This week, I received the publication: Fitness & Sports A Resource for Literacy Teaching from the Southern Grampians Adult Education.  (NB if you are using Firefox the sidebar links may not work). This is the seventh in a series of learning resources developed for the 2007-2012 version of the CGEA.

Fitness & Sports contains 72 worksheets about sports in eight sections: Netball, Tennis, Cricket, Basketball and four types of “football”. These are developed at 3 different levels so mixed-level classes can share a common topic but do literacy and numeracy activities that develop and extend their current skills.

I am not a big fan of worksheets as the core of adult literacy programs. In my view, Death by Worksheet is as risky as Death by PowerPoint.  However, both worksheets and PowerPoint have a valuable place if not overdone; this resource models how experienced adult literacy practitoners weave them into a diverse program.

As all the worksheets are photocopiable (legally), this is an ideal resource to allow the sports mad student to demonstrate and extend their knowledge while providing evidence of competence against any part of the CGEA needed (including all of the core units and several electives). It also provides a range of ideas for class activities such as guest speakers, debates, and Internet research. A student who is really keen on this topic could complete a substantial chunk of any CGEA certificate using ideas included in this resource.

It cost me $75.00 plus pack and post. Order form here – if it doesn’t open then email sgae@sgae.vic.edu.au for an order form.

Other topics also available from South Grampians Adult Education include DIY Housing and DIY Cooking. See samples here.  These also demonstrate how a topic can be shared across the full range of CGEA certificate levels.

Cheryl Wiltshire

ALaN Network Coordinator