Colleagues,

I hope you will join us on September 7th -14th, 2007 for the Special  
Topics discussion What International Literacy Programs Offer Programs  
in the U.S.   You or your colleagues who may wish to join this  
discussion can subscribe by going to
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We will talk with adult literacy educator experts who have experience  
with programs in the U.S. and in other countries.  We will discuss  
with them what they have learned in other countries that may be  
useful to programs in the U.S.  As the theme of this year’s  
International Literacy Day, on September 8th, is health literacy, we  
will also explore the intersection in their work of health and literacy.

Guest Biographies and Guests' Suggested Readings for this Discussion

Dr. Erik Jacobson

Erik Jacobson is an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University  
in New Jersey, where he works in the Early Childhood, Elementary and  
Literacy Education Department. One of his research interests is the  
goals that teachers and students set for themselves in Japanese adult  
basic education classes (literacy and Japanese as a Second Language).  
He has been looking at this topic for almost 10 years, and he  
recently returned from visiting programs in Osaka and Nara. Erik is  
also the co-area leader of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki section  
on World Literacy and Nonformal Education, and he maintains a page on  
world literacy news.

Suggested Web sites:

Sample Story

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=305624

Context for Japanese ABE

“Multicultural”
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070327zg.html

Buraku Discrimination
http://blhrri.org/blhrri_e/blhrri/buraku.htm

Organization

Japan Society for the Study of Adult and Community Education
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jssace/index-e.html


Dr. John Comings

John is a senior research associate and lecturer on education at  
Harvard's Graduate School of Education and was director of the  
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)  
from 1996 to 2007. Before HGSE and NCSALL, He spent 12 years as vice  
president of World Education in Boston. He has worked in Asia,  
Africa, and the Caribbean, and he lived for 6 years in Nepal and 2  
years in Indonesia. In his international work, he has helped design,  
implement and evaluate adult literacy programs and skill training  
programs.

Suggested Reading: http://www.worlded.org/docs/Publications/ 
teaching_adults_to_read.pdf

Dr. Ujwala Samant

Ujwala Samant is director of Learning for Life UK, a small NGo  
working in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UK. Under her  
leadership, LfL has stabilized financially and added new, larger  
projects and more than tripled their annual income. She was a senior  
researcher at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and  
Literacy at Rutgers University, USA. Her research foci include  
gender, immigrant education, ESOL, learner engagement and voice. She  
has taught at the International Literacy Institute at the
University of Pennsylvania, and been a consultant in the field of  
development, education and gender. Her doctoral research examined the  
links between literacy and social change amongst women in Mumbai  
slums. She received The UK Asian Woman of Achievement 2007 award for  
Social and Humanitarian work

Barbara Garner

Known on NIFL’s discussion lists as the editor of “Focus on Basics”,  
Barbara Garner led the development of non-profit World Education’s  
adult literacy efforts in Africa from 1998 through 2004, providing  
technical assistance around teacher training and curriculum  
development as well as leadership and program design. Her work took  
her to Guinea, Mali, Benin, and more recently Egypt, where she  
consulted on their national adult literacy assessment system.   
Earlier in her career she worked on non-formal education programs and  
refugee education programs in Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal.

Suggested Reading: to get a feel for adult literacy in West Africa  
read "Creating Curricula for Challenging Circumstances" from Focus on  
Basics http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=199

Pamela Civins

Pamela Civins has worked in the field of nonprofit management, formal  
and nonformal education for over 15 years internationally and in  
Boston, Massachusetts.  Currently, she is the Executive Director of  
Boston Partners in Education, an organization that enhances the  
academic achievement and nurtures the personal growth of Boston's  
public school students by providing them with focused, individualized  
in-school volunteer support.  Pamela has been working exclusively in  
the US for the past three years.  Prior to her work being focused on  
K-12 urban education, she provided coordination and managerial  
oversight of nonformal education and literacy programs for girls and  
women in Nepal, India and Pakistan.  For eight years, she worked with  
the nonprofit, World Education, Inc., both in the US and abroad.  She  
coordinated a women's literacy program and was based in Kathmandu,  
Nepal for two yeas.  Pamela worked extensively in India supporting a  
collaboration with World Education and the Indian-based  
nongovernmental organization, PRIA, on a the Women's Empowerment  
Through Literacy and Livelihoods Development Project, an integrated  
literacy and livelihoods development program that took place in the  
Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.  She also  
provided support to a women's literacy program in Pakistan.  Pamela  
received her BA from the University of Colorado, a MIIM (Masters in  
Intercultural & International Management) from the School for  
International Training, and an M.Ed. with a focus on International  
Education Policy from Harvard University.

Recommended readings.

http://www.worlded.org/docs/Publications/teaching_adults_to_read.pdf

http://www.iiz-dvv.de/englisch/Publikationen/Weltbank/inhalt.htm

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001200/120067Eo.pdf

http://www.globalhealth.org/publications/contents.php3?id=2&issue=116

Brenda Bell

Brenda Bell, for many years Associate Director of the Center for  
Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee and Coordinator of the EFF  
National Center, is currently an education advisor with the Global  
Learning Group of the Education Development Center (EDC).  In 2004  
and 2005, she provided support to EDC’s Afghanistan Literacy and  
Community Empowerment Project which links literacy with governance  
and economic development activities in 200 rural villages. For the  
past year, she has been technical advisor to EQuALLS, an education  
quality and livelihood skills program in over 900 barangays in the  
western Mindanao area of the Philippines. Additionally, Brenda  
assists with program assessment, design and development activities in  
other countries. With many years of experience in nonformal and adult  
education in the U.S., Brenda (a former Peace Corps volunteer) is  
enjoying the opportunities and challenges of working outside of the  
U.S. She lives in Maryville, TN.

Suggested Reading: Developing Adult Literacy: Approaches to planning,  
implementing and delivering literacy initiatives by Juliet Merrifield  
Juliet McCaffrey Juliet Millican  Oxfam, September 30, 2007 [For this  
discussion this book will be available free online]

Juliet Merrifield

Juliet Merrifield is Principal of the Friends Centre, an independent  
adult education centre in Brighton, England.  She has worked as an  
adult educator and researcher for the last 25 years, in the USA,  
England and Ireland.  She was Director of the Learning from  
Experience Trust in London, and of the Center for Literacy Studies at  
the University of Tennessee, USA.

David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net






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