The 1986 Ministerial Committee Report, "A Philosophy of Education for Papua New Guinea," stated that "the vernacular language be used as the medium of instruction in the early years of schooling and English be used in later years." The idea that basic literacy training should be in a local "Tok Ples" or local language was given official support from the government after it had shown to be successful in the early 1980s. In 1989, the National Literacy and Awareness Council was established with the goal of starting off students in learning their own Tok Ples and have them move on to English, Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin), or Hiri Motu (another major language of PNG). Communities were encouraged to set up schools in their area and the official policy supported the community's decision of what language they would use for basic literacy classes, whether it was a local language or the more common Tok Pisin.

The purpose of the Tok Ples Literacy Training Program is to instruct all students that might or might not go on to some other kind of formal schooling. It provides teachers with many thoughtful solutions to the various problems they could face within their local context. Tok Ples encourages classroom flexibility and creativity in creating and using local resources as school supplies. With this in mind, students are taught critical thinking skills and the application of those to their real life. For instance, students can write a story based on real experiences in their life and then make a book, with local materials, complete with illustrations. This book is then added to the class library and used during group reading time. Basic literacy instruction is crucial for increasing standards of living or producing a flexible workforce for the future. At the same time, Tok Ples seeks to encourage the many diverse languages and cultures of the Papua New Guinean peoples.

The Tok Ples Literacy Training Program primarily uses the Interactive Whole Language approach in teaching. Children are encouraged to use their own experiences and environment in their learning. Both top-down and bottom-up whole language approaches are used, to better accommodate different learning styles. Teachers make the lesson plans child-centered and meaningful to their students' lives. Both boys and girls of primary school age enjoy the Tok Ples activities that include:

• different reading exercises,
  
• play acting,
  
• creative writing,
  
• story sequencing, and
  
• class discussion.
  

Children not only learn how to read and write, but they receive practice in exercising their imaginations and creativity skills. Tok Ples is an especially effective program because it builds on the resourcefulness of its teachers while not diminishing the specific cultures of any one area of PNG. In communities that do not have many financial supports for education, Tok Ples has proven to be very effective.

This project is included in our International Literacy Explorer for its exploration of varied and effective teaching methods, as well as its use of available resources to create learning tools and guide student activities.

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