Helping others learn to read
Tutors help others and keep learning
By Deb Calderon
When Mike moved to Powell River four years ago he thought he would be playing bridge, hiking the trails and doing a little woodwork. Little did he know he would be heading to an office above the bowling alley to help a new Canadian with his English.
After a long days work, rather than putting her feet up and watching the hockey game, Maggie sets out for the Vancouver Island University campus. There she helps another adult work on her basic math skills in preparation for a course admission test.
On Tuesday mornings, Kate drives into town, enjoys a swim at the pool, and then goes to a private room at a local store to help another adult work on her spelling.
More than 30 people work as volunteer tutors in Powell River through the Community Adult Literacy & Learning (CALL) and VIU programs. What makes an already busy person give up their time to work with another adult on literacy skills?
"Someones desire to learn should never be denied," says Tim, a volunteer tutor. "In fact, in my mind, learning should be a basic right of any society. Helping someone improve their base of knowledge is a benefit to all of society, not just the learner."
Volunteers are a special bunch in any small town, but here in Powell River, they are the backbone of our tutoring programs. After spending nearly 30 hours in a training course, they come to extra workshops on topics such as English as a Second Language, Using the Library and Creating Great Resources. Then they work at home to prepare outlines and lessons for their learners, and even spend time on the Internet researching new and fun activities.
Volunteer tutors come from many walks of life. Some are retired, some are working part time, some have children at home, some have university degrees, and some just have lots of life experience. One thing all our tutors have in common is a desire to help and a need to keep on learning themselves.
"I initially joined the adult literacy program [as a volunteer tutor] for something to do," says Russ. "However, once I started with my learner I was surprised to find out that there were many benefits I had not expected. Not only was I learning new material in order to become a competent tutor, there was also the sense of accomplishment in doing something worthwhile."
In the end, it is all about the adults who are courageous enough to come forward and ask for help. One of our adult learners, who prefers to remain anonymous, puts it like this: "The [literacy tutoring] program is a wonderful thing for people. I needed some help in reading and writing. I was taking a class and I needed help with studying for the exam. Its hard to study by yourself. I just asked for help, and my tutor helped meÉ. I improved 100 per cent from where I was. Even my instructor and my classmates noticed a difference. They asked how Id improved in such a short time, and I told them I got a tutor to help me study. Some guys in the class said, 'We need to do that, too, but we cant afford it.' So I told them about the program and how it was free. Getting a tutor is [a smart thing to do]--you just have to ask for help."
If you know an adult who needs a hand upgrading his or her basic reading, writing, spelling or math skills tell them to phone CALL.
For more information "CALL" Deb Calderon, coordinator, at 604 413-1021 or email call@prepsociety.org.
