‘Everybody can teach something’
Niagara Regional Learning Centre hits 40-year milestone for tutoring adults
They’ve been meeting over vowels and consonants every week for two years.
Linda Fillmore of Grimsby brings the words and Roshan Zafar of St. Catharines writes them out and forms them into stories.
“Before I could not write one sentence and now I am,” said Zafar, sitting with Fillmore at a table dotted with worksheets at the Niagara Regional Learning Centre on Bunting Road last week.
The not-for-profit centre is hitting a 40-year milestone this month for teaching adults to read and write, use math and learn everyday life skills.
To do that, it relies heavily on volunteers like Fillmore who are willing to share their knowledge with others.
Fillmore said when she retired from human resources, she wanted to do something meaningful. She was partnered up with Zafar and they’ve been meeting for a couple hours once a week ever since.
“We’re here for a common purpose. I felt like I had something to offer. Roshan wanted to learn,” Fillmore said.
“I get a lot out of it seeing how far she’s come.”
It’s estimated 42 per cent of Canadian adults between 16 and 65 have low literacy skills based on Statistics Canada data.
The centre, founded in April 1978, has 90 students aged 19 and up at any given time, the bulk of whom come in for reading, writing and computer skills.
“There’s a big need,” said Gail Whiteside, a coordinator at the centre, who explained students are referred to or hear about the centre through word of mouth.
There is no cost to students. The centre is funded by Employment Ontario, the United Way of St. Catharines, membership fees and donations.
The students are not new English as a Second Language learners – they are adults who, for whatever reason, didn’t become proficient in reading and writing in their younger years or over time.
Whiteside said some didn’t get a lot of education in life and need to start with the basics of learning to read and write. Others want to complete their G.E.D. — the high school equivalent — for math, science and writing.
Still others are recently laid off and need to step up their skills for different jobs.
That can include taking computer classes that touch on everything from sending an email to using Microsoft Word.
Coordinator Ingrid Friesen said the centre also helps with resume writing and soft skills, such as being on time and learning to budget.
“Anything that can help an individual student to excel, that’s what we do here,” Friesen said, adding they focus on the best way a particular individual can learn after doing an assessment.
The centre has 50 to 60 volunteer tutors, along with three staff members and a volunteer board. It always needs more tutors. Tutors come from all walks of life and don’t have to have a teaching background.
“All they need is a desire to help,” Whiteside said.
“Everybody can teach something.”
Tutors receive training and most find it a rewarding experience, she said. The time commitment is once a week for an hour or two.
“A big part of a tutor’s job is to give positive reinforcement,” Whiteside said. “A lot of people need that, especially when it comes to adults learning reading and writing.”
Zafar moved to Canada from Afghanistan 33 years ago and picked up English on her own. But she says her reading and writing isn’t good and her employer suggested she improve.
She spends two to three hours a day at home on her studies. “I’d like to learn more. I’m the kind of person, I go out, I’m working, I’m busy,” she said.
Zafar said if people are thinking about coming to the centre, they should.
“If they can come and try it, they can learn,” she said. “They will be comfortable themselves.
“They are more comfortable in life if they understand the language.”