Updated May 13, 2010
The Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA) developed an innovative multi-media adult education curriculum, TV411. The goal of TV411 is to help adult learners gain basic reading, writing and math skills they need to stay healthy and achieve their goals.TV411 is a half-hour weekly series airing on PBS, that uses popular television formats to teach life skills. The TV411television series features celebrities, such as Dennis Franz and WNBA stars, and real-life adult learners who share their experiences for improving their careers, helping their children and staying healthy. The show is divided into short segments, which allows the user to organize lessons as they feel most appropriate.
Each episode of TV411 has a corresponding 12-page instructional workbook (TV411 In Print) that offers more in-depth and hands-on practice of the topics presented in the show. The workbooks contain many practical exercises, such as filling out medical forms and reading nutrition labels.
The first 20 episodes of TV411 have been packaged into a video series, which is available for purchase. The video series, in combination with theTV411 User’s Guide, Teacher’s Guide and Curriculum Index, is a valuable learning and teaching package that is appropriate for use in adult education centers, health care settings and workplace training programs. Recently, ALMA has broadened access to its TV411 curriculum through an online literacy service at www.tv411.org. TV411 Online features interactive tools and lessons, as well as activities corresponding to the television series. The web site allows users to store adult learners’ work and offers answers to adult learners’ questions through email. The TV411web site is interactive, easy-to-use and informative.
Many of the television/video series and corresponding print materials explore how to use reading, writing and math to help make choices specifically about health matters.
Episodes containing health topics include:
- Cancer: Video #20, Print #20
- Diabetes: Video #8, Print #8
- Doctors Visit: Video #3 and #5, Print #3
- Nutrition: Video #8, Print #8
- Medical Bible: Video #3, Print #3
- Asthma: Video #3, Print #3
- Pregnancy: Video #5
- Health Plans: Video #15, Print #15
To order the TV411 video series or workbooks, or to receive more information on the broadcast schedule for TV411, see ALMA’s web site:www.tv411.org , call (800) 304-1922 or email: alma@edc.org
