Literacy:
Spanning North America
Man, 78, makes literacy his
retirement goal
The Learning Place helps students of
all ages
Brampton
Guardian: 12.03.2014 by Radhika Panjwani
Rubenstein Waithe loves
school and is not ashamed of saying so.
For few months now, the 78-year-old
Mississauga resident has been hitting the books at The Learning Place to fulfill a
lifelong dream: to become literate.
Waithe immigrated to Canada from
Trinidad & Tobago in the early ‘80s and needed to straight to work to
support himself, leaving no time to study. So, 12 years ago, after his
retirement from a Toronto hospital - where he worked as a porter- the
Mississauga man decided it was time to head back to school.
“I wish I could have come here
sooner,” said Waithe. “I am not ashamed to tell anyone I am a student. The way
I see it, I think you’re never too old to study.”
Since it was launched 30 years ago,
the Learning Place, a non-profit organization located in Brampton, has helped
hundreds of adults from Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga living with low
literacy levels.
Many of Waithe’s classmates said
they prefer to keep their visits to the Brampton centre a secret from family
and friends for the fear of ridicule. READ
MORE !
Learn to Read: Volunteers organize
adult literacy program in Grove
Grand
Lake News: 12.04.2014 by McKalee Steen
How many people, even reading this
article, take literacy for granted every single day?
One day, a couple of years ago, a
65-year-old man came into the Grove
Public Library, walked right up to the front desk, and asked the woman
standing there if she could teach him how to read.
“It was really brave of this man to
just march in here and tell us what he needed help with," said Joann
Walkup, coordinator of the Adult Literacy Program. "Every person who
admits they need help has a tremendous amount of bravery.
Walkup said the man's bravery not
only prompted him to learn to read, but it also helped create the Adult
Literacy Program at the Grove Public Library.
Having poor to zero reading
abilities can be a major problem for adults in the workforce, explained Walkup.
Workers are no longer able to just look at the person next to them to figure
out what to do. READ
MORE !
Whatcom County Literacy Council
volunteers help their neighbors, economy thrive
Bellingham
Herald: 12.11.2014 by Katherine Freimund and Lane Morgan
Courtesy to The Bellingham Herald
Literacy is a key that allows people
to unlock their full potential. It is an essential skill and an internationally
recognized human right.
Katherine Freimund is executive
director of the Whatcom Literacy Council
and Lane Morgan is a volunteer tutor.
For the approximately 500 adult
“learners” served each year by the Whatcom Literacy Council, literacy has many
meanings. It can mean learning both the basics of reading, writing and speaking
English for a refugee who has had no formal education. It can mean passing the
GED for a native English speaker who missed out at school due to learning
disabilities. It can mean learning specialized professional vocabulary in a new
language, or studying for American citizenship.
In each case it can be the route
out of poverty and isolation, not just for the learners themselves but for the
next generation. If a parent has not earned a high school diploma or GED by age
25, it is almost a guarantee that their children will be raised in poverty.
There is a direct correlation between education and earning potential. Each
level of education corresponds to a higher level of pay and a lower level of
unemployment. People without a high school diploma are twice as likely to be
unemployed; full-time workers with a high school diploma earn almost $10,000
more per year than those without, and this gap increases with additional
education. READ
MORE !
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