INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MAY 30, 1989

 

 

 

Douglas College’s I-CARE Program

 

Tutoring Program Helps Adults
Conquer Illiteracy

Like over a quarter-million
people in B.C., Heather Albanese
spent most of her adult life unable
to read or write.

She couldn’t read instruction
booklets for household appliances
and she couldn’t read bedtime
stories to her children.

And for ten years of married life,
her shame was so intense she kept
her problem a secret from her hus-
band.

“T felt, like most people in my
predicament, ignorant and utterly
helpless,” she recalls. “But the

ore time passed, the more I real-
zed I couldn't do without literacy
skills.”

Albanese’s solution was to enter
the Individualized Community
Adult Reading Education
(I-CARE) program at Douglas
College in New Westminster. Since
its inception in 1978, I-CARE has
trained more than 500 students how
to read and write. The program was
created for people who aren’t able
or willing to enter a classroom.

“I-CARE’s ability to remove the
guilt and shame elements inherent
with people who can’t read or write
is one of the main reasons for its
success,” says I-CARE tutor coor-
dinator Carol Leyland.

“The toughest factor in overcom-
ing this problem is admitting you
have it. Most students find it very
qin" admitting they have a prob-

em, even to me in the privacy of
my office.”

 

Fortunately, most people seeking
help respond to I-CARE’s healthy
philosophical outlook - that oppor-
tunities to lear to read and write
are not a privelege but a basic right
and that everyone is entitled to a
second chance at learning.

The program doesn’t guarantee
immediate results, only hard-won,
long-lasting improvement in read-
ing and writing skills. Once
Leyland has evaluated the severity
of an individual’s problem, she sug-
gests two learning options - a
one-on-one tutor or group lessons
in a classroom at the College. If the
individual chooses a tutor, sessions
usually occur several times a week
for a few hours and can last for
years.

“There’s no instant learning solu-
tion here,” says Leyland. “For a
man coming in with the ability to
read at a grade three level, it can
easily take a few years before he
has advanced to grade six.”

But with knowledge gained,
lives are changed. Heather Al-
banese entered the program two
years ago with a grade four reading
ability and had trouble reciting the
complete alphabet. Today, she’s
graduated to a grade nine ability.

“That it changed my life is an
understatement,” she says. “Being
able to read an actual book for the
first time in my life gave mea
tremendous feeling of confidence
and independence. It’s opened a lot
of doors for me, and J think espe-
cially in this day and age, you need
these basic skills more than ever.

 

You need to read well just to gain
an understanding of our technologi-
cal world.”

Albanese adds that she’s staying
with I-CARE in order to achieve a
grade 12 literacy rating.

Carol Leyland, meanwhile, says
the I-CARE program at Douglas
College is benefitting from an in-
creased social awareness
conceming illiteracy. She currently
has 60 students enrolled with
tutors, an upswing from the average
semester of 45-55 students.

“We see all kinds of people
entering the program, even
successful businessmen and
entrepreneurs,” says Leyland.

“They’ve decided to make a
change in their lives, and slowly
but surely, they’ve shed their feel-
ings of inferiority. Their success
spurs them onto further education,
and they lose their fear of trying
new things.”

For more information about the
program, call Douglas College at
520-5400, local 4226.