Family Literacy Day 2021

ABC Life Literacy Canada launched family Literacy Day in 1999. It takes place every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and to engage in other literacy-related activities as a family.

Family learning can help both adults and children to become motivated, confident, and persistent lifelong learners. It supports children to be successful at school. It increases parent’s confidence and skills to support their children’s learning. An important outcome for adults who participate in family literacy programs happens when these parents/caregivers start thinking about their own aspirations, educational and career goals and, as a result, decide to engage in adult education.

We all know the long-term benefits of strong literacy skills – from better health, better employment opportunities, increased income to be happy and resilient!

The Covid-19 pandemic affected all of us in many ways. It revealed how essential family learning is. As schools closed in March 2020, parents from all walks of life were suddenly tasked with facilitating their children’s online learning participation. At CanLearn, we have seen very clearly how important family literacy programs are in adult education. We have also observed the tremendous digital divide between families with limited economic resources and affluent families with access to the internet and digital devices.

During the pandemic, CanLearn family literacy programs have transitioned to remote instruction so that families can continue learning. We found a way to help many families overcome the digital divide by lending digital devices; learned all about engaging families in remote parent-child interactive literacy activities; we shared resources for families to use for learning at home, and we encouraged parents to keep thinking about their own learning goals and aspirations.

The biggest lesson we learned over the past ten months is that family learning can lead the way in supporting parents and children to stay strong, resilient, and motivated to learn during challenging and uncertain times.

If you are a parent interested in CanLearn family literacy programs, you are welcome to contact us: [email protected].