About Tutoring in the Community | Community Adult Literacy Foundation (Inc.)

Does tutoring work?
Is it too late to learn?
The stories of some real adult learners

Does tutoring work?

Absolutely! Confidential 1:1 tutoring provides people with a unique opportunity to improve their literacy skills in a safe, low-risk environment, so they gain new confidence and are able to participate more fully in their home-life and at work.

By focussing on the needs of each adult learner and through using real-world materials and topics meaningful and relevant to each individual (in addition to main-stream tutoring resources of course), adults quickly begin to experience success at learning, sometimes for the first time in their lives.

Since volunteer community-tutoring began in 1977 in Western Australia, hundreds of literacy volunteers have helped thousands of adults to realise the unique opportunities for learning that 1:1 community-tutoring has given them.

In various externally–conducted assessments over the years, community-tutoring by Read Write Now! volunteers has consistently received exceptionally high satisfaction levels from its adult students.

1:1 community-tutoring is very effective

♦ COMMUNITY ADULT LITERACY FOUNDATION
supporting life-long learning… ♦

Is it too late to learn?

It’s never too late for adults to improve their literacy but the social isolation, shame and embarrassment felt by people with little or no reading or writing ability can make it hard for them to find out where to start.

Fear of failure and ridicule, especially in front of others, actually makes class or group-based learning impossible for many people.

Volunteer tutors build on the skills and life experience that each adult learner brings. Through mutual respect and trust, tutors help students to overcome their fears and learn new strategies, so they can take their first steps to improving their reading and writing and to support their independent development into the future.

is-ti-too-late-to-learn

The stories of some real adult learners

The following stories are of real adult learners, whose lives were changed for the better after they improved their reading and writing skills through volunteer community-tutoring. (*Names have been changed)

*Bob was a machine operator working in a remote mine site. Good at his job and popular with his co-workers, he was promoted to a supervisory role but found he lacked the writing and spelling skills needed for the new job and had to return to his former position. After 11 months tutoring, Bob improved his writing and had mastered the art of emailing. He’d learned how to write work reports and complex maintenance schedules with confidence and was promoted back to Supervisor within a year.

*Jess worked in various retail roles after Yr 10 at school, but always struggled with spelling names and addresses on customer invoices. Her employer completely undermined her confidence, openly ridiculing her in front of the other staff and customers, and she finally decided to leave that job. Attempting to gain a qualification at college, Jess panicked during a classroom test and walked out, feeling humiliated and useless.

After 18 months of tutoring, building her literacy skills and gaining new confidence, Jess had learned how to cope with workplace challenges. She’d found a new job, started to enjoy interacting with customers and was soon promoted to a managerial role, with responsibility for stock-taking and ordering. New skills and confidence led to new job security and even meant Jess and her partner felt ready to buy their first home.

*Rashid was 7 when he arrived in Australia and first learned English. After he finished school he did a few labouring jobs, then started an electrical trades apprenticeship when he was 29. Ras went really well learning on the job but found he couldn’t keep up with his college course work. He couldn’t write quickly enough in class and often missed the meaning of what he was reading, which meant he was answering questions incorrectly. Ras was embarrassed always being the last person to finish in class, especially as he was older than most of the others. Tutoring 1:1 provided him with exactly the right support he needed to improve his reading and comprehension skills and to speed up his writing. After a year of tutoring, Ras felt he had the skills to continue learning on his own and to complete his apprenticeship independently.