Yes, I Can (Spanish: Yo, sí puedo) is a teaching method for adult literacy which was developed by Cuban educator Leonela Relys Diaz [es] and first trialled in Haiti and Nicaragua in 2000.
Following this Dr. Leonela Relys Diaz and other educators at the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute (IPLAC) developed a similar program utilising television.
The DVD depicts a small literacy class in which the teacher explains the lesson and exercises in the workbook and the students ask questions and make comments.
The facilitator can stop and start the DVD-class, to allow their students to complete the exercises, discuss particular points, or repeat sections if required.
[9] There is an introductory block of lessons designed for people with no prior experience of reading and writing which include exercises to practise holding a pen and forming simple shapes.
In later classes students work with more complex blocks of text and learn other skills such as how to fill out forms with basic personal data.
Students are considered to have successfully completed the program when they have produced a simple letter to a friend including description and opinion.
This was introduced to the program on the suggestion of Dr Fidel Castro and based on the understanding that numbers are more familiar in everyday life to people who are illiterate.
[11] This criticism failed to take account of the fact that many illiterate people are numerate with regards to money and tradeable quantities.
This process is referred to as socialization and involves mobilising as many people as possible to take part in the campaign in a variety of roles.
[13] Cuba has offered this method to the international community and has suggested that with its implementation illiteracy could be eradicated globally within 10 years and at a cost of just $1.5 billion.
[14] Yes I Can has been implemented in a number of linguistic and cultural contexts including the following: Yes I Can has been used in East Timor in a national campaign which began in 2006 with the arrival of 12 Cuban literacy advisors.
The campaign mobilised over 200,000 people to participate in classes, and a workforce of over 600 local literacy facilitators and community organizers, who were trained by the Cuban advisors.
Cuban educators worked with their counterparts in Aotearoa New Zealand in a diagnostic stage which resulted in the development of a new program, Greenlight Learning for Life.