I was interested to know what future plans Margot has for her work in literacy. "I'm aware that the program isn't working for certain people. It doesn't work for the 'just out of teenager' crowd - there are too many other distractions. And it doesn't work for the guy who's just joined AA and wants to really make some changes in his life. Working with a tutor once a week for an hour and a half just isn't enough. I would really like to have a learning centre set up and maybe a "store front" drop in centre downtown for the kids."

"And I'm finding that family literacy interests me more and more. I'm also sitting on the Advisory Committee for the Native Friendship Literacy Program which is going to be quite a learning experience for me. So I'm certainly not bored!"

Later that afternoon I drove to Coaldale, a farming community half an hour northeast of Lethbridge. VAL MILLIONS runs the Lethbridge County Adult Literacy Project out of the County of Lethbridge Building which is just off the main street of Coaldale. Next door to Val's office is the office of the County of Lethbridge Further Education Council. When I arrived Val and Mary, the Further Education Coordinator, were busy stuffing registration packages for the first annual Lethbridge Woman's Conference. Val had been helping Mary with the Conference plans for months and they were both excited about the event which was being held the next day.

Val told Mary she'd be back later then took me across the hall to her office. I didn't want to take too much of her time so I got my tape recorder out and right away asked Val to tell me what it had been like for her 2 years ago when she started her literacy program.

"Well," Val said, settling into her chair and switching gears, "I did a lot of 'street-walking'. I went from town to town trying to spread the word about the program. I made up posters and bookmarks and put them around all the busy places in the different towns. I went and spoke to various groups - church groups, business groups, anyone who would listen! One day I knocked on the door of the Legion Hall in Barrens. I had seen someone go in the door and I thought, 'Hmm, there's a good place to put up a poster'. So I went in and the fellow said, 'Sure, a poster's no problem, and you know, we need a speaker for Wednesday night - would you like to come?' I always got a good reception and a warm welcome wherever I went."

"I knew it was important to get the word out but it was frustrating because I knew that the people who needed the help most were the people who were the hardest ones to let know that this program is available for them. Most of the students would have to learn about the program through word of mouth and that takes time. I didn't expect the phone to be ringing off the wall at first but sitting and waiting was hard. After awhile the phone did ring and I now have five student/tutor pairs working together."

Val described some of the students to me then asked, "Do you remember how every class you were in in school always had one or two 'class clowns' - the kids who acted up and were always being disciplined by the teacher? I'm sure that a couple of my students were once class clowns."

"I do remember," I said to Val, thinking back to my own school days. "Those kids really used to intrigue me because they always seemed to have the most fun even though they got yelled at a lot." Val and I laughed at the image of all the literacy programs being full of class clowns.