National Adult Literacy Database

April 23, 2012

This week, we have a story written by Barbara Tanguay, from Sussex, New Brunswick. Barbara is one of the winners of the first annual Lifelong Learning: The Future of New Brunswick writing/video contest, hosted by the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick (LCNB). She is enrolled in literacy classes at the Sussex Adult Learning Program.

My Experience as an Adult Learner

by Barbara Tanguay

From left: Barbara Tanguay and Natasha Bozek, Executive Director of LCNB

My name is Barbara Tanguay, I started going to the Sussex Adult Learning Center on January 10th, 2011. I was very nervous and scared. Being out of school since I was sixteen years old and going back to school at the age of forty-six is very scary. I want to get my GED, so I can do to college.

It seems funny, I find myself enjoying school, more so now, than when I was a teenager. I do find the math difficult, though. The harder I try to learn math, the harder it gets, but I am determined to learn it again. I like social studies and science. I find them very interesting. I find everyday is a learning experience for me. There’s a lot I have forgotten over the years. Learning and studying again is very interesting. I find that a person is never too old to learn and graduate.

My desire has always been to help teenagers and children! Once I get my GED, I would like to go to college and take a course in Teacher’s Aide. I also would like to take a course in Counseling after I get my Teachers Aide course done. I know it will be a lot of studying and hard work but I know it will be worth it all to graduate as a teacher’s aide. If I can encourage one child to stay in school, graduate, and go on to college to be or do something they really desire, it would be worth it all.

I want to do something with my life that I will be proud of that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I want to accomplish a goal that I thought I could never do when I was younger. I want to make a difference in my community. I want to help the younger generation that have trouble learning in school and have had a hard time adjusting. I want them to know that people do care and that there is help out there. I want them to know that people do care and that there is help out there. I want them to know that they can be anything or do anything they want to, and that they can take any trade or course they want to take. I want them to know that we are New Brunswickers, and we can be what we want to be. We can be proud of where we come from.

Helping others is very rewarding. If we can encourage this younger generation to stay in school and go on to college then the future of New Brunswickers will be looking up, let the future of New Brunswickers be our goal.

[This story was taken with permission, from the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick (LCNB) website, under Learners’ Stories.]