I-CARE

He was in grade eight when Randy
decided to make it official. He had
lost interest in school in grade five
and had simply gone through the
motions until the second month of
grade eight when he flew the coop,
seeking financial independence as a
flyer delivery boy at $25.00 a week.

Now Randy is twenty-four, a hard-
muscled, tatooed, brick layer’s assis-
tant and father of two. At night, his
back shoots with pain; he wants to get
ahead and do something different,
but his grade eight decision has
caught up with him. Getting ahead is
difficult because he can’t read or
write.

Astonishingly, there are approxi-
mately 250 thousand adults like
Randy in B.C., about 14 per cent of
the population. Known as the func-
tionally illiterate, they have trouble
deciphering menus, filling out job
applications, and making sense of
bank statements.

And because there are fewer and
fewer jobs available that don’t require
literacy skills, the unemployment
figure, which hovers around fourteen
per cent for the general population,
stands at twenty per cent for the
illiterate.

To help illiterate people like Randy
take the important steps toward
literacy, the Douglas College I-CARE
program was developed.

I-CARE, Individualized Commu-
nity Adult Reading Education, was
initiated in 1978. I-Care is for people
who don’t have the time to take a class
or who are intimidated by the regular
classroom. They often associate
school with failure and going out first
in the spelling-bee.

After an initial diagnostic assess-
ment, the I-CARE staff at Douglas
College developed a __ learning
program designed to meet a student's

 

MAD HATTER

specific needs. Randy, for instance,
was diagnosed at the grade five level.
He then was matched with a volun-
teer tutor who had completed fifty
hours of basic literacy workshops and
teaching practicums. Once matched,
the student and tutor meet two hours
each week.

Randy’s tutor, Sybil Bignell of
Coquitlam, volunteered for I-CARE
because she had “a heavy dose of the
empty nest syndrome.” In hopes that
she would be able to satisfy her
nurturing needs through volunteer
work, she watched the volunteer sec-
tion of the newspaper and read an ad
asking for J-CARE volunteers
possessing good reading and writing
skills.

Sybil felt she qualified, but said she
was unaware of the literacy issue. “I
thought it was a third world problem,
not a local problem,” Sybil said.

After joining I-CARE, Sybil knew
the kind of student she wanted:
someone with abilities that only nee-
ded to be exposed. After six months
of tutoring Randy, Sybil feels he is
just the right student for her.

Sybil’s student, Randy, joined I-
CARE after his wife saw Jack Webster
discussing it on his program. “I
didn’t know there was anything like
it,” Randy said.

Randy had been thinking of doing
some literacy work for quite awhile.
“T'd like to start a little business or get
my own truck,” Randy said. “But you
need to read to get your class one
ticket.”

Being the father of two school-aged
children has also strengthened his
committment to learning to read and
write. “When you've got kids, you've
got to be able to do homework with
them.”

Therefore, Randy has committed
himself to “studying for as long as it
takes” in order to master basic
literacy. Every Monday he quits work

 

 

 

early, telling his boss “that you know
I need grade eleven, at least, to get
anywhere.”

He meets Sybil at Douglas College
and begins the process of learning to
read and write. If you remember
Phonics, counting syllables and in-
dicating whether they are long or
short, you can relate to where Randy
is at right now.

Aspects of teaching that Sybil once
saw no reason for, she says now seem
essential. “Counting syllables helps
him with sounding out words and
helps his spelling.”

“I'm a terrible speller,” Randy con-
fesses. For instance, he says he forgot
how to spell “north.” “Just the way it
sounds,” Sybil replies.

But after six months of tutoring,
Sybil says she sees definite progress.
“He is making fuller sentences now,
gambling on writing more difficult
things . He is developing more confi-
dence.”

Excitedly she tells how Randy read
a condensed version of Jules Verne’s
“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” and
then heard Captain Nemo and the
Nautilus mentioned on the evening
news.

It gave Randy a tremendous sense
of achievement ,” Sybil said.

Now that he sees the value of
literacy, Randy has advice for youn-
ger people contemplating dropping
out of high school. “Don’t do it. Try
another school. Think less about
partying and think more about read-
ing something important. You'll have
lots of time to party later.”

For further information on the
Douglas College I-CARE program,
contact Carol Leyland at 520-5400.

 

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