10 Apr Story from our phone lines
A youth worker, Mary* from an Aboriginal Corporation in a remote community phoned the Hotline for literacy support for three of her “out of school” clients aged 16 and 17 years old. Mary added that there were other young people in their service who will need similar support.
The Hotline provided a referral to a program and some interim literacy resources for one of the young women who was keen to learn. Mary had been attempting to tutor her with school resources at year 2 level, but felt that progress was slow, partly because she has no teaching background and the student was at a beginner level. The Hotline forwarded printed and electronic resources for Mary’s client and some post-beginner First Nations books for the Corporation’s other clients.
The Hotline teacher provided Mary with some fundamentals of literacy and numeracy tutoring to help her provide ongoing support. The teacher introduced her to the Hotline’s website and resources such as Inception Comics (a series of comics for First Nations young people). She also showed her the beginning workbooks for downloading and printing.
Mary is keen to begin immediately with the workbooks and was very appreciative of the help. She was also interested in becoming an adult literacy teacher, so the Hotline sent her information on courses and the Hotline’s individual tutor training program. Mary promised to keep the Hotline in touch with her clients’ literacy progress and to call back if she needed further help.
*not her real name