This is our first post!
We are two "nomad teachers" who have lived in 35 countries over the past 36 years.
In every country, we trained students in a second language so they could better compete for jobs in the marketplace and have meaningful careers and lives.
We have taught Inupiat Indians in Alaska, young pilots in UAE, Media students (print, radio, broadcast)in Malaysia, Second Language teachers in Australia (New South Wales schools) and Atlanta Public Schools.
In the world of work, we taught Workforce English (workforce skills and attitudes in English) to Construction workers in Saudi Arabia, Natural Gas supervisors in Qatar, Refinery workers in Thailand, Flight Attendants and Pilots for Turkish Airlines and Turkmenistan Airlines, just to name a few...it has been quite a wild ride!
In all our travels, there is no finer moment than to see the "sparkle" in students' eyes when they learn something new!
When someone acquires new knowledge, an entirely new path opens for them. And you can see it happen.
Our proudest achievement was developing second language courses for Atlanta Public Schools (APS).
APS was an inner city school system who wanted its students to graduate with a second language so they could better qualify for jobs.
Most APS graduates at that time were not college bound due to financial limitations (this was 2002) BUT with a second-language skill (Spanish, French, or German) they could compete for jobs more effectively in the marketplace when they graduated.
Using our system, we trained a group of 250 teachers to teach over 750,000 bi-lingual inner city students to graduate with skills that would get them jobs and careers!
Why are we here on Steemit?
Becuase we see the world needs teachers, good teachers, at a time when young students (both girls and boys) need to learn how to read and write...this is the door, once opened, where miracles happen!
Consider the shocking Statistics according to UNICEF:
“Nearly 1 billion people will exit the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and two-thirds of them will be women.”
Many of the United States ills are directly related to illiteracy. Here are just a few statistics:
Literacy is learned. Illiteracy is passed along by parents who cannot read or write.
One child in four grows up not knowing how to read.
43% of adults at Level One literacy skills live in poverty compared to only 4% of those at level Five.
Three out of four food stamp recipients perform in the lowest two literacy levels.
90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts.
16 to 19-year-old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average reading skills, are 6 times more likely to have out – of – wedlock children, who in turn will have below average reading skills or none at all.,
60% of 8th-grade students are 2 or more levels below grade in reading
OK, so what now? Rather than be defeated by statistics, we believe knowledge and ACTION are the best solutions!
Our blog is devoted to giving PARENTS simple reading skills that are fun to use with students of any age.
Why parents? Because throughout our travels over 36 years, the most interest we received in our teaching and learning system was from parents....every parent wants their children to have a better life...and learning how to read is the first step....and can begin teaching them from birth...why leave that most important task to anyone else?
We hope you like what you see...watch for our Posts!...please write us and tell your friends!
And let us know what we can improve upon...continuous improvement is the engine of success!
Thanks for reading...and let us know what you are doing...so we can multiply our impact 10 fold!!!
Libyan and Philip (Love to Learn!)
PS...Pardon our sideways image....we are new to this....it was meant to be parents worldwide holding up their dreams for their children!
