I know I’m not the only one who struggles with reading and writing. Due to my struggles, I have spent my life thinking about what I couldn't do rather than what I can do. Thinking I am stupid, there is something wrong with me, asking myself how can everyone else know how to spell so many words. It still blows my mind.
After being incarcerated in 2017 at 40 years old, I thought this would be my opportunity to finally learn how to spell.
So I enrolled in English Studies (the only literacy subject offered through the education providers). I quickly realised this was a module of English Studies for immigrants learning English. I asked the education providers for any help, and the reply I received was no, we don't offer reading or spelling classes. It is really hard to teach adults how to spell, so I tried to round up my own resources. Things like getting the officers to print off the top 100 most-used words. That did not help much, so I gave up.
Six and a half years later I was part of an outside/inside program called "Future Shapers", where I told some of the participants about my struggles regarding literacy and numeracy difficulties and the lack of support. This sparked an outside-funded trial program called Toe by Toe.
Toe by Toe is a buddy system: one person is the reading coach, the other is the reader. The workbook cost $60. As you work through the lessons page by page you break down and decode English reading. I have now finished the lesson book and I feel so much more confident in reading and writing. This is not the end of my literacy journey, but it has reinforced my pathway to freedom. If you or someone you know struggles with literacy, please ask someone at your location to help start a Toe by Toe program. If they won’t help you, then buy the book yourself and find someone to sit with for 20 minutes, five days a week.
Believe me, you will not regret it. I would like to thank the Future Shapers Toe by Toe trial sponsors and our employment specialist for making this happen.
I would also like to thank Ben, my friend and reading coach, for sitting with me for the four-month duration of Toe by Toe.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
George
I know I’m not the only one who struggles with reading and writing. Due to my struggles, I have spent my life thinking about what I couldn't do rather than what I can do. Thinking I am stupid, there is something wrong with me, asking myself how can everyone else know how to spell so many words. It still blows my mind.
After being incarcerated in 2017 at 40 years old, I thought this would be my opportunity to finally learn how to spell.
So I enrolled in English Studies (the only literacy subject offered through the education providers). I quickly realised this was a module of English Studies for immigrants learning English. I asked the education providers for any help, and the reply I received was no, we don't offer reading or spelling classes. It is really hard to teach adults how to spell, so I tried to round up my own resources. Things like getting the officers to print off the top 100 most-used words. That did not help much, so I gave up.
Six and a half years later I was part of an outside/inside program called "Future Shapers", where I told some of the participants about my struggles regarding literacy and numeracy difficulties and the lack of support. This sparked an outside-funded trial program called Toe by Toe.
Toe by Toe is a buddy system: one person is the reading coach, the other is the reader. The workbook cost $60. As you work through the lessons page by page you break down and decode English reading. I have now finished the lesson book and I feel so much more confident in reading and writing. This is not the end of my literacy journey, but it has reinforced my pathway to freedom. If you or someone you know struggles with literacy, please ask someone at your location to help start a Toe by Toe program. If they won’t help you, then buy the book yourself and find someone to sit with for 20 minutes, five days a week.
Believe me, you will not regret it. I would like to thank the Future Shapers Toe by Toe trial sponsors and our employment specialist for making this happen.
I would also like to thank Ben, my friend and reading coach, for sitting with me for the four-month duration of Toe by Toe.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
George
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GROW is a community-based national organisation that works on mental wellbeing using a 12-step program of personal growth, mutual help and support. It operates through weekly peer support groups.
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