Kathy piloted the Read/Write Project in Pinch er Creek in 1985. In 1989 she was successful in securing joint funding from Secretary of State and the Department of Alberta Advanced Education for the 2 year Partnership Approach to Literacy (PAL) Project. The Project is entering its second year and to date Kathy is very pleased with the results.

Volunteer tutors from the community are trained to understand the different reading styles strengths and preferences that people have both as children and adults. After 12 hours of training the volunteers choose whether they would like to work with children or adults.

Those who choose to work with children are assigned a student who has been identified as having difficulties with reading. The tutor works closely with the teacher and the child's parents to find more appropriate ways to teach and help the child learn. MURIAL MACPHERSON, a trained reading specialist, assesses the students and is the project link between the teachers, parents, tutors and students. Kathy sits on the PAL Advisory Committee and oversees the workings of the Project and soon hopes to have PAL active in four schools in Pincher Creek from kindergarten to Grade 12.

"Right now," Kathy told me, "we have 30 elementary student/tutor pairs and about 20 pairs in the adult literacy program. I'm really pleased with the response we've had especially from the parents. I held a Parent's Night to encourage parents to read at home with their kids. They really got a lot out of it. The PAL Project is a real community, family Project."

"It costs about $36,000 a year to properly run PAL in the Pincher Creek area. That's the cost of one teacher. It is a good investment because the teachers have more productive time with their students at a more communal level and the resource room teachers and specialists have more reasonable workloads and can work more exclusively with children who have more difficult learning disabilities."

Having some lunch in the kitchen of Kathy's home nestled in the coolees of Pincher Creek a few miles west of town I commended Kathy for her reading styles advocacy. "Thanks," she said genuinely, "but it's hard you know. In some places I'm still regarded as a 'kook' because of my simplistic approach. But I really feel that what we need in literacy is a simplistic approach. I would like to do my Masters just to make my credentials more legitimate but raising a family doesn't allow for that right now."

It was early afternoon. I left Kathy wrapping up small gifts for some of her ESL students from the Read/Write Project who had invited us to join them for a Chinese New Year's celebration that evening at the Chinese restaurant they owned in town. Kathy suggested that I practice saying "Kung Fat Choy" (Happy New Year) in preparation for the dinner.

I drove out to the main highway and turned west to Crowsnest Pass where I had agreed to meet PAT BUCKLAND at the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. The highway wound through foothills then began to cut into the sides of the mountains. Before long I felt surrounded by the huge rock formations; the view around each turn in the road more breathtaking than the last.

The Frank Slide Interpretive Centre is an information centre built on the remains of a huge rock slide that happened in 1903. Travellers stop here to get a closer look at the crumpled face of the mountain. Local artists are encouraged to display their work in the beautiful gallery in the centre of the building which is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows and a spectacular view of the mountains.