Literacy: Spanning North America
Adults
Who Can't Read Are Hiding In Plain Sight Around Mid-Michigan
A
silent crisis is affecting adults living in the Flint community right now who
can't read.
They
can't understand a bus schedule or comprehend information on a medicine bottle.
One woman is working to improve adult literacy rates in the Flint community.
A
year ago, something as simple as sounding out words would have been impossible
for Phillip Lidell. However, at 53 years old, he's now just starting to get the
hang of learning how to read and comprehend.
He
said for most of his life, he would pretend he could read, only recognizing a
few words, but things changed for father after enrolling in the New Beginnings
Literacy Class at the COFY Center in
Flint. WATCH
04:26
New
Art Project Launches On Port Authority Bus Lines
A
local artist has teamed up with Literacy
Pittsburgh to create an art collaboration for several Port Authority bus
lines.
Mary Tremonte and her
partners at Literacy Pittsburgh celebrate the launch of a new art project
called Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?.
Onslow
Literacy Council Helping Adults Learn To Read
Reading
is a skill that many people learn in grade school, but when it’s adults that
need to learn how to read, they may not know where to turn for help. That’s
where local literacy councils can step in to help, and tutors say it’s never
too late to learn.
Some
adults may never have been taught to read, or learning it as a second language
and others may have faced an unexpected challenge that forced them to learn
again.
Kiosha
Cummings, a recent college graduate, grew up traveling the world as a military
child. During a church trip to India she took before beginning grad school she
suffered from a stroke.
Kiosha’s
mother, Doretha Cummings says the stroke cause he to lose her ability to
effectively communicate and read, “It was very scary. She couldn't really
converse, or have a conversation. You know, just nod, or things like that, but
it wasn't to a point where we could have a conversation. She was really
starting at square one."
Jan
Steimers is a tutor with Onslow
County’s Literacy Council and took Kiosha on as a student after her stroke
three years ago, “she came to me having this stroke that she had, a pretty
serious stroke, and she didn't know any of the alphabet."
No
matter the reason an adult is learning how to read, Steimers says it take guts
for someone to take the initiative to learn, and that really where it all begins. WATCH
03:16
Murray
George Led The Literacy Terrace Society, Helping Adults Read And Write
When
working at the volunteer bureau in Smithers, Murray George noticed many people
who came in often had trouble completing their forms. They would say they’ve
forgotten their glasses or IDs, opting to take it home but never returned.
He
quickly realized they were carefully covering up something they’ve been hiding
their entires lives — they had trouble reading and writing.
“I
was just kind of oblivious at first, some would take the form and have a
variety of excuses,” says George. “It came as a real surprise to me that there
are people out there that could not read and write.”
Later
working with Literacy Smithers, he says he found out that 40 per cent of the
province’s population was noted to have low literacy skills and began to see
how common it was amongst adults, especially in the Northwest.
He
eventually moved to Terrace where he took on the executive director role at the
Literacy Terrace Society and oversaw approximately 25 volunteers that taught
adults essential reading and writing skills.
Sitting
down with the students, he heard their stories on how they were left behind at
school and then struggled through life. For them, even going to the grocery
store can be a hassle so they depend on images and others to carry out simple,
daily tasks.
Some
were looking for jobs, some learned English as a second language and others had
reached elderly age only to discover how badly they wanted to read books aloud
to their grandchildren or help them with their homework.
═════════►
But
despite the high low literacy rate, the Literacy Terrace Society
was forced to shut its doors this past March as the province continues to cut
funding to literacy programs throughout B.C. This year, there was a 25 per cent
reduction in the maximum allowable grant, which for the society meant a drop
from $40,000 to $30,000 to run their volunteer-based program. READ
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