More volunteers wanted to help adults read and write

The PEI Literacy Alliance is looking for more volunteers to help adult learners on the Island with their reading and writing skills.

There is a wait list of hopeful learners for the PEI Literacy Alliance's adult tutoring program

Stephanie Brown · CBC News · Posted: Sep 12, 2016 6:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: September 12, 2016

A study done in 2012 showed 45 per cent of Islanders aged 16 to 65 failed to meet bench mark levels of literacy. (CBC)

The PEI Literacy Alliance is looking for more volunteers to help adult learners on the Island with their reading and writing skills.

I don't like having a wait list right now but I'm really happy that we have a program available, however small it might be.- Amanda Beazley

The organization started the PEI Volunteers for Literacy group last year and so far they have 12 volunteers but they are looking for at least 5 more.

Beazley said they have had success in the program, but there are 6 people currently on the waiting list, hoping for a tutor.

Illiteracy rate of 45 per cent on the Island

Amanda Beazley hopes to get more volunteers matched with adult learners. (Submitted by Amanda Beazley)

Amanda Beazley, the acting executive director of the PEI Literacy Alliance, said an international study done in 2012 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in partnership with Statistics Canada showed the province had a rate of 45 per cent illiteracy among 16-65 year old Islanders.

"Years ago there were levels established, there were levels one through five, level three was deemed the bench mark," explained Beazley. "That was the level you needed to be at to fully participate in society. So you're looking at levels one and two, those levels, that 45 per cent, there are even some below level one. Not being able to access information from print, and get the information they need and be able to apply it to problem solving and real world working."

Range of people wanting help

Beazley said the program is not just for people who dropped out of school, although that is the majority of people they see.

"We have such a range it's incredible actually. We've got from the mid-20's who are working towards their GED and need help in very specific areas, we have that sort of learner right up to an 82-year-old veteran who decided it was high time he learned how to read."

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The tutors are trained to work with adults and then matched according to skill sets, needs, and schedules. They meet with the learners, often in public libraries, once or twice a week for a few hours each time.

Linda Weisman helps train the tutors. She has been living part-time on the Island for almost 50 years.

Her book, 'Yes, I Can Read!' is used among other resources to prepare tutors.

Hoping to expand

Weisman said she was meeting adults who tried to learn but had only met failure, so she wanted to simplify the process.

"I think at any stage, at any age, it's so important to learn to read and people find it so rewarding," Weisman said. "People who couldn't read to their children are finding they can read to their grandchildren and that means so much to them and it means so much to their children too. It's hard to imagine not being able to read and navigating in society, you're so shut off and you're so isolated if you can't have that basic literacy. I think everyone should have the chance to learn to read."