For the first twelve months of my learning experience I had one-­‐to-­‐one classes. I started by learning the sounds of each leer and then two-­‐leer sounds. I was as slow as a snail and it was so hard and frustrang at mes. I was then moved into a group. There we’d do a group warm-­‐up and then split up to do one-­‐to-­‐one sessions. At this stage of my learning, I felt I was making real progress. I became as hungry as a bear and was coming on in leaps and bounds.


When you’re an adult who can’t read or write, it’s hard! Because I look normal (maybe not what my mates say!) everybody just assumes you can. In a sad way I didn’t miss what I never had. I had my ways of geng by. I just accepted it, got on with it and made the best of it. But I always wished I could read and write. Now I have learned to read, it is a joy and thrill in my life.


Here are just few examples how reading has helped me since I learnt, and, of course, what I missed out on all those wasted years. Buying a newspaper is something I’ve done every day since I started work at the age of sixteen over thirty years ago. I did so because that’s what everyone else did, so I wanted to be the same. I looked at the pictures and tried to work out the stories that were illustrated by the pictures. Aer a bit, I started to recognise the easy words and kind of make sense of the arcles in my own way.


My tutors have encouraged me to read books. They introduced me to Quick Reads and the Open Door series which are wrien for adults but which are not over-­‐long or parcularly wordy. I have read quite a few now and have really enjoyed most of them. Time is my biggest enemy however when I’m reading! So I always keep a book in my jacket pocket in case I get a chance to dip in. A few years ago at my literacy class I, along with my fellow learners, was challenged to write a story on the subject of “A Day Like This” for the Scosh Book Trust. I wrote about my experiences as an adult literacy learner. When I am wring about myself it helps me believe in myself. And it showed on paper how much progress I was making.


One of the biggest benefits for me was being able to leave notes for my wife and kids and also wring down messages from phone calls. Before, I couldn’t think about doing either. It was always a big problem for me. I couldn’t write a note to Mary to tell her I’d gone out, where I was or what me to expect me home. Taking names and addresses over the phone was a nightmare. That nightmare has become a beer dream. Another plus is being able to read instrucons for myself, and not relying on someone else to do it for me. Medicaon was always a difficult one because that’s something you can’t really safely guess at, but I did somemes! Other more obvious examples are form filling, raffle ckets, compeon forms and so on where you have at a minimum to be able to write your name and address. When I’m out and about I can now read, and, more importantly, understand signs and direcons. How important is that?


I used to have to kid on I was, for example, reading a newspaper when everyone else around me was reading theirs. You can get quite good at bluffing. More importantly for my sanity I don’t have to be dishonest or lie about it any more. I feel in this regard that it has made me a beer person and I am more comfortable in and with myself. One of my biggest thrills is being able to read what I want. A parcular interest of mine is whisky. Tasng it (in moderaon of course!) is what it’s all about, but being able to read about the different types of whisky and its manufacture is a real thrill for me now. Now I subscribe to two whisky magazines. I really enjoy reading whisky reference books. This has got me reading avidly at home. I now own about 45 different whisky books and aim to add more. Only last week I pre-­‐ordered a whisky book which will not be published for another four months. I can’t walk past a book shop now without going in. And to think that not all that long ago I didn’t even noce books or bookshops! To be honest I was scared of them.


And so my adult learning has helped me loads. From what I’ve recorded I hope you can see I feel different, something which has improved my life. I can’t commend highly enough the people I’ve worked with (tutors and fellow learners), the methods used or the valuable material I’ve worked with. I really wish everyone with my experience could benefit the same!


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