It’s never too late to learn new skills
Your chance: Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ā konga on soon
Learn something new, it’s good for you! Next week is Adult Learning Week and REAP Central Plateau is encouraging everyone to take part in the Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ā konga.
Community education manager Linda Moss says the festival will highlight the importance and benefits of lifelong learning, and next week, she encourages every adult to to try and learn something new.
REAP Central Plateau is celebrating the week with an awards ceremony on Wednesday.
“This is a week to have some fun, and to think about what you would like to learn. Do you want to sing, dance, speak te reo, fill a skill or knowledge gap? Perhaps you want to start a conversation about the value of learning something new?” Linda says.
REAP Central Plateau is a not-forprofit organisation that delivers a variety of personalised education and whānau focused programmes and services throughout the Central Plateau. Linda says the programmes cover a wide range of kaupapa including early childhood, schooling, learning support, rangatahi mentoring, adult literacy and numeracy, and community education. They are also an internet service provider (ISP) to support connectivity
in remote areas.
In celebration of Adult Learning Week, two adult students have shared their recent learning stories.
Tracey Townsend started her learning journey with REAP in 2021. With significant learning issues and
no extra help over her school years, she found herself struggling as an adult.
“After a few weeks, our reserved, quiet Tracey started to engage with us all. She relaxed into learning for the first time in her life,” Linda says.
Tracey has moved beyond recognising and spelling basic sight words, to reading stories out to the class. She also loves art and has been able to embrace and explore this passion within the Te Ara Poutama programme. Linda says Tracey loves sharing her work with fellow learners and staff.
“Her confidence has soared. She is
now laughing and joking and is in a much happier place in herself.”
“Why didn’t they teach me like this when I was young? I just needed someone with the heart and the patience to teach me.” Tracey says.
Mercedes Manu is currently enrolled in the NZ Certificate in Beauty Therapy (Level 4) course at Toi Ohomai. She says the beauty industry is her passion, and after working for about 12 years mainly with nails, she decided to take the plunge and complete her qualifications in beauty.
Linda says Mercedes is enjoying learning to provide services such as mini facials, eyelash tinting, eyebrow
shaping, waxing, makeup applications, manicures and pedicures, massage as well as customer service, sales, reception and cashier skills.
She enjoys the eye treatments, makeup and massages. Mercedes continues to work three days a week at Gorgeous Skin, Beauty & Makeup and loves watching people come in, get treatments and walk out feeling great. Her advice to new learners is: “Just go for it because, honestly, it can be scary but it is such a cruisy environment here at Toi Ohomai. Everyone gets along, you learn a lot, and we have a really great tutor.”