Could you become a coach with 'Read Easy', a Literacy Charity?
- RW
- Apr 1
- 2 min read
When Anita McCarthy left school she could not read and life was a challenge – but now her life has been transformed by the literacy charity Read Easy.
Anita, who lives in Amesbury, started learning with South and East Wiltshire Read Easy Coach, Kay, just over a year ago. At that time she knew the names of all the letters in the alphabet but none of the sounds.
Now, with the help of Kay, she has produced a book called 'A Year in the Life of Anita' and is proud of her achievements.
Kay said: “Our idea was that we should take Anita’s life and put that into some sort of format that a) interested her and b) enabled her to pick up more words.”
Anita added: “It was me that came up with the idea of writing the book.” And, as Kay says, it was a proper process as Anita dictated the words to Kay. They then came up with drafts and made decisions about what to put in and what to leave out. Reading words with personal connections to her life experiences was really powerful.
When asked what the process has meant to Anita, she said: “It has made me happy but I'm also shocked that I’ve done it.” And, because of her work with Kay, she can now read a lot of the book herself. At Christmas she presented it to her mum who is very proud of her.
Anita loves working with Kay and describes the work as being ‘fun’. Kay added: “We work a lot from the manual and we do over-learning by using games and activities.”
Her work with Kay has changed Anita: “I was quite nervous to begin with and I thought I wasn’t going to go, I’m not perfect,” she said. “Now I’m proud of what I’m doing and I’m happy.” She volunteers for Oxfam on Tuesday mornings and the Children’s Society on Friday mornings, both in Salisbury, and she combines that work with her two weekly sessions with Kay in Salisbury Library.
South and East Wiltshire Read Easy, which is affiliated to the national Read Easy organisation*, is a literacy charity that provides free one-to one coaching in public places like the library that also have some quiet areas to work.
If you would like to become a Coach with Read Easy, please email sewrecruiter@readeasy.org.uk or call 07942 382318.
For more information contact Dickie Bellringer at sewpublicity@readeasy.org.uk or call 07870 951649.
*Read Easy Registered Charity no.1151288 website: https://readeasy.org.uk/
