Literacy Quebec Podcast

Welcome to Season 7 Episode 4 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec!  Over the last year we saw many member organizations quickly adapt their programming online. While there were challenges, our guests today highlight the new found opportunities for connection and lifelong learning that came from adapting their literacy programming. Today we are joined by the South Shore Literacy Council and La Maison de la Famille Mosaik to chat about their Early Year Zoom Goose Program and then we sat in on a discussion with participants of TED Circles organized as part of The Judith Schurman Lifelong Literacy Initiative by the South Shore Literacy Council. We are joined by: Animators Desrean and Robin for Zoom Goose La Maison de la Famille Mosaik and South Shore Literacy Council and Participants, Kim-Anh Nguyen and mother in law, and Catherine Moshopoulos and Rukhshana Surty TED Circles organizers, Robin Sales and Rachel Wagner and participants, Robert, Brian, talk about their experiences partici

Welcome to Season 7 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec!  In this episode, Chris Shee is joined by Margo Legault, LQ's Executive Director to speak to everyone's favourite unofficial auntie, drag queen Uma Gahd! Listen to hear our drag lingo quiz, about drag story time, and Uma's fascinating origin story. Watch the video version of this episode now on Youtube! To join Drag StoryTime: https://www.facebook.com/events/974199240003693 To Find Uma Gahd: ✉ bookings - info@houseofgahd.com

Welcome to Season 7 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec! In this episode, we discuss how to communicate our own stories,  the importance of creating accessible resources for youth to learn Canadian Black History, and get some media training to pitch our stories and impact! We also celebrate the winner of this year's Freda Hudson Award given each year to an outstanding volunteer.  Guests: Akilah Newton CEO & Founder of Big Dreamers and Akilah Newton Projects.  Visit the Big Dreamers website https://www.bigdreamers.ca/about-us/ to learn about Big Dreamers' goal to celebrate multiculturalism and individuality through the lens of diversity, plus Akilah's passion for arts and activism to create resources to educate youth about Canadian Black History. Debbie Hynes and Andrea Stanford, Regional Managers and Communications Specialists, at CBC Montreal (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation / Radio Canada) who teach us how to present / "pitch" our news stories to the media throug

Join us in this special episode Part#2 "The Sequel" with Dr Denny Taylor for this emotional conversation about Family Literacy and the life long bonds families can create by sharing stories with each one another. Discover how Denny describes how spinning a "caring web" through reading stories to family members, or even if you happen to be low in literacy skills, sharing stories verbally with your family creates a special connection, passing on a literacy legacy to the next generations for years to come! Dr. Denny Taylor is a scholar, author, and activist who introduced the concept of of Family Literacy. From Dr. Taylor's website https://www.dennytaylor.com/ The concept of "family literacy" originates in Dr. Taylor’s doctoral research, which is now the foundation of family literacy local projects and initiatives in more than 140 UN Member States. What's Literacy Got To Do With It? is a community-based podcast for English-speaking, lifelong literacy learners in Quebec. Our hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore f

Welcome to Season 7 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec! We start the season off with a bang having conversations with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library & DESTA Black Youth Network! These two organizations are committed to creating opportunity, equality and inclusion through the gift of literacy! We discuss the importance of creating opportunities to learn from the earliest age possible leads to building confidence, opportunities throughout life and we continue the focus on Black literacy leaders in Canada. Our first guest on today's episode is Kassandra Kernisan, Executive Director of DESTA Black Youth Network Learn more about DESTA: https://destabyn.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/destabyn In our second interview, we learn about The Dollywood Foundation & Dolly Parton's Imagination Library from Jeanne Smitiuch the Regional Director of Canada & Nora Briggs the Executive Director of North America. The Library sends about 1.8 million books to children across the world pe

Welcome to the 6th episode of season 6 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec. This week's theme is The need to integrate  Black history in Canadian education for cultural literacy and how to build a resilient mindset for peak performance. We have two amazing guests on today! First, we have a virtual sit-down with Dr Dorothy Williams the President & Founder of Blacbilio.com. Dorothy explains how Black history is missing from curriculum, the importance of cultural literacy, and how the ABC's of Black Canadian History Kit are being used by teachers, parents and community partners to reach Canadian youth. You can support Blacbilio to go digital on their GoFundMe page.   Next, Heidi Malo, Mental Performance Consultant at heidimalo.com. Heidi works with athletes who have represented Canada, Australia and Gabon at the Sochi & Rio Olympic Games. We ask Heidi about her expertise in helping organizations of people (not just elite athletes!) unearth top Mental Performance, Resil

Welcome to the 5th episode of season 6 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec. This week's theme is Celebrating Adult Learners & Community Education Week with Dr. Denny Taylor, champion of Family Literacy! Dr. Denny Taylor is a scholar, author, and activist who introduced the concept of of Family Literacy. Taylor recently gave the Literacy Quebec network a webinar via Zoom called "Family Literacy in the Time of Covid-19 and other Risks to Children and their Families" which brought together community organizers, front line workers, as well as literacy practitioners and educators to gain a better understanding of the concept of Family Literacy. From Dr. Taylor's website: The concept of "family literacy" originates in Dr. Taylor’s doctoral research, which is now the foundation of family literacy local projects and initiatives in more than 140 UN Member States  We also discuss some links and special news items: Learn more about Literacy Quebec's Literacy Helpline or call 1-88

Welcome to the 4th episode of season 6 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec. This week's theme is Overcoming reluctant reading and learning to love the way you learn with two amazing writers! We continue our min-series on Black leaders in Literacy and learn about encouraging people of all ages to embrace how they learn and to continue pursuing learning and reading.  Two amazing authors join us today: Dezi Sheppard, Bestselling author of Cassidy and the Mixed-Up Numbers from Brooklyn, NY. Dezi shares her own story of discovering that she has dyscalculia and ADHD in her 20’s and her journey to loving how her mind works. Check out her website: https://www.deziwrites.com/ and Instagram, Barbara Fradkin, Award-winning mystery author originally from Montreal, QC. Barbara talks about her Cedric O’Toole series of short, easy-read, fast-paced books for reluctant and emerging readers. Check out her website:https://www.barbarafradkin.com/  and sign up for the LQ Lunch and Learn with

Welcome to the 3rd episode of season 6 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec.  This week's theme is Black Leaders in Literacy and Going from Burnout to Balance - self-care tips from an expert! What's Literacy Got To Do With It? is a community-based podcast for English-speaking, lifelong literacy learners in Quebec. Our hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore from Literacy Quebec, explore topics around community building, lifelong curiosity, and the multiple types of literacy. It's incredible what we can learn from each other. You may have noticed that we changed our name to What's Literacy Got to Do With It! Let us know what you think.  Today we launch a mini-series on Black Leaders in Literacy, not only to celebrate Black History Month but to highlight the beauty of living in a world with diversity and people who are willing to lead in their communities every day! We also get taught how to look after ourselves through actionable self-care steps that we can put into our lives to live

Welcome to the 2nd episode of Season 6 of the Literacy Quebec Podcast! The theme this week is Celebrating Family Literacy Day & Let’s Talk about Mental Health Join our hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore discuss two big topics that are very much linked and were celebrated in the last week of January- Family Literacy Day (January 27) and Bell Let’s Talk Day (28). Let’s Talk Day is an annual campaign by Bell Canada to raise awareness and reduce stigma around mental health. With the pandemic, this is definitely a topic that affects us all. We start the episode in conversation with Tony Alfonso Outreach, Ami-Quebec about family literacy, mental health and taking care during the pandemic. To learn more or access their services visit their website, Facebook live talks or call 514-486-1448 (1-877-303-0264 outside Montreal). Family literacy Connects parents and kids in lifelong learning - not just reading and writing. We close the show speaking with Seth Day from Radchild Podcast, who shares his top books for Fam

On this month's episode, we kick off season six with a bang! We discuss the importance of building our Health Literacy with plain language with Dr. Joe (and Science Literacy with Magic!) + celebrate International Volunteer Day by discussing the importance of volunteer advocacy on behalf of nonprofit organizations in Canada.  We have special guests: Karen Ball president & CEO of CCVO the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations Dr Joe Schwarcz director of the McGill University Office for Science and Society Our first guest is Karen Ball from CCVO the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations. Karen’s work focuses on innovative communities and systems to support healthy nonprofit operations and providing expertise to organizations wishing to build deep and meaningful connections with their communities of stakeholders and supporters. In this interview, we got to celebrate International Volunteers Day by discussing the advocacy work Karen and CCVO do on behalf of non-profit organizations in Alber

Communicating, Compassion and Community through COVID and Beyond! Welcome to the 5th episode of season 6 of the Literacy Quebec Podcast! Hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore explore the power of clear communication in our communities, and how clear communication creates understanding, building a thriving culture of compassionate and resilient people during challenging periods. We will have special guests: Abby Stonehouse,  Program Coordinator and Heidy Wager, Executive Director from Hear Entendre QC https://hearhear.org/ We learn about the “Safe & Clear Campaign” (clear face masks) and the incredibly important work Hear Entendre does to advocate on behalf of Quebecers who have impaired hearing. Alexandre Pettem, Project Manager from Y4Y (Youth 4 Youth QC) https://y4yquebec.org/ Alex from Y4Y (Youth4Youth QC) shares the important work Y4Y do in bringing opportunities for youth to be heard and have the voice they need to create a better future not only for themselves but also for the entire Provin

It's Media Literacy Week! Welcome to the Literacy Quebec Podcast. It's already the 5th episode of season 5! This week we talk about Media Literacy (how to critically examine the media that is giving us) and digital Literacy (making computers accessible for non-profits and low-income families). We are joined by two special guests: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education from MediaSmarts https://mediasmarts.ca/ He educates us on why Media Literacy Week Oct 26 - 30, 2020 is so important for us all to use throughout our daily lives. Check our Media Smarts page for resources you can use at home and in the classroom. Francois Pare - Market Development Advisor from OPEQ (Ordinateurs pour les écoles du Québec) “Computers for Schools in QC”) https://www.opeq.qc.ca/  Francois shares how OPEQ refurbishes 100’s and 1000’s of donated computers (in Quebec!) each year in order for non-profit organizations and even low-income families to gain access to having a computer at an affordable cost. Don't forget to check o

Did you know that there are 1 BILLION views of tutorial videos on Youtube?! Welcome to Episode 4 of Season 5! We continue to explore online learning and how services providing support for lifelong literacy are adapting.  We start the episode with a discussion with Krystyna Slawecki, program manager for Montreal and Northern Quebec from Frontier College. Krystyna teaches us about Frontier college’s history in providing literacy services to Canada since the 1800s. Today Frontier college reaches over 40,000 participants across Canada! Frontier College is holding an online technology and literacy forum on Sept 30th. Register here: https://www.frontiercollege.ca/Get-Involved/Events/2019-National-Forum-Literacy-and-Civic-Engagement We are also joined for an in-depth discussion about the new online frontier of lifelong learning with Daniel Baril. Daniel is the Director-General at the Canadian Institute for Cooperation in Adult Education (ICAE) and Chair of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) Gov

On this week’s HUGE episode, we celebrate International Literacy Day! We learn why it is essential to reflect, advocate and celebrate all of the work that is going into promoting literacy worldwide, and the challenges and adaptations during the pandemic. Our hosts, Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore, talk to UNESCO, First Book Canada, DragonBunnyBoooks.Com, Literacy Quebec and telecommunications expert Mark Goldberg for the celebration! First, we hear from Margo Legault, the Director of Literacy Quebec and learn how LQ is celebrating its 40th year of existence and ILD 2020! Tessa from First Book Canada joins us again to talk about how they are providing affordable books to community organizations, their upcoming event in Montreal, plus the collaboration they've created with Amazon! Stay tuned to find out more!! Next, we speak to Hervé Huot-Marchand, chief of the Youth, Literacy and Skills Development section for the Division of policies and Lifelong Learning from UNESCO! We learn about how COVID-19 has impacted

Welcome to PART 2 of Season 5 Episode 1 of the Literacy Quebec Podcast! Literacy organizations have had to adapt their tutoring styles due to the pandemic and we'll have a segment in this episode to discuss the transition to online tutoring for their volunteer teachers and students "Members Moment" We interview Cheryl from the Gaspésie Literacy Council on how they have had to adapt their volunteer tutoring online due to COVID-19. ____________________________________________________________ "Literacy Lowdown" COVID-19 has exposed the holes in many Canadians lacking connectivity, due in part to access to affordable high-speed internet We also have interviews with members of the Get Canada Connected coalition to learn about their advocacy and Government relations to make the internet accessible and affordable for all Canadians. Special guests Imran Mohiuddin and Meagan Hampel from Cybera as well as Laura Tribe from Open Media share their high impact advocacy work on behalf of all Canadians!  Please head t

WE ARE BACK!  Welcome to Season 5 Episode 1 (PART 1) of the Literacy Quebec Podcast!  ➡️ The Freda Hudson Volunteer Recognition Award and Getting Connected. In this weeks episode, first up Chris gets the chance to interview Gordon Cook, the 2019 winner of the Freda Hudson Volunteer Recognition Award, as well as Gordon's math student Stella and amazing TLE staff member Enza from The Learning Exchange to discuss their positive experience in working with Gordon

Welcome to a special episode of the Literacy Quebec Podcast for International Women’s Day! ***A head's up for listeners we discuss sexual assault and violence in this episode.*** Check out the LQ Facebook page for our annual #WomeninLiteracy campaign throughout the week to come!  To kick off the week in this episode Chris and Jaimie spoke with Natasha Harvey from the Girls Action Foundation. We discussed the important work that the  Girls Action Foundation does to support girls, young women, non-binary, LGBTQ+ youth in becoming leaders in their communities. We also discuss what is International Women’s Day, what is feminism and how there are many feminisms, and that Natasha’s definition of feminism is for everyone, based on bell hook’s work. We also, discuss why we still are working towards equity today.  Girls Action Foundation is collecting writing, poetry, stories, artwork recipes and more for their zine that celebrates International Women's Day. Check out their previous books here https://w

Welcome to the 6th and final episode of season 4! It’s Black History Month 2020! In this week’s episode we celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate and prosperous nation it is today! We have special guest Kassandra Kernisan the executive director of DESTA on Literacy Lowdown this week. We spoke about DESTA’s mission and services, why they don’t specifically do anything special for Black History Month and the importance of their services for the english speaking  black youth community. DestaNation Tech Front-end Web Development Program March 4, 2020  5:00 pm - 8:00 pm Digital Skills for Entrepreneurship Program March 5, 2020  2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Check out https://destabyn.org/ for more info There's a HUGE amount of events in March and we offer some book recommendations for Black History Month via First Book Canada and through the event that the TLE The Learning Exchange /

Do stats really count? A Conversation with Statistics Canada Welcome to the 5th episode of season 4 of the Literacy Quebec Podcast! In this week’s episode we are talking about statistics!  Numbers can be scary and confusing, but with help from Samuel Dupéré, Manager, Montréal Data Service Centre, Statistics Canada we learn why data is important and how we can learn to use data to advocate and show impact. We also learn that it is important to ask the right questions and how to look for reliable sources of information.  Statistics Canada is a public service that is available to community members and is a valuable resource especially to non-profit organisations. They have recently expanded their services to help build the capacity of individuals and organisations to become more literate in developing surveys, collecting, using and understanding data through workshops and presentations. Learn more about what they offer: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/wtc?MM=as The Learning Exchange joins us to prom