I needed to improve my reading and writing skills so that I could help my
daughter with her school work. I hope the help I get will help me get a better
job too. It has also helped me with my depression to get out of the house
and meet new people and has got me motivated. It has built my self-esteem
back up. I have made lots of new friends. I am more comfortable now writing
notes to my daughter’s teachers.
~ AC ~
In 2003, since coming to school I learned to read and write and use the picture
dictionary. I like to use different books to help me learn and getting help
in my grammar. I have also made new friends at school.
~ CT ~
I think that school is important to me because it builds your self-confidence.
You can help others in their reading and writing skills. The one-on-one tutors
are great because you can concentrate on what you need to learn. You can get
the motivation to go every morning and this will help in your future endeavours
to get a job to provide for your family. Making new friends is good for your
social skills when you get out in the work place. School helps with feeling
comfortable with your surroundings, and around other people.
~ HH ~
School is important to me because I hope to get better at reading and writing
skills. I hope to get a better job. The teachers and volunteers give their
time to help us when we need it. The students are nice and I have made new
friends.
~ LP ~
School is important to me because it has helped me to read and write. I improve
my literacy skills; build self-esteem; make friends. I opened my eyes to absorb
knowledge and came out of my shell.
~ TP ~
I have made some new friends. The school has helped me build my self-esteem.
I am more motivated now than I have been in a long time. The tutors help me
to improve my literacy skills. The tutors will give individual instruction
with great patience.
~ GT ~
I have made friends at school. We help each other. I feel comfortable going
to the Adult Learning and Training Centre because we are all learning to read
and write. Having goals to reach builds my self-esteem. If I need individual
help I know I will get it from the staff at ALTC.
~ GT ~
I have made friends at school. I enjoy learning to read and write. The teachers
and tutors have a lot of patience and work with us one-on-one. I am getting
more self-esteem and it makes me feel good to set goals and reach them.
~ DW ~
The Sweet Smell of Success
I am privileged to spend a few hours of my retirement time, each week, working with successful people. You will not have seen any of them on television nor on the front pages of the daily newspaper, for this is not their kind of success. In fact, the one thing they have in common is a failure; not their failure, but, rather, that of the education system to teach them the basic literacy skills needed to function in modern society.
Please do not misunderstand me; the Canadian education system is better than most others. It meets the needs of a majority of the population - that 66% or so that lies within two standard deviations of the statistical mean - and does its best to provide some kind of relevant education for the rest. In a democracy of simple majorities perhaps it is all we can ask of it. The fact remains, however, that no system is perfect, there are practical limits to what it can offer, and sometimes it fails.
For those unsuited to the system, school attendance is like a forced march. Most of the people with whom I work, are not only unsuited to the system, they also carried through their school years a burden of problems most of us are spared. They struggled to keep up, then to catch up, before finally giving up. Ultimately they struggled into adulthood lacking much of the equipment most of us rely on to cope with it.
How, you may ask, do they survive it all? That is their success, for survive they do, often at the barest level of subsistence provided by society. For the most part, they still carry the burden of problems they hauled through their school years, though some have traded a few, most have added a few to the load. Lacking the assistance education might have provided, how could they have done otherwise? The methods by which they succeed are not always what you or I might chose, often not the best they might have chosen, and sometimes aggravate their problems. But who are we to judge? We do not carry their burden.
Incredibly, these people seek to build on the success of mere survival and aspire to completing some portion of the forced march they once abandoned. The Adult Learning and Training Center exists to facilitate this ambition by helping people through those first steps of literacy development that they may have missed, misunderstood or forgotten. If necessary, we start from step 1, we move at the learner's own pace, accommodating, as best we can, the person's own schedule as well as that inevitable burden of problems he or she still carries. If, on a particular day, the learner cannot attend, the lesson waits until he or she can; our learners do not have to endure the frustration of trying to make up missed work. This is made possible by a team of volunteer tutors, like me, who work "one on one" to coach and assist the learners through various programmers prescribed for them by our Program Director. Sometimes one of our people graduates from our program to a more advanced level of study that will launch them on a meaningful career. Our satisfaction on these occasions is truly magnificent. Sometimes progress is glacially slow. I like to hope that the work we do enhances the lives of the people we try to help. I am quite certain that their efforts enhance mine.
Alan
14th, September, 2008
All through the years of school, I fell through many cracks. After 12 years I received a certificate. I was far from satisfied, there was so much to learn. I felt dumb. After many years of suffering in silence with difficulties in reading and comprehension, stressed out over numbers and money I made a phone call to ALTC. They were very friendly and welcoming. Within a short time later I improved my self confidence as I learned more and more. I became more and more aware of my reality. I had a huge dream to have my poems publicized. My spelling was horrible, plus my grammar needed very much improvement. My reading skills were poor as well as my language and comprehension. We worked hard on these goals. My dream of being published is coming true all thanks to the ALTC as well as the funding from the United Way.
Thank you!
Jean
Why ALTC is Important to Me
School is helping me accomplish my goal of understanding math. That will help me with my budget and groceries. I am making new friends and that makes me happy. School is giving me confidence. I am studying Essential Skills for PSW and I find it interesting. I would like to be a part time PSW someday.
Patricia
Why ALTC is important to me coming into ALTC is something that will help me accomplish a goal. I want to be cleaner, so I will take essential skills. Someday I want to be a home maker too, so I will take that course. ALTC is helping me understand what I need and helping me build.
Penny
Feb.5th, 2009
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