06 Sep 2021
International Literacy Day (ILD) 2021 is held on 8 September 2021 and this year’s theme is Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide. It’s especially timely this year, as NSW students are learning from home. As UNESCO reports:
The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted the learning of children, young people and adults at an unprecedented scale. It has also magnified the pre-existing inequalities in access to meaningful literacy learning opportunities, disproportionally affecting 773 million non-literate young people and adults. Youth and adult literacy were absent in many initial national response plans, while numerous literacy programmes have been forced to halt their usual modes of operation. - from UNESCO’s official ILD page
This year the focus is on recovery of skills:
ILD 2021 will explore how literacy can contribute to building a solid foundation for a human-centred recovery, with a special focus on the interplay of literacy and digital skills required by non-literate youth and adults. It will also explore what makes technology-enabled literacy learning inclusive and meaningful to leave no one behind. By doing so, ILD2021 will be an opportunity to reimagine future literacy teaching and learning, within and beyond the context of the pandemic. - from UNESCO’s official ILD page
How can you support these ideas in the classroom?
As UNESCO posits, the recovery post-COVID lies in building literacy skills in students across the world. You could try some of the resources below in your classroom that may fit into your current programs of literacy learning or use them as a springboard into further literacy activities.
Cybermarvel and digital literacy
Don’t forget that October 2021 features a whole month around digital literacy and supporting students with their cyber awareness. Could you incorporate digital literacy lessons and some of the webinars and resources on offer into your progamming in October and beyond? Don’t forget to check out all the Cybermarvel program resources now available.
Further resources supporting literacy in the classroom