National Adult Literacy Database

June 20, 2011

This week, we have a story written by Pat Hyatt, from Fort Frances, Ontario.  Pat has recently been enrolled at the Valley Adult Learning Association (VALA), where she did academic upgrading. After having an aneurism, she had to re-learn a lot of things. She really enjoys the computer and accounting courses.

Testimonial

by Pat Hyatt

I was in Vala for three years. I was very pleased that they could teach me what I forgot. I had an aneurysm five and a half years ago. When I went to Vala I could only speak a little bit. I phoned Barb the supervisor and I told her the situation and if there was a program that I could take to improve my English. I took Speech Therapy at the hospital and it was a great help, but I wanted to learn more. I was accepted in. The teacher’s are so considerate and they are always joking around, it made me feel not like a student, but as part of them.

When I started, I took English classes. I read, they read and they gave me assignments.  English was not my favourite subject. I did not like to read books, but the teachers knew that this was an extremely important part of my education. I read my stories but if I was having a bad day they would always listen and help out any way they could. I am just reading the book The Da Vinci Code. I am learning to pronounce words and sound out the endings. It is a difficult book but I like it. Then I went on to computer class. I wanted to keep my computer skills up. It is incredible what I learned on Word, E-mail, Internet etc. that I did not know. I also took the Accounting course. The Accounting course taught me a great deal. I love working with numbers and the course was just ideal. Now I am taking the camera course. It is fantastic. The girls are superior and Kim the teacher is excellent. That is all the courses that I have been taking, English (the most valuable), Computer, Accounting and now the Camera course. I was also asked to be a tutor for a lady on the computer, I was so excited.

[This story was taken with permission, from the  Valley Adult Learning Association (VALA) website.]