Το στοίχημα εσείς δεν μπορείτε να διαβάσετε αυτό. Bet you can’t read this, at least not without a Greek language tutorial.
Now imagine yourself surrounded by these intimidating shapes – in newspapers, webpages, street signs, grocery stores …
Now imagine yourself in a place where you’re not only bombarded by these funny squiggles every day, but you’re expected to know exactly what it means.
Welcome to the frightening world of the illiteracy.
Take a quick trip to Google and you’ll find that approximately 51 million adults (that’s 23% of the adult population) are illiterate in the U.S., according to the Department of Education. UNESCO says there are an estimated 799 million illiterate adults in the world, about two-thirds of whom are women. Geez. That’s a lot of people who can’t read. And you can’t help them all – but just like the starfish story, you can help one.
Almost 10 years ago in Columbus, Ohio, I spent two hours each Monday night for the better part of a year with Susan, who read at the primary grade level. Not surprisingly, I learned more about life from Susan than she ever learned about phonetics. She taught me the clever coping skills of the illiterate. She learned to memorize words and patterns and what it meant, but if the word order was mixed up she was lost. Since she couldn’t drive she memorized the Columbus bus routes. She’d tell a waiter or fast food clerk that she forgot her glasses and couldn’t read the menu – then listen carefully as it was explained to her.
Susan’s goal was to read the Bible. “Genesis”, “beginning”, “created” – each of those words could take two hours to learn – and that was the first sentence. Instead, we tackled one- and two-syllable words in her workbooks using vowel sounds, rhymes and wherever else imagination took us. And each time she’d reach an “aha” moment and sound out a new word on her own, her face beamed with absolute joy, pride and a renewed sense of determination and confidence. I wouldn’t have traded those moments for the world.
Susan might be a better reader today, and I know I’m a better person. Not a bad tradeoff, at least from this end. And there’s plenty of opportunity for you do the same. Your nearest computer screen, school or library can get you started. Check these for starters:
http://www.umbc.edu/alrc/dirintro.html
http://www.lcnv.org/MSIE/homesite.htm
http://www.sailor.lib.md.us/MD_topics/edu/_lit.html
Βγείτε και επιστρέψτε, er, Get out and give back.
Jane Hess is a free-lance writer and life coach. You can send your comments to getoutandgiveback@hotmail.com
