National Adult Literacy Database

February 22, 2010

This week, our story comes to us from Toronto, Ontario. The author, TJ, is enrolled in the Back to Basics program at the Fred Victor Centre in downtown Toronto. The Centre's mission is to offer a continuum of community services, housing options and advocacy for adults who are experiencing homelessness, marginalization and poverty. They offer a drop-in program to help adults with basic literacy to college preparation in reading, writing, math, science and computers. The Toronto District School Board LBS department provides ongoing and regular supports to tutors and with assessments at the Back to Basics program.

Story

by TJ

I am hear working toward my GED and preparing to take the test. This is a good place to be. The tutors are really good. You get to spend one on one time with the tutors which I find really helpful. If I don't understand something I get encouragement which motivates me to keep going. The facilitators are good. They take time to help or if I get stuck on an area.

What keeps me coming here is that there is a structure and routine but it is also at a pace that works for me. It is individualized for what my needs are. I can come in and I know what is going to happen. I can bring in the work that I have done, I know that if I need help on any parts of it, there are tutors here to help me. I find the one to one to be very helpful.

I have realized that I am a little smarter than I thought I was. I get surprised when I get the results back from the tests that I'm doing. When I was doing it I thought, ahhhh, I'm not very good, but when I get it back I think, ohhhhh! I did really good on this section. The work itself is hard, and sometimes working indepentoly is hard.

If the program ran more days than it does, I'd be here more. It keeps me off the street, it keeps away from drugs, away from trouble. I'm in an environment where I can actually work on bettering myself with people who are positive about it. I don't ever leave from the program going, ‘I did really shitty today.' I have never felt that way, not once. When I leave here I feel more motivated. I can't wait to do the next section because I want to see how I'm doing on that section. The tutors are giving me positive reinforcement. If I didn't have this, I'd probably be out getting into trouble.

If there were more programs like this where people can have a one to one situation with someone on a regular basis definitely makes a difference. In terms of the way that the learning process is happening for me, this is such a big difference from high school, and why I left in the first place. In high school the classes were big. Some of the teachers were great, some of the teachers were exhausted.

I find working this way, independently, very good. I know that when I come into the program I'm going to get the help I need. I don't feel that when I don't understand something I'm going to have this weight on my shoulders and when I get to school I'm going to be ignored. When I come here, the first thing they do is check in on how I'm doing, am I having any problems.

This program is helping my mental health. Its helping me continue my education in a process that works for me. From what I see of others in this program its really working for them too. Its not like one standard approach to learning. Having programs that actually take the time to figure out what process is the best process. For me I'm close to my GED and maybe I will go to college, maybe I will go to university, I'm not sure, but I know that when I finish I will be in a better place where I can make better decisions.

Also connecting and socializing with people is important. Everyone needs positive reinforcements, positive people in their lives on a daily basis. People help me understand things better, help me understand things in different ways. People are able to explain things in real life examples. Its not like your given an assignment to go away and do and then if I need help someone comes. Here you are getting help right from the beginning.

You can see that other people are happy and that they are doing well. They might be trying to improve their English, to improve their education, we are all coming from different places but we are all trying to learn more and that's a good thing. I can hear some of the people who have been learning English, I can hear them improving and that they are feeling more positive and assertive.

Sometimes people talk about whole health, maybe we could thing of learning in the same way. Whole learning.

[This story was taken with permission, from Incoming, published by Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy (MTML),November 2009.]