It was November 1861, about one year into the American civil war. The gunships of the Northern Union Navy were sailing into Port Royal, South Carolina. Their guns were at the ready. However, what they...

In February 1812, the local Auxiliary of the Methodists’ Bible Society was holding its second annual meeting in the port city of Bristol, England. The Society was discussing how they had been giving...

Interesting fact – all 5 of the CALP regions listed Essential Skills (ES) as one of their top professional development needs. So, if you’re new to Essential Skills, you might not know where to start....

Updated November 2019 Say it Again for the Folks in the Back! Way back in 2016, CLN made a big announcement: six fantastic publishing companies agreed to provide books to CALPs at discounts as high as...

Congratulations, you did it! Your learner has progressed through your CALP program and is ready to transition into further learning! So now what? Your program ROCKS and your learner is thrilled with their...

One of the activities I enjoyed doing in volunteer tutor training was to have volunteer tutors create their own easy readers. I would take an existing easy reader from our collection, cover the text with...

Have you ever wondered why people don’t come to your programs or how to keep them motivated once they do come in the door? Are you curious about the beliefs and assumptions of your learners? Do you want...

This week we have a guest blog from Glen McCalpin of NorQuest College.  The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy materials, developed by NorQuest College are now available on the CALP Portal. The materials...

For those of you who work in Family Literacy, the name ABC Life Literacy will be very familiar. These are the folks who promote Family Literacy Day across Canada every January 27th. In fact, 2019 was the...

These are interesting times we are living in. COVID-19 has turned our world upside down and has us adapting to things we never dreamed we would. One of the biggest shifts in our CALP world has been the...

For the past 4 years, CALPs across Alberta have had access to generous book discounts from a variety of publishing companies. This year I'd like to highlight those companies by sharing a bit more about...

This week's guest blog post is by Carlee Knight. This past October, I had the opportunity to take Psychological First Aid, a Canadian Red Cross certified course offered by the Community Learning Network....

Now Playing: Reading Materials for Literacy Learners – A Tale of Two Papers Featuring: English Express & The West Coast Reader As the curtain rises, we see two people seated comfortably at a table...

CALP staff are well known for extending kindness to their learners, volunteers and community members. Focusing on strength-based learning and learner-centred approaches are principles that naturally embody...

CALP staff across the province bring considerable knowledge and experience to the field. Like the adult learners they support, CALP practitioners come to CALP by way of varied and diverse personal and...

I had the privilege of talking with Bonnie Caron, the Literacy Specialist at Project Adult Literacy Society (PALS) about book clubs. I have previously worked with Bonnie and I know that she has been facilitating...

There are many different types of financial support available to adult learners, from student loans, grants and bursaries, to government subsidies and tax exemptions. Financial Aid Programs for Learners Student...

What is Assessment? Assessment can cause anxiety for some learners (and CALP staff too!) but the truth of the matter is assessment is simply a process of gathering information about a learner. The purpose...

There are many different methods and approaches to assessment. Consider using a few different assessment methods to gather the most detailed picture of the learner’s unique needs and goals. Here are...

Have you come into an organization that already has volunteers? Perhaps you have been directed to engage volunteers or maybe you’ve never worked with volunteers and think now is the perfect time! To...