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THE ALTA STUDENT
Tutor, Felicia Aleong with a student at the ALTA Cascade class ALTA CLASSES ALTA offers free literacy classes to persons over 16 years old. ALTA uses churches, community centres or schools to conduct its classes. DURATION AND FREQUENCY ALTA classes start in September and follow the school year, ending in mid-July. There are three terms with a three-week break at Christmas and a two-week break at Easter. The classes are held for two hours, twice a week. Most ALTA classes are in the afternoon but there are a few morning classes to accommodate non-workers, retirees and night workers. Download the list of locations for free ALTA classes REGISTRATION ALTA's national student registration takes place once a year in September at the main Public Libraries on Tuesday and Wednesday (9am-6pm) of the week in which schools reopen. The procedure is simple.
Libraries where prospective students can register for an ALTA class:
ASSESSMENT AND STUDENT PLACEMENT At the first ALTA class, the tutors conduct a 5 to 10-minute individual assessment of each student's literacy. Based on this, students are placed in Beginner, Level 1 or Level 2. Level 1 and Level 2 classes start the week after registration, and the Beginner class starts one week later. Not all ALTA venues have a Beginner level, so Beginner students may have to change venue from that originally selected. ALTA STUDENT LEVELS Beginner The Beginner level is defined by students who display some or all of the following characteristics:
Level 1 Struggles with any reading except perhaps infant texts (reading age 5-6 years) and is characterised by one or more of the following:
Level 2 Reads and writes, but slowly with errors and gaps. Their literacy level does not enable them to fill in forms completely, read and understand with ease newspapers or texts related to their work and interests. A Level 2 student:
Level 3 Level 3 is not offered as a starting level. Students move into Level 3 after successfully completing Level 2, when they read and write quite fluently. They still have difficulty with some multi-syllabic words, spelling and Standard English grammar. COSTS ALTA's community classes are free. ALTA workbooks, readers, the ALTA Spelling Dictionary, phonic and sight word cards needed for the class are supplied to students at a subsidized rate of $15 per term. CERTIFICATION ALTA awards certificates to students based on the end-of-level evaluation submitted by their tutor. Through continuous assessment within specific ALTA guidelines, the tutor grades the student's skills. Students who are not awarded a certificate repeat the level to master the skills. ALTA READING CIRCLES ALTA Reading Circles offer current and past students an opportunity for one-on-one or small group reading practice in order to:
Reading Circle guides are either past ALTA tutors or volunteers who have attended ALTA's one-day training in how to foster reading. ALTA supplies Reading Circles with a range of hi-lo books (content at adult interest level but written at an easy reading level) or students bring along their own books, manuals, magazines, etc. Reading Circle Venues:
ALTA STUDENT WRITING To increase awareness of the factors leading to poor literacy and foster understanding of literary issues, ALTA published an anthology of our students' writing: 'AT LAST: Adult Learners Write'. Click on the cover of the book to read a few sample pages. |
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