AOK Basic Skills Project
Portland, Maine
E: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
W: www.aokbasicskills.gratis
2022- 11-20
Re: “How to use the Internet at no cost to help prepare for university courses”
Dear Director of the Institution:
I am a semi-retired ESOL and native/first language teacher over the age of 65. I lived in Ecuador for over 10 years before moving to Portland, Maine in the USA last year. I am the director of AOK, which is a charitable educational endeavor and my retirement project. It is not an organization. It was connected to my English school in Quito.
Workshop summary
This is a workshop for younger students who have graduated from high school but are not yet academically ready to start studying at the university level. It is free and voluntary. The purpose is to familiarize the students with the use of the Internet and free websites so that they can raise their academic levels in reading, writing and math and science. It also includes a form for volunteer counselors for these students to help them provide encouragement.
Workshop materials
The workshop includes a written PowerPoint presentation (visuals can be added for the local area), a director and student evaluation form, key handouts, and a list of free, annotated websites from which to study. The workshops are given in support of UN Global Goal/SDG 4: Quality Education and UNICEF objectives. They also include information on how nonprofit organizations can use SDG student badges and videos to stimulate motivation and promote inclusion. The workshops can last for one or more 50-minute sessions and can serve for follow-up, as well. These materials can be downloaded in Spanish on this website.
Workshop Objectives
The participants will:
- Learn about some of the many websites that can help students prepare for the university.
- Learn about materials on the Internet for math and science that provide alternative ways of explaining the themes in the secondary level materials.
- Learn some ways about how to use reading materials from the content areas with comprehension questions to help improve reading comprehension. They will receive a list of general reading questions applicable for all materials. Also, some of these materials themselves come with questions.
- Learn about some ways to improve their writing skills for essays.
- Become familiar with and learn how to use the AOK file of websites for university preparation.
- They will also learn about several sites which teach how to navigate with Google to find more valuable sites and how to translate materials from English to Spanish.
A long-term goal of the workshop
A long-term goal is to encourage UNICEF to provide multi-lingual materials that provide instruction on the Internet in literacy, basic digital education and study skills. It would be motivational for participants to learn some basic skills from UNICEF, and they would be written in a professional manner. A formed letter to this effect is included with the workshop materials on this website.
I was registered with the National Human Talent Directorate in Ecuador and presented the workshops listed on my website to about 1,000 participants before the Pandemic. AOK workshops are designed to act as a base for local organizations to individualize and update according to their needs. I hope the workshop materials prove useful to your program…
Sincerely,
John B. Kirk, Director
kirkjohnb5@gmail.com