She has enjoyed coming to the centre for her tutoring sessions because of the social and emotional support she receives

sensible, upbeat woman who has been careful to focus on Jan's goals and to help her to continue to define and refine those goals. The staff too have encouraged Jan in each new step she has taken. She has enjoyed coming to the centre for her tutoring sessions because of the social and emotional support she receives. She has now achieved her goal of opening a dayhome and has learned to handle all of the paperwork associated with the job. She has also learned the importance of reading to the children in her care and she practices stories often with Anne. Over two years her reading skills increased by three grade levels and her spelling by two levels.


She feels good about herself these days, and it shows

When we recently asked Jan to appear in a T.V. program about literacy and jobs she agreed with little hesitation. She did very well in the program and received lots of positive comments from friends who saw it. Jan has blossomed over the last couple of years and is friendly, outgoing and confident. She feels good about herself these days, and it shows.


Sarah Demands a Better Experience

Sarah was a retired teacher and an experienced volunteer when she came to our organization two years ago. However, she was also a disgruntled volunteer. She had volunteered for two other organizations (non-literacy) and had not enjoyed her work with them. She was unhappy with the training she received, as well as the lack of support when she was doing her assigned work. In her intake interview Sarah made it clear that she would not settle for another mediocre experience.

She had volunteered for two other organizations and had not enjoyed her work with them

After she completed the fourteen hour tutor training workshops, which she said were excellent, we matched Sarah with an ESL student who works as a cook in a restaurant. Lin needed to learn cooking terminology and recipes, an area in which Sarah had considerable expertise. They were soon off to a good start and we certainly felt that our efforts in the intake focus had been successful.


We did nothing too out-of-the-ordinary for Sarah. She always came early for her tutoring sessions and enjoyed chatting for a few minutes with staff. She discussed her tutoring ideas often and occasionally asked for help. But generally she had an intuitive sense of Lin's needs and their sessions proceeded smoothly. As


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