There is a great new program in Reading that is starting this Semester at
the Corinth and Valsayn campuses of the University of Trinidad and Tobago.
Emergent and Early Literacy will receive much attention and we are sure 
that there will be some focus on the Caribbean context--our portal's passion.
This is a boost for all the Early and Family Literacy "dreamers".
Early Literacy Education continues to move at a pace in T&T with new curricula,the
building of new centres and the training of teachers, this portal hopes that a research thrust in
the new program will be emphasized and that the young teachers will be in time the
developers of the resources which is so urgently needed in the country. We look forward.
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Have you clicked the links to our articles on the Language-Literacy connection which we are editing/publishing
on the Connexions (Rice University website)? We are happy about these Open Education Resources facilities.
The original article has evolved into a course for local teachers. All visitors are welcome:
Communication, Language and Literacy in Trinidad and Tobago.
*Please take part in discussions at the end the articles/ modules.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)--The T&T Gov't's plans...
"Our goal is to achieve universal Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) by 2010. This calls for the construction of
600 Early Childhood Care Education Centres to cater for some 30,000 three (3) to four (4) year olds.
Fifty (50) of these centres will be completed and established during this fiscal year (2006).
In support of this thrust, a high-intensity training programme is currently being implemented to train some
1,500 Early Childhood Care Education teachers. At least 100 teachers will be trained during this year."
Quoted from the Budget Speech 2005-06 of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
*Some curriculum issues:
According to the White Paper which the Ministry of Education put out on the subject of Early Childhood Care
and Education (March, 2005), the curriculum for pre-school should be implemented through activities which are
relevant and meaningful to the children taking into account the environment in which they live. It "should bring the
activities of the home-life, the needs of families and communities" under the umbrella of this curriculum.
Also, forging links between the homes, the wider community and the centres should be one of the chief concerns
of Early Childhood "providers".
*Regulations are also spelled out for the licensing of ECCE centres.
Research needed on all aspects this topic:
The points outlined above requires some research into the home-life of children in various communities
in Trinidad and Tobago, the kind and quality of the interactions which children have with parents and
others in their immediate environment, the value placed on Literacy in our communities and how children
3 to 5 years old are "urged" into Literacy in their homes and centres. What too, are the present linkages
between the homes and the Centres?
Q: Will all players concerned see the need for a renewed effort in developing the Language and Literacy
skills of pre-schoolers, in ways that does not entail "packing" them with academic-type "knowledge"?
**This article paints a picture of the later struggle which many young persons face with Literacy in secondary school.
Other articles in this vein will follow with a search for possible solutions.
Read our CHATTERBOX BLOG
**SAFE sites for children...
 Take your children reading at the
 International Children's Digital Library--(*our portal is an ambassador site*)
and  Kindersite where a lot of multimedia activities are available.
*Our sister sites: Cariblink will be developed this year and the "Campus shrine" is there for a quiet moment of reflection in the busy "internet world". *We are also a One World.net "Partner" site.  Read about the work of that Network here.
RECOMMENDED SITES:
*For material that you can use for story telling--please visit this site -- Annette Wallace's (NALIS Gov't tt)
Caribbean Children's Literature
Becklit.org --Literacy and Literature ...children and young adults
*Caribbean Early Childhood Education:
UWI Early Childhood programs.
*ECCD Group--Caribbean: Informative website of the ECCD Association
*Early Literacy Advisor: for useful assessment schemes and resources:
*From the Univ. of Minnesota a site about
The Development Gateway: engaged in reducing poverty around the world
Home and Community Factors that promote Literacy in pre-school children
*UNESCO- Early Childhood and Family Education site
*The BBC Children's site
Search for these names in Literacy and see what they have contributed to the field:
Dorothy Strickland, Vivian Gadsden, William Labov, and Prof. Dennis Craig
LIGHT A LITERACY FIRE IN YOUR COMMUNITY
*Are we going to help them to develop and be "strong" in a world that demands the skills
for developing so many "literacies"? Or are we as teachers, going to let our knowledge and
practice remain neatly "bookish". As one of our friends mused: We must light a Literacy fire
especially in the families of our "at risk" children and in the communities where they live.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ?
*Encourage parents to attrend Literacy classes.
*Volunteer some of your time to read to young children in schools, and community centres.
*Donate and source suitable books and resources.
*Make use of your storytelling skills to tell "oldtime" stories.
*Have children tell stories themselves.
*Include the Library in your field trips.
*Use drama, songs, dance and Art to accompany Reading and story sessions.
*Teach the children gently how to codeswitch.
 I am sure the fire will continue to spread.
WHY THE EARLY CHILDHOOD FOCUS?
**Indispensable tool for Literacy research: Google Literacy search engine
 Our pages on "Chatterbox ...Notes provide notes, suggestions and relevant links on how young children in Caribbean settings acquire literacy.
*Too often our youth "drop out" of the system during their secondary level education years. Even before this stage they are labelled "at risk". *Perhaps the answer lies in looking at how the oral skills of pre-schoolers (their English-based creole) can be "harnessed"--for want of a better term--to negotiate text written in English.
 * In "Chatterbox" we will look at the language-literacy connection: children grow into language/talk by participating in community interaction and speech "scripts." They also learn complex roles and relationships in these settings and test meanings in the process of acquiring talk. They learn the attitudes and values that adhere to talk. How does this relate to their literacy development?
**For an UNDERSTANDING of the dilemma that English-based Caribbean creole speakers experience in Literacy learning click this link:  |
Chatterbox continued... From consistent observations in homes and in conversations with teachers during the past fifteen (15) years and with a glance at some of the literature, this writer(baj)predicts that-- 
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