Coffee Shop Literacy Dig

The term "literacy dig" was a teaching technique that I had never heard of before. I enjoyed "digging" and finding literacy in small things, like coffee shops. So I packed my notebook and headed off to Seattle's Best Coffee shop located inside Borders.

One of the things I noticed was the inviting atmosphere. Warm colors, like reds and golds, were splashed throughout the shop. A faint saxophone played jazz over the intercom. Customers also had the choice to sit at a spacious table or a cozy chair. All of these attributes made this coffee shop condusive to reading. While people sipped their coffee, most were reading books, magazines, laptops, newspapers, or textbooks. Who knew coffee and literacy would go hand-in-hand.

Now most of us have visited a coffee shop before and expect to see people sipping their cup of joe while reading something, but what about the lingo? Seattle's Best, like most, is a coffee shop with its own flair to literacy. Latte. Espresso. Fair Trade. Fruitkula. Cremekula. Javakula. All of these words were unique to Seattle's Best's lingo. People were not only reading and deciphering things in their own books, but just ordering things off the menu required defining what some of these terms mean.

Coffee shops are not the only place where 'literacy digs' can be completed, but was an interesting way to take a look at some of the ways people read throughout their everyday lives.