FOOD COURT!!!!!

Literacy Dig
The group I was in, the purple folder group, chose to visit a mall’s food court in search of literacy in the everyday world. I was actually surprised to find several different versions of writing; news reports, advertisements, advisory instructions, menus, and academic. While menus, advertisements and instructions were expected when visiting a place where food is served it was the way in which they were presented which is worth noting. There were enough pictures on the menu to order without the ability to read English, and the signs such as slippery provided a graphic representation of the caveat. While this is necessary due to the high volume of people who cannot read because of education faults, age levels or the lack of time spent in an English country the graphics themselves hold a visual understanding which pick up where words in their written form fail.
Upon entering the food court itself we walked past a Newspaper dispenser, there was no one in the food court actually reading a paper but these were there none the less for anyone to purchase and read while lounging in the food centre. There was a soap dispenser which gave written instructions for those in preparation of dining which was located in the direct center of the table cluster. And the menus themselves hung over the places to order food and where often accompanied with pictures of the food items along with combination specials unique to each location. One of the discussions I personally heard was between two college students after they had walked along each restaurant looking at the menus. “do you see anything good?” the other student responded “no, too expensive for what you get” and they both walked off.
There was a younger student working on his homework while his mother helped commented and corrected what he was doing. And there was a lady using a computer but besides that there wasn’t a lot of reading going on at the mall’s food court.
There were advertisements for shops all around which the owners of the shops would like for all of us to read but most try to ignore. And there were a couple of signs tucked away in the corner by the restrooms which said “slippery” and “closed, sorry about the inconvenience”, but neither of these signs was currently being used.
It was my specific task to observe the layout of the area and take artifacts. The tables were arranged in a concentric pattern with four aisles converging in the center where the sanitization center was. Restaurants lined about a quarter of the perimeter with an aisle on one side which went to a restroom and a hallway on the other side which went to the stores. There was a stand of gumball machines and sweets near the restroom. Hopefully my photos upload properly since the napkins and condiment packet were the only artifacts which I was able to find to grab.