toward practitioners on the field who find themselves in the position of needing to increase the number of literacy materials available in their situation but feel a lack of background for doing so. The course introduces a variety of kinds of materials as well as giving basic information on book production and training of writers and teachers. Course projects include preparing samples of four different kinds of materials, including the teaching instructions for the materials and a plan for involving the local community in their production and for testing the materials. For further information, contact wanda_davies@sil.org. 

This course deals with the many kinds of issues involved in a community-based literacy program, particularly in the developing world. However, many of the issues are relevant in any kind of literacy program, such as a literacy program for immigrants to learn to read and write the national language of their new country. We begin by looking at general issues that affect most all literacy programs, then look at issues related to a program itself, and finally issues that relate to specific kinds of programs, such as those for an oral culture and those aiming at multi-lingual literacy. For more information contact wanda_davies@sil.org  

Part I of the Multilingual Education series, but can be taken as a stand-alone course. This is an introductory course with an emphasis on the rationale behind Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. It provides an overview of MLE program types, introduces major players engaged in advocacy efforts, and discusses policy issues. A history of MLE and descriptions of practices on various continents is included, as well as recent research and case study data. For more information about this course or to request the enrollment key, contact the instructor elke_karan@sil.org.  

Part II of the Multilingual Education series, but can be taken as a stand-alone course. 

Topics covered in this course:

1.     Components of successful programs

2.     Advocacy on the local and regional level

3.     Corpus planning

4.     Curriculum and standards

5.     Teacher education

6.     Bridging to additional languages.

For more information about this course or to request the enrollment key, contact the instructor elke_karan@sil.org. 

Ce cours a pour but de former des alphabétiseurs. Ceux-ci possèderont les connaissances leur permettant d’aider une population non privilégiée, analphabète, à se développer de façon globale en leur donnant la possibilité d’accéder au monde de la lecture.

Ce cours veut donner les outils nécessaires pour savoir comment:

• sensibiliser la population et promouvoir le désir de savoir lire dans la langue maternelle et plus tard dans une langue officielle,

• confectionner du matériel didactique, c.-à-d. des syllabaires, du matériel de lecture adapté à la situation locale,  

• former des alphabétiseurs qui sauront comment enseigner la lecture,

• organiser des classes de lecture et des campagnes d'alphabétisation.

Pour plus de renseignements, écrire à thalmann.kramer@swissonline.ch. 

An introduction to writing system typology and the principles of designing and testing a writing system. For those involved in language development work and those fascinated by languages. For more information about this course or to request the enrollment key, contact the instructor elke_karan@sil.org  

This course introduces students to the "big picture" of language development, including its place within the wider context of community development, its theological/philosophical foundations, and its relationship to activities such as Bible translation, research, literacy, and education. The course also introduces the best practices of Language Development, including the Sustainable Use Model. 

This course is designed to enable people to work on their consulting skills when they want to and how they want to. You are free to take the modules in any order, but overall they do build on one another and you will probably benefit from taking them in order. People who want to teach a consultant skills training event can use these materials in their training.