An Adult Literacy Activity

One of the most enjoyable summertime activities that my volunteer tutors have conducted was this one: I assigned two different learners to two different volunteers. The learners knew each other as good friends. The tutors decided to have a session in the park and encouraged each learner to invite a friend.

So here we have two learners, two friends and two tutors, six magic markers in hand, seated at a picnic table covered with blank newsprint. They enjoyed a picnic brown-bag lunch together, then proceeded to do a "progressive story".

What is a progressive story? It’s a story written piece-by-piece by several people in sequence. The first person writes the introduction to a narrative, then passes the pen to the second writer. The second writer independently adds another event in the story, then passes it along to the third writer, and so on. The results are unpredictable, and are often hilarious.

Those who could write a sentence for the story wrote. Those who could not yet write drew a picture. Each person then moved to the right and continued that story at the new place at the table with their magic marker.

When they finished moving and ended up back at their "plate", they read the story aloud that was written by their friends in literacy. I hear there was a whole lot of giggling and laughter going on.

Of course, progressive stories can also be written on newsletter copy for those times when picnic tables wouldn’t be practical--or seasonal!

Our "picnic table-sized" story was posted on a wall at our office for many months after the summer ended. It was a wonderful and memorable "writing" experience for all.

The Sioux Falls Literacy Council in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is a community-based literacy program that trains volunteer tutors and assigns them to teach reading, writing and spelling to adult learners on a one-to-one basis. We are a small organization within the literacy network of providers in the community-at-large of our rural area, but continue to advocate for the development of skills which often improve the quality of life for our adults.

Nancy Hansen has been the Sioux Empire United Way-sponsored agency’s executive director since 1990.