INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MAY 22, 1990

 

 

Insider

Summer
Schedule

Submissions for the Insider
are due Tuesday at noon, one
week before the publication date.

The Public Information Office
(room 4840) welcomes notices, let-
ters to the editor, quotable quotes
or story ideas.

 

Publication Date _... Deadline
JUNO SO ieee ce aeons May 29
VUE 19 fa ae iat June 12
WU. it 8 ea ae June 26
PEW TE sce 56 Sle July 10
POLY SY aa. chew > 5 es July 24
AMBUGL IE oe has <4 August 7
PGQUSE ZB ys 0 ea August 21

Fall/Spring schedule begins
with the September 4 issue. The
Insider will be published every
Tuesday and the deadline for sub-
missions will be the previous Tues-
day at noon. @

 

 

Inside Douglas College is published
weekly September through April and
bi-monthly May through August by the
Douglas College Public Information
Office. Submissions are due Tuesday
noon for publication the following
Tuesday. Submissions are accepted
typewritten or on floppy disk in
WordPerfect or ASCII format. Material
may be edited for brevity and clarity.
Tips, scoops and suggestions are always
welcome. Please contact the Public
Information Office, (604) 527-5323,
Room 4840 at the New Westminster
campus, 700 Royal Avenue, New
Westminster. Mailing address: P.O. Box
2503, New Westminster, B.C. V3L SB2.

 

 

 

I-CARE leads to "I can" (2
Can the person sitting next to you read and write?

One person in four cannot.

According to a 1987 study conducted by the Creative Research
Group for Southam News, more than six million Canadian adults are
functionally illiterate. For these people, reading newspapers, filling out
application forms, or helping their children with homework is an embar-
rassing, day-to-day struggle.

And because of the stigma attached to illiteracy, many adults who
lack reading and writing skills fail to seek the help they need.

One solution designed to fight the battle against illiteracy is the In-
dividualized Community Adult Reading Education (I-CARE) program at
Douglas College.

Through the I-CARE program, volunteer tutors work one-to-one
with students needing to improve their basic literacy skills.

According to I-CARE tutor coordinator Carol Leyland, one of the big-
gest challenges facing illiterate students is admitting they have a prob-
lem.

“They have wonderful ways of committing things to memory,”
Leyland says. “They will invent ways to get around reading by saying
things such as ‘What does this say, I left my glasses at the office.’””

 

“The I-CARE program can make a person feel
comfortable and satisfied. It can help students reach the
point where they say, ‘I can, I really can do this.’”

 

I-CARE was created for people who aren’t willing or able to return
to a classroom, but who want to take a step toward upgrading their
skills, and ultimately, their lifestyles.

Based on the philosophy that the opportunity to read and write is
not a privilege, but is a basic right, the CARE program is designed
specifically for each student with individual needs and goals incor-
porated into each weekly, two-hour lesson.

“For example,” Leyland says, “if a student's goal is to obtain a
driver’s licence, the tutor may incorporate reading the driver’s manual
into the lesson.”

Starting with a confidential assessment, Leyland determines the
student’s literacy level and then matches each one with an I-CARE tutor.

“We find out what they know and work on what they don’t know,”
Leyland says. “Then we keep them as long as we can help them.”

Leyland doesn’t promise students “overnight success.” Instead, she
emphasizes the importance of hard-work and committment.

“The I-CARE program can make a person feel comfortable and satis-
fied,” she says. “It can help students reach the point where they say, 1
can, I really can do this.’ But getting to say ‘I can’ is hard.”

Striving for the “yes I can” attitude pays off in the end, Leyland
adds. “Students get so excited,” she says. “They develop a sense of
euphoria if they stick with it and get over the hurdles.”

For more information about the program, call Carol Leyland at
Douglas College — 527-5409. m