John is a 47-year old English-as-a-Second Dialect speaker from Northern Saskatchewan who grew up in a Cree and English-speaking household. Although he had some schooling in English, he found school a difficult place to be and did not return to school after 16.

John's main concern is his reading and writing - he has a lot of difficulty with both. Ultimately, he is interested in getting a better job but needs to improve his skills before he can do so. Presently, he works in landscaping (and does a bit of carpentry) but it is getting harder and harder to do this job with his bad back.

When he speaks, he does not use standard English (and he wants to be able to call upon standard English when he feels it is necessary.) He wants help with vowel sounds (such as the difference between /ow/ as in boat and the /uw/ sound as in boot.) He often uses an /s/ sound in words such as shoe and church.

He wants to have informal sessions, and dislikes tests of any sort. One of the reasons that he didn't like school was because the teacher concentrated too much on the "little things." The atmosphere in the classroom was not good, and he hated having to make presentations in front of the other students.

He is interested in art and loves to draw. He loves working outdoors. He is not entirely sure what job he would like to do next; at this time, he is considering starting a fly-in fish camp with some friends.