Thursday, July 31, 2008

Can't Read Can't Write



Superb series running on Channel 4 with the rebellious [and therefore successful] Phil Beadle, who you may remember from a previous series called The Unteachables teaching equally rebellious children how to learn. This time he's got 6 months to turn a group of adults around. And its working!


"Today in Britain, over five million adults have a reading age of 12 or less or, worse, cannot read at all. From dealing with bills, letters, helping with their children's homework, shopping, and finding work, this illiteracy blights nearly every aspect of their lives, especially their self-esteem. Ashamed and embarrassed, many keep the fact that they can't read a secret, sometimes even from their own family."


I love this series - watch as a 58 year old woman who's never read a book before reads one aloud to her mother just to prove how far she's come in such a short time. And the kinesthetic learner who just wasn't "getting it" until Phil made pipe-cleaner letters on the floor and she could get her hands onto them, thus building the neurological connections. Pure NLP at its best in the real world!


There is a quick and easy 20 question free dyslexia test on the website http://www.xtraordinarypeople.com/ but this is not a diagnostic test.


Inspires me to run my Accelerated Learning weekend again this year - what do you think? Maybe even Photoreading too. Would you be interested in being able to Read More, Learn More? Comments please.