Nadine also discussed the kinds of literacy skills, tasks, and practices that she wanted to learn to do: "I can say the word but I just can't spell it. I want to write, to fill out forms, how to look for a job. When I go to the supermarket, I want to make a list for the things I buy there." Ideally, she would like to work part–time and continue to attend the literacy program. "It's important to get a job too. But I want a job in the afternoon and I go to school in the morning." A couple of years after leaving the general literacy program, Nadine returned, was told about the newly established employment preparation program, and decided to register.

Stacey

Stacey is a single mom with an older teenage daughter. She came to Canada in 1979 when she was 24, after living in a refugee camp on the Thai Cambodian border. While growing up in Cambodia, she had never attended school. Her literacy struggles are further compounded by her ethnicity and first language. Although raised in Cambodia, she is ethnically Thai, which is also her first language. She explained that she does not have literacy skills in either Thai or Khmer, a Cambodian language. The only language she has learned to read and write is English, her fourth language (she also speaks Vietnamese). Stacey is a petite woman with a very pleasant round face and sparkling brown eyes. She giggles easily and often, and appears to be an easy–going and happy person. But her frequent laughter hides a tension and anxiety that bubbles beneath the surface. This tension has been known to well up and has been directed at meeker students when Stacey becomes impatient and feels the need to assert her control in a situation.

Stacey, like Nadine, didn't talk about childhood education experiences, but instead focused on her experiences as an adult. Also like Nadine, Stacey had attended the general literacy program for a few years before enrolling in the employment preparation program. She compared the two programs and said she missed doing some of the literacy skill activities she used to do in the general literacy program.

I miss, like Nadine said, to write letter, computer and comma…the end and dot. I miss that. I want to learn that again you know. Now we don't have much, like writing and reading. We don't have much now. I need that very much. But now we have coffee shop. We don't learn much English.

She readily agreed with Nadine's suggestion that it would be an ideal situation to work part–time and continue to attend the literacy program part–time.