A DV 0 CAT E

Comi..g to "lass I" the>Ilroit "lc.p in Opet·ati ..nU p!lrade>. 'I·h.. ".·.·...'d "'''1' i" ",."·l;"!: (·h ·l 1and Story 1 in Ihe L..bach method which exe."plify the "se o( "is....1 aids u"d V..o ties.-

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Operation Upgrade

Helping Those Anxious to LearnBy ltnSS mLDRED.

'R12 hands, calloused from heavyconstruction work and now clutching aI,enell too Ughlly, labcriousty trace aletter Ihal' lhe te;wher identifies as a"bs" sounn. Th~ possessor of thesel,~nds 11'l1ltt~rs Hh::l, h;.t" lUi he dr;l?(sIhe letter Ihol loo~s like a bird with a101lGl1erk :::ll1d Ii round hody. Althoughthe /1,·.1 atle'ltpls res"lt In I.tt."s the\ll!thmkmg ",ighl label cl"'ltsy. ·the un·derstanding teac.ht:'-r smiles and says!IfGoodt very e:ood." Rel::ndng withs-Ilch ent;:ouragemenl, he does mUQhhetter by the end of th. line.When llila student first walked Into

cla8S. the teacher thought a basketballcoach must have enioyed him on hishigh school team. But llila student didnot go to either junior or senior highschool. Although a conscientious pupilnow, bis few yeaTS DCschooling weremost unsatisfactory and, of necessity,he dropped out lo work at an earlyage.HE WAS ONE OF THE thousands 0/

illiterates in this parish until be eUR

roBed in a Laubach metbod class atMt. Bethel Baptist Church a few weeksa~o.The Lauhach method as a way to

("earh F:n~Ii,';;h here on a volunttloryb13·";.IIJW~~ Inv{'sti.'!~led hy Mrs .. 1ohnHarvey IJhlllJt three Yf'~S ~,2(). Whileworkine Wilh the foreign silldent" ,tLSU, we realized that the inohility tnCO!l'l..munic~tfl in Engli~h Wll,; 3 fOl'mi ..dable ber",er 10 them. ContLoued in-quiri.es fi.n~l1y gave her .in£ormationahout lit. use of the Lauhach methodLo the Operation Upgrade program InNew OrleansTh. early part 01 this year at the

Division of Motor Ve..hicle~ on SouthFoster Drive, Mrs. Albert Feldmaowas filling out. the forms necessary toget her trailer license plate. A seriousma. at the same table was obviously

worrying with his forms too - andmost ineffectively. It seemed that heWf11) illiterate but had been drivinp; forR number of years . He could not evencnpy the l1umhE"I's from. I'he pl'eviow;)lea-I"g fol'ft'! to th>El tlPW Qne!

LOCATJON AC1'ION ON the ilJil€l'(1te Ilrohll;tn I'pern('d im_pel'fl.li"e Inl1r-rJ es.pr.dally Aflpr thfll l-worfJ~r ::;:tllfly 011 l'Edu<:il;lion: Anlidotp. 10 Povpr[y" Ih,t she had hplpe~ 10 p"ogram forlhe- Ameri iU] As~;oci~tion of Univ"'l"sit.yWomen,A pa"~t, ;f1cl~; ·~iJnRl'otls, dil'Af"

tor of thl! Adult Eaucation DepBl'l.ment.of the Slate Department of Education,and two others, spoke on "Literacy forAJI - A Chl'jstian Response to Pover-ty" at a May luncheon of the UnitedChurch Women here. Knotts refelTedneetingly to a literacy program inNew Orleans. BeCore he leCt,Mrs. Feld~man gave him her mlme and addressaod asked lhat he pass it along to theCrescent City group with the requestthat a member get in touch witl1 bel'about the program.Vacation time came and so did the-

lelters from Don Blood, Louisiana De-partment of Education adviser to theNew Orleans literacy pro~ram. G~tin~no l'P~ponSl? from the vttc<l.(ioning; 1n-Quirer, RIQQd wrole lhp pr(l~r.:l.m rh.dr-m;Ul of thE' Itlnf'hE'-onand inRpirerl hel'inl.Pfp.lit in the possihihlies of havmg al"'a1 liIeracy program using the Lau-bach method.Mrs. William PatrIck Jr., Mrs. Jo-

~eph Kavanaugh, Mrs. Patrick Simms,IIIrs. lrven Hanson, Mrs. Albert Feld-man, as well as others cooperated towl'ite and produce B brochure andstart a class to tt'ain teachers underthe auspices of United Church Womeo.Teacher-training by Blood and the

secretary oC the New Orleans program

was given at the University MethodistChurch the end o( July. Classes foradult illiterates started the first weeknf September in Valley Park and inAlsen, Cl.:l..'~sf's;l,1'E'-small with much in-r1i"idu;l1 hCiJlp;l,\'Rjl.~hle. 1~he Ic~chrrs,l:lr~ n!=l(licalro ;lTIrl ael1erally feE'l OVI:'I'whf>lmpcl fll lhe prjrile~e of :::hfll·iT1~th~iJ' knowletlge "..ilh (hose so amdOIJ5In \p.:l.rn,"HF1 CLASS '1'J!;A<.:Hf<:I1Sl:l!1d airi'3"s,

t·hosflt whn pl""n to l;jk~ lhe tei3c.bE'-r'training Ihp next tiIDf' il Is offered,!U'I\'f;' AA trnpreSElr"1 coH-e..uve p-duf'-!-lional background. AlthQ\lgh no col)egeeducation 1s requirerl to become ateacher in Uiis method, all have hadsome kind or college work, mosl h<'lvea bachelor's degree, two are workingtoward a master's degree -and one hasthat degree.'l'hcse classes seem to inspire teach~

ers as welL as pupils to get more edu-cation. Mrs. Lee Solomon <;tnd Mrs.Willie Dotson declare that because oflhis lcadling they plan to go back toschool, one to get her masterls degreeand the other her bacheloes degree,Some students came to tbe first classheld in the Alsen area who were tooadvanced lor this introductory Ll'lu-hrlch COllrse. The teachers suegcstedthey enter puhlic night school.A1thol'l~h lhpre w:{s :o;ome rt"'lTlul'rin~

lh.::ltlhey didn't kflOW how, a roJ!ow-Jlp.howed 'Ihal some had lelephone~ theoffice of Robert HanlEV. head of theparish. 's adult educaho~ din",wn, andhad slarted in night classes In the puh.lic. school system. The wile of one oflhe students decided she'd hetter brushup on academlc abilities she once badnow thal her hug-band was so inter-ested in education.Hanley and Robert Aertker, parish

school superintendent, showed muchinterest in this program designed to

The yOlUlit!'! t and .on.. or tl.tp old..sl ..r l"e st ..de,,"" in 11,.. O.. ton Roul!le 811111t IHI!'....~~ "''''.;.ell It_ their penell". They lU'e mode's or eonee"tr .. t.lol' as Pilch Ill'..dleell " ..itlng the lette.·

of the 80nnd the ela"" ha.!! J ..st learned.

supplement what the public school sys-tem ortered.. They knew there weremany Illiterates with whom the schoolsystem had not been able If) cnmmn-nit-ate ThE' school offida!s WCI'f' verywillitli lo do wh~t they could to hrlplhf' pri"fllo, nOIl-proCit grollp wbosesole intE'l'est is B(,;'lrlemJc,'fin; 1,0('/\1, I'nO(;n\M JJflW rl'llls

it~p-lr t<OperatlOn t1rll!r;:lnpll ;l,~ rlop::; IhqNew rklp-;JI1S pl"Q;;!l'flmwith lhe ~Rrttepurpose, 'T'h~ Nf!-w OrleRtlS /tJ'oup hashef'n in nper::Jlinr1 rol' more lb;;U:1 aye~r 'l-'-hPy hR\'l? h{'f'n Jjfenr>-'·OUf.i fibrmlsharing their expPJ,'ienc€1i with the- Ba.-ton Rougeons jntet'e-sled. 'rhe Opera~tiol1 Upgrade pJ'o~ram i~one phase o(lhe statewi~e Adull Instruction Mem-bership (AIM) incorporation.Teachers of the first classes include

Mrs. David Cooper, Mt·s" C. H. Dille-muth, Mrs. l1el'mllll Daly, Mrs. WillieDolson, Mt's. Albert Fclclmi:lll, Mrs,John Harvey, Mrs. W~ll'J'en Magnuson,Mrs. ,b;dw<lJ'd M(lzzoU, Mrs, WayneShannon lind Mrs. Lee Solomon Sub~stitute teachers alld adies iiH.:lucleMrs. C. Calvett, lVII's. Dean Orr, Mrs.Allen Peterson, Mrs. Jack Sanders,Mrs. Fred Willhoite and Mrs. ReneWilliamson.The ~pe('d fit whic'h ~rJlllj::; ](>Rrn i~

1lIn.:l.. ...ing- and ~8tisfyit1g: fo holh tEl....·hel';l,nd pupil Afllill pupils dnnv from s~v-era I years of nullUfP eXl1enenC'e andEO catdl on vel''y qUIckly. They aleIughly motivated or they wouldn't hein the dass. Many of lhern work atjobs reqlllring a greal deal of phYSIcalenergy and yet they make tbe efIort toconcentrate on .somethmg pre\,iouslyoutside thetr ken for an hour and ahalf, twice a weekJor several months.There al'e no discipline problems in

these classes and no problems ahoutdoing homework. Students are veryconscientious.THE MAIN PROBJ,EMS common to

pupil and teacher. are Lhe complica-lions of everyday living. When ayoungster is sick, one parent needs tolake him Lo the doctol' while the olherbabysits. 01' if lhe babysitting parentis home late fl'om job or meeting, theother parent canbot attend class. If astudent misses, it is, sometimes quiteinconvenient to make up lhe missedwork. H tl leather misses, il is some-limes hard to find a subslitule on shortI1OtiC'(J.

Fellow pupils al'e touchingly anxious10 help each other. Th re i. a friendll-npss and romal'aderJe between the pu-pUs thaI gives needed confidence andhope to each pupil and vail'able insightto the teacher. One pupil one eveDingthanked one of lhe tpachers by sayingsolll)' lhal he apprecialed her "lpoder-ness" toward him and his fellow pu-pils.One teacher is teaching a talented

Cuban pianist the English language inher own apartment. This way she cantake care or her baby, use lhe know-ledge she gained taking the LaubachCOlll'SC Hnd get ill some pl'.tctice leal'h·iug 10l' wilen she got's buck to BraziLMfs, Daly wos born in BraZil. is

married to 8U ilU:itl'uctol· at LSU andkllows first hand how impottant it is tolearn quickly lhe bnguage oC the"new" country. After her husband hashis doctorate they plan to Eve in Brazil(01' " lime. Ourin~ that period shehopes to help some or hf'l' originalCotlllt'l'ymen beeome liIerale itl theh'olVn language by usrng the Laubachmethod In Porl·ugese.A PlJPIL IN ONE OF THE dasses

worked in the fields outside of St.Francisville as a youngster and neverhad any formal schooling. Yet in herseven decades o( living- she had pickedlip the names of lhr jrttf'l'.'; somehow::lnd cOll1d priJit (';.lpilals fairly weI LNnw she call ~n\l"d oul lhp. leUerswhi('h is ilHTcasillJi{ hcr fthility to fig-Ufe ou! won-Is not ('\'('-u in the ksson.Annthfl'l' J111pi! h,Hi nf'V r been to

scPool either in e-IIhis 72 years, but l1e100 hod Irmc" hIS lell.r" and had6omflo .skill in nedphpriflg ,o;;imple'wnrd,;. Now hp t" If'1~rni,,~tn writP.'. 14tsmetirulously sh,ped letters would doju,ti"" 10 an old·time calligrapher.Il is hard [or an adult 10 admit to

olhel's and himself thaI he needs helpwith whalever problem he may have.It is even harder for an illiterate toadmit this since oftentimes he mayhave successfully hidden this lack ofknowledge from all bL11. his family.When an adult comes to tbis kind ofclass. he shows a courage. lie hflsto take the chance that tile lecherwon't think he is dull and stupid andthat is conCreres won't laugh at him.Frank C. Laubach, founder of tllls

COllrse, sajd 11Th0 usa n ds of ex·perimenj's prove that an five-rage adultwill learn in less than oJle-Gfth of thetime required to t~;jch 9' ('hUd, This isOp('AlI,"ie the ;l(1I11t h;l,s a lHl·ge speakinstr"wabl1l~rJ' and nee<fs only tn learnwhat (lld f~I'I1U1~H'WOI'~~ fonk Uke. Thea\'erage child must blJJld- up \"ocabula-ry from small bEginnings""THE ADlJLT MAY NOT have quite

such a keen mel110ry -as the child {at45 the mind is about 4-5tbs as reten~live) but he can reason many timeshetler tnan a child. When lessonsand teaching lean heavily on reasoningand lightly on memory, the progress ofmany adults is astounding.ll

In thjs technological age all econom-ic progress seems founded 011 literacy.Children do nol understand this andsome do not heed their parents' admo-nilions ahout gelling an eduoation, Onepupil admilted that he was one ofthose. Although bol'll in Clinton he haslived most of his 22 yem's in Baker. Hefought and "rough-necked the first fewgrades in school and dropped out inthe 41h grade to get a job, he said. He1n8y not have applied himself when achild, but as an adull his inlelligenceand applicatiQI] calU10t be questioned.Gelting a better joh hecause he has

been passed up for advanc6menL is acommon reason to enroll in this kind ofclass. other reasons are to be able toread and fill out job application forms,lo figure with numbers so as not Logetcheated and to shop more advanta-geously. Some wanL to write lo agrown child in anoLher state, to readtheir Bibles and also to keep a youngs·ter from being asbamed of his parent.Teachers and pupils buy their own

paperback books. The Laubach classesare held in renl-free places. Now theym'e held at the arore~menUonedchurth, al the Valley Park "IemenlarySchool and al Ihe Valley l'a"k Neigh-oorllood Service Cenler. The te.chersgive lheir time 8L1Uno tax money isinvolved in the cWTelll program.THE LAUBACH METHOD begins by

associating simple pictures with lettersand sounds. The method is based onrharifl, illuslL'rtted by shapin.e or twist-ing ohjeCls 01' animals which begtlwith the letler wanted. For inslance,lhe symbol lor the sound of "S" is il-lustrated by a anake curled to look Ukean "S." The pupll then remembers the

Sf0N DfT'-{ I\DiJo<!. ~\END\f.l.3\ \Q4>io

sound of that letter by rcrnernb }ngtile picture. One sci of charts ledhere was copied hy lhe cousin or ~ne(If Ihe teachers . He is an art stude atnillard University and used b ~ckp;l,l!lL 011 while poster board very IUc~cps!';fully,Onl'e baldc! phone-lir's is mastered the

Etndent b.e21ns tf) read l">f'pel"!aUy ~re-PA1"ed bOOK;\)wriHen ill simvlifled an-g>1age. Books for first gl ade chil renwhich spedRlize ill slorles ~bout lc.kand Jane and Ihell- doggie are potused. Adull topks are used m tIle rn.bach maleriaL Stude"l!; are lTeate astbp intelligent adliltJ; thl.'Y are.

1)1'. Laubach developed hiS. me ~Odof teaching almost 40 years ago enhe was a missionary in the P 'p-pines. He made friends wj~h lhe Ii rceMoros by learning their language ~ndthen his method has been used i ;10acountries and used to teach more an300 dialcct~ and languages. Som ofthese Itl1lguages had n~ver been ~utinto writing before,The method is amazingly simpl to

learn as well as to teach. HEach line,teach one" was the good reverend 0('..tor's motto. However, tlhis js not fro..phtlsb:pci in lhe ('la,c:;~e5o(fe'l'erl in ~al'otl ROllgp, E'lscwhE'I'e in the sIalft-· inthE" oll1el' 30 ~t.::lles o( {he union nglhis melhod (or illileralps. ,BEING L1TER,\'fE and l'aI,ng a len-

uine lave {or one's !ellQw-tr'an at' etwo 1110St In.lpOltanl reqUisIte-s orteat;hi:m; the course. The loca! tea Ie-racome from a Wide geograplncal reaand their home-towns include e s ~.3UAA'F.m.ill town in -southern Louis; pa,Chicago. a small fanning comm lityin Mlcbigao, Memphis and Charle on,Norlh Carolina. The pupils gene Illyseem to have lived most o{ their vesin lhe Baton Rouge m"ea,According to the most recent fi res

a vailable, more than 3,400 perso ; inEast Balon Rouge Parish are true lilt-erates and cannotl'ead 01' wl'ite si lplemessages 01' read grocel'y or med ~inelabels. These are the individuals lheHnewl' program is designed to t tch.In this parish are almost 10>000 )llC-lional illiterates, those who have om~plated less than six years of schooSome of the above enumet ted

o~nlls do go into Ihe dasses the blic. ,sC'hools hold for persons aL zero ~ve~of lileracy and above, according t Mr.Hanley. Mrs. Mary C. Wallare, a . ter-acy leader m lhe'state of Washin .on,.ays that many illiterate adults avehad wlpleasant associations vithschools as yOUllgsters and seem al lostconditIOned never to go near a f maleducational institution. This see ,to8rC011tlt for some of the success 0 thevollmt~("t' program.The melhod used to teacb ,dult. eie.

menlary arithmetic was develope hyMrs. Wallace as a resulL of bel' anyyears as a teacher and promot ofliteracy programs in that state vel'the past several years, ~eems t uti-lize muny concepts now called the"new malh." For the pupils who 'antit, arithmetic is added 10 the cl' ISesmidwny ttU'ough the course. l.

'rIlE JlJIJSON BAPTIST Associ nooof the parish, under the guldan ofMrs. Brady Johnson, will have Lwoserie~ of te-acher-4:raining classes. beywill hpgi'o the middle of Novemb andregistrations are being taken by irs.'Thomas Ford. A .econd teacher- 'lin-mg class was held by Operation O!>"grade, and classes are being org zedby Mrs. Irven Hanson, director.