Welcome to the AOK Basic Skills Project!
If you are new to this website, please be sure to check out my new, complete workshops – “How to Learn English” & “Healthy Foods for Busy People” for refugees; and “The Universal Steamed Quick Bread Recipes Workshop for the Food Insecure”. As an extra recipe, how many know that one-half cup of homemade non-stick soybean/nut granola provides about 13 grams of protein and the daily requirement for a two year old is the same?
The AOK Basic Skills Project is the individual retirement project of John Kirk. “AOK Basic Skills Project” is its domain name. AOK is not an organization, a business or a registered entity. It is a nonprofit, non commercial effort to both introduce an effective workshop format at the ABE and adult education enrichment levels and to help people learn about important educational and nutritional basic skills. Its home was in Quito, Ecuador but is now in Portland, Maine in the U.S.
Workshop topics and format
AOK workshops are for people of all ages. They provide introductory presentations and related websites that are free for individual use. There are three general topics: English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL); native speaker education from the Pre-K – 12 and adult education levels; and showing families and individuals how to take advantage of whole food. AOK would like to express its appreciation to the writers of the websites it links into to help it accomplish its workshop goals.
With overview presentations and simple and direct teaching models, AOK illustrates a practical teaching/learning system for its topics. The AOK presentation format begins with student inclusion in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) 2: Zero Hunger and Goal 4: Quality Education. It does this through UN SDG videos and badges. It then takes the workshop topic and briefly summarizes it using a PowerPoint presentation, key handouts and an annotated website bibliography.
It also briefly presents websites that basically explain how to use the Internet and how to study. Then it gives the participants digital copies of this material for further study at home, often with family tutors. When possible, a follow-up class is provided. AOK encourages programs that use its materials to connect to the SDG’s through a badge system and introductory videos.
The AOK workshop format breaks the often times standard assumption that a significant number of hours are usually necessary to teach something that can be summarized and the participants can learn about themselves with a good overview and direction. Furthermore, sometimes people don’t have the time to attend more than one or two workshops or it is difficult to do so. Also, sometimes there is another person in the home who can help with the computer.
Connection to the SDG’s and UNESCO
By connecting its workshops to an understanding of SDG’s 2 & 4, AOK has greatly increased the interest of participating organizations and their students in its presentations. (Nonprofits can distribute SDG badges to students.) UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education (SDG 4), for 2030 is to “ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Goal 4 is connected to UNESCO (which most of the participants are familiar with), part of whose mission is “sustainable development of intercultural dialogue through education”.
Although UNESCO’s mission primarily includes children, it also is involved with adult education. It does this in part through its Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE). ALE plays an important role in UNESCO’s mandate, as it’s vital for parents to be educated and have decent jobs to serve as good examples for their children.
Interest in AOK’s on-line learning program
When the Pandemic came, the quality of online classes greatly improved. However, the amount of learning decreased in many schools around the world. Today many students have returned to the classroom. What online learning is available in Latin America now, what quality is it, and how many families are taking advantage of it? The AOK curriculum can help fill in where access to good on-line programs is limited.
Workshop follow-up
AOK provides participant evaluation forms at the end of its workshops. If the evaluations are in favor of SDG 2 & 4/UNESCO providing basic multilingual instruction in computer use and study skills, AOK encourages the hosting organization to send a letter asking that they provide this instruction in different levels and languages. (AOK provides a sample letter to this effect.)
Conclusion
Later this year AOK will freely offers its workshops and accompanying materials to interested programs through this website. It hopes that along with the efforts of similar programs and the support SDG’s 2 & 4 and UNESCO, improvements in education will be seen in many places. By relating its workshops to the Global Goals, AOK has been able to better inspire the 1,000 people who have attended them in Ecuador to learn and grow educationally.
Please look at “Start” and the different pages on the AOK website to learn more about the details of the different workshops. Later in the year some of the materials on this website should be available for download.
John B. Kirk, Director
AOK Basic Skills Project
Portland, Maine
E: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
W: www.aokbasicskills.gratis