Youth and Adult Literacy

Everyone can teach literacy!

Blessed is the one who reads -- but what's the point?

The literate in Brazil is basically classified as someone who can read and write a short note. But there’s a lot more than that. How do I understand a calendar? How do I give back some change? How to hop in the right bus or subway? How to understand a flyer? How to express yourself over a little paragragh?

These and other questions hover over the heads and lives of illiterate people, and just reading a note doesn’t help. Therefore, more than developing writing and calculating, our goal is to stimulate the autonomy and maturity of a class of young and adult students to use this learning in their social, family, religious, work and many other practices, contributing to their personal and collective development.

Who's the illiterate in Brazil?

It is very commoner to say that “the grandmother of John is illiterate“, but the truth is that more than half of the illiterate in the north and northeast regions are between 25 and 59 years. Check out the full data by clicking North or clicking Northeast.

This is the most productive age of society! Time to work and develop the place where they live (and the country as a whole), but do not enjoy opportunities for not knowing how to read and write.

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That said, there are many illiterate professionals. Bricklayers, restaurant owners, traders and other professionals can be illiterate without you knowing. It’s not just the picker, the beggar, the rural worker or the housewife.

And many of them hide their condition. They need to be encouraged, motivated, treated with dignity, raising their self-esteem.

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That said, there are many illiterate professionals. Bricklayers, restaurant owners, traders and other professionals can be illiterate without you knowing. It’s not just the picker, the beggar, the rural worker or the housewife.

And many of them hide their condition. They need to be encouraged, motivated, treated with dignity, raising their self-esteem.

How to deal with the illiterate?

It is necessary to be human to understand the side of the illiterate, but also to be able to transmit the knowledge that he needs. And that’s the way we work.

IBRAEMA conducts training to train Facilitators, which are teachers. In the training we cover both technical points, from how to use the books to how much time a class day should be, and motivating ponts, involving situations of the student as society, community, family, beliefs, health and others.

There must be respect and empathy, as much as knowledge and wisdom.

What is IBRAEMA's method to teach?

Frank Laubach

We use the Frank Laubach method.

Frank Charles Laubach (1884-1970) was a pedagogue and teacher of the Sunday Bible School. He was sent in 1915 as a missionary to the Philippines, and had the challenge of teaching the Bible, but he came across something more difficult.

The local language was not written. Only the Muslim priests could read, and in Arabic, which was not the native language. Whoever was to be literate had to learn Arabic first. Laubach had to create a writing for the local language, teach it to the Filipinos and only then teach the Bible. And he worked on it for 30 years, perfecting a method.

Frank Laubach

We use the Frank Laubach method.

Frank Charles Laubach (1884-1970) was a pedagogue and teacher of the Sunday Bible School. He was sent in 1915 as a missionary to the Philippines, and had the challenge of teaching the Bible, but he came across something more difficult.

The local language was not written. Only the Muslim priests could read, and in Arabic, which was not the native language. Whoever was to be literate had to learn Arabic first. Laubach had to create a writing for the local language, teach it to the Filipinos and only then teach the Bible. And he worked on it for 30 years, perfecting a method.

He ended up teaching 60% of the entire country, along with local and outside educators. The method was taken to several countries, translated into many languages, and Frank himself was in Brazil after World War II.

60%. More than half of an entire country.

We believe that this method is efficient and effective to solve the problem of illiteracy in Brazil, where the government’s budget for illiteracy is too small to meet their own specific goals. Training and class materials are all based on the Frank Laubach method.

How much time does it take for someone to be literate?

A few months to a year. An exact number depends on factors such as how many class days are during the week, the duration (in hours) of a class, the learning and exercising rate of a class, and some others.

I want to literate a class! How do I get the teaching material?

If you have not yet been trained by us, please contact us. Each trained facilitator receives a booklet with the essential knowledge about our (you + us) work and method, and a certification of participation.

Treinamento

After identifying a scenario, for example, a community where there are illiterate people, or a company where some employees do not know how to read, the facilitator comes into contact with an institution, so that IBRAEMA and this institution carry out a Partnership, with well defined terms. Or the institution contacts us firts and then we suggest some facilitators to work with them. Click here and see the institutions we already work, and click here to see ideas of literacy scenarios.

From this partnership, we send registration forms of students, facilitator(s) and local(s) of class, which can, but does not necessarily need to be within this institution. With the information obtained from the completed forms, we send all the needed books (which are free) for teacher and students, and the class can start the lessons!

About IBRAEMA

Literacy, citizenship, financial education, microcredit. We empower volunteers to support and boost the most disadvantaged people of our society.

Instituto Brasileiro de Educação e Meio-Ambiente
(Brazilian Institute of Education and Environment )
Diniz Barreto st., 88, Prado,
Recife – PE, Brazil
Post-code: 50720-220
Phone: +55 (81) 3342-2077