This year Literacy Waitākere will celebrate the publication of their ninth book authored by their students and produced as a resource to ensure that adult learners, facing literacy challenges, have reading material that is relevant and contextualised for our Aotearoa New Zealand situation.
The books provide a unique resource for learners with the focus on telling stories that are directly relevant, and as a result powerful and purposeful. The concept of sharing learners’ stories as a recreational reading resource accessible through public libraries, began when Auckland Council Libraries approached Literacy Waitākere to see what resources were available. As Literacy Waitākere CEO Sue West says there was nothing suitable so, with funding from Foundation North, they set out to create their own resource.
“Each book is mapped to the Tertiary Education Commission, Reading Progressions which means that the books can be used as a teaching resource as well as for recreational reading. We have been so fortunate to have one of our tutors who is also an exceptional artist, Nina Mercep, work with learners to illustrate some of the books,” says Sue.
With a growing literacy challenge in New Zealand, it’s essential that we have appropriate and engaging resources available for our communities says tutor and illustrator, Nina.
“It is patronising to provide adult learners with children’s learning resources. Our learners need to be able to identify with, and see themselves in, the stories. While Nina has always drawn, she traditionally separated her work as a tutor from her art. However, she found that students respond well to her art and her story illustrations provide a bridge for cultures and communities.
“My mother’s family were refugees and so I understand the experience of some of our refugee learners. I care deeply, and I want my work to be meaningful so, when I was asked to illustrate one of the books, I jumped at the opportunity.”
It takes Nina a couple of months to illustrate each book. She works closely with the authors to capture their vision and story. Each book starts with a student conversation around colours to use and motifs to include as well as what not to include.
“I know each of the students individually. We have an established relationship which makes my work easier in some ways, and more complex in others. We usually start the process with a long conversation where I express that my work is to bring their vision to life. I need to be on the same page in terms of context. There’s a huge degree of trust involved.”
Feedback from the authors has been extremely positive with fellow students encouraging other learners to share their story. For Nina success lies in developing an affinity with the person sharing their story. Students determine how personal they want to make their story, but each book is based on an individual’s life and perspective. Literacy Waitākere produces around three book a year and what started as a small trial has now turned into a much bigger, and obviously successful, concept. The books are not only used as a teaching resource at Literacy Waitākere but are also available at Auckland Council Libraries and for purchase online.
The three books illustrated by Nina include From Bamyan to Auckland by H. Dawlatyar, Extraordinary by Vi’ia Tovia Su’a Lupo and Turtles by Elisapeta Taulaga.
Nina says that when learners see their story on paper it helps to build confidence and passion for learning.
“I see what we are doing as almost literacy by stealth. When you find successful ways to engage with people on a topic that they genuinely care about they will spend more time on it. When people are telling their own story they often don’t realise that they are using literacy, and it can help catapult them into other learner experiences. What we are doing can be healing and can help build solidarity. When it comes to adult literacy the most important thing is to capture our learner’s imagination and not waste their time. Our selfwritten, illustrated books are doing just that,” says Nina.
Literacy Waitākere works with adults 16+ who are not in full-time learning and who need help with literacy, numeracy, ESOL, digital literacy, learner licence and financial literacy. The service is provided at no direct cost to the learner.
We were fortunate to have Nina and Sue present at the ACE Sector Conference.