Adult Literacy Group Tutor Support Materials
(4 sessions 1 hour each depending on size of group)
“My Favourite Place”
“Talk about it, read about it, write about it, shout about it!”
Background
These notes provide a suggested approach for Adult Literacy Tutors to use with any of their learners who would like to take part in Scottish Book Trust’s “My Favourite Place” initiative.
The idea is that pieces of writing should be submitted that are inspired by a favourite place. Your groups can be creative about how they write, as creative as they like! The place could be a house, a favourite park, a favourite tree, a mountain range, a cafe, a beach, a viewpoint, a street. Big or small, whatever they like, indoors, outdoors.
The writing can take a variety of formats – a story, a poem, a diary entry, a letter, a sketch or a scene (like a short play) although for those in Adult Literacy Groups we are suggesting they submit their entry as a postcard. (See detailed guidance below.)
Please also note that there are a variety of formats for the submissions, there is only one submission per person, and the deadline for all submissions is August 31st 2012.
Story Poem Diary Play/ drama sketch Letter/ postcard Submission Details
You can up load the creative writing (word or pdf, document) directly onto www.scottishbooktrust.com/myfavouriteplace
Or postcards can be sent to the following address:
‘My Favourite Place’, Scottish Book Trust, Sandeman House, Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR.
Page 1 of 5
Adult Literacy Group Tutor Support Materials
(4 sessions 1 hour each depending on size of group)
“My Favourite Place”
“Talk about it, read about it, write about it, shout about it!”
Session 1:
Talk About It
You will need:
Sheets of flip chart paper (or a white board) with these headings:
Home
Holidays in Scotland
Safe places
Happy places
Places in books
Places in films
Other eg. Sports venue
To get the ball rolling, in a group or a one to one, discuss the following:
Where you come from?
Where you have been on holiday in Scotland, weekends away in Scotland, school trips in Scotland?
Where you have felt safe?
Where you feel happy?
Where characters in books go?
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Adult Literacy Group Tutor Support Materials
(4 sessions 1 hour each depending on size of group)
Where characters in films go?
Any other contributions for a favourite place?
Note down the ideas resulting from these discussions under each heading. Then, ask your group to choose their individually preferred favourite place from the lists created, and explain why they have chosen this destination? (NB. Reminiscing can bring up emotions and memories and should be facilitated with care, ensure a safe and confidential environment and that your learners do not feel they have been ‘put on the spot.’)
Home work: The group should research and bring in their own additional materials for next session relevant to their chosen location eg. Scottish holiday destinations, maps, books linked to the above, film reviews etc.
Session 2
Read About It
You will need:
Access to a computer and/ or relevant library books Sheets of flip chart paper (or a white board) with these headings:
Information linked to my favourite place including any:
Historic facts
Geological information
Famous events or people located there
Any other background to this location eg. Personal experiences/ stories
Your group should find a book and/or look up the location chosen as their favourite place, on a computer and/or read further to discover more about it. They should use the headings above as a guide.
Page 3 of 5
Adult Literacy Group Tutor Support Materials
(4 sessions 1 hour each depending on size of group)
ICT skills – ensure your group is able to copy and paste any relevant information into a word document and save it, to use in next week’s session and/or make a note of where or how they found the information so they can access it again next week.
Homework: Finish off all the information gathering and recording about your favourite place and think about why it is your favourite place, ready for next week’s session.
Session 3
Write About It
You will need:
Sheets of paper and pens
Get your learners to write on a piece of paper their favourite place as the heading. Then ask them to write under this pertinent information they have found out from last week’s research. They can copy any information captured on the white board/ flip chart paper too. Finally, get them to write down the reasons why it is their favourite place.
Once this has been recorded introduce Scottish Book Trust’s ‘My Favourite Place’ project.
Page 4 of 5
Adult Literacy Group Tutor Support Materials
(4 sessions 1 hour each depending on size of group)
Session 4
Shout About it!
You will need:
Map of locations (print off google maps) or draw a map of the location, as appropriate Scissors, string, drawing pins, display boards Postcards
Start this session by getting your group to write on a postcard as if they were sending a ‘wish you were here’ to someone close to them from their favourite place, ask them to incorporate in their writing ‘why it is their favourite place’ and to ‘include something of interest that they found out during their research about their location.’
Your group should now cut up into relevant sections the information gathered from last week. Print off (or draw) the map of their location and using string and drawing pins populate the map with the information they gathered using the pins and string to link it all together on the display board/ wall.
Submission Details
You can send the postcards as a pdf or image after scanning them to [email protected] Or postcards can be sent to the following address:
‘My Favourite Place’, Scottish Book Trust, Sandeman House, Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR.
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