Foreign-trained dentist and orthodontist Natasha Shmakova wants to practise in Canada but first she has to brush up on her English language skills.
She moved from Moscow to Red Deer in 2010 to be close to family and to try something new.
Although she studied English throughout her life, Shmakova, 43, quickly realized she needed to improve her literacy skills.
Shmakova is one of the many adult learners in the one-on-one tutoring program at Red Deer Public Library.
To mark International Literacy Day and to highlight the importance of life-long learning, the G.H. Dawe branch of the library will host a special literacy awareness event with Red Deer writer Andrew Kooman on Thursday from 6:30 – 8 p.m. Information on the library’s literacy programming will be available.
The library’s adult literacy program was initially developed for Canadians who did not finish high school and wanted to improve their skills. Now these students are the minority with English as a Second Language learners making up the majority of students accessing the services.
Last year 257 students from Canada and other countries like Korea, Russia and Iran participated in the library literacy programs. Generally tutors meet with their student for two hours a week.
There are students from war torn countries who did not have the chance at a formal education in their home countries. There’s also professional learners who are trying to qualify to practise medicine or dentistry in Canada.
“Over the last 20 years our communities have changed so much,” said Adult Literacy co-ordinator Lois Prostebby.
“And there are jobs now people can do without a lot of literacy skills. When the economy boomed, we had very few of those students. Now we are having a lot of those students come back.”
But there are also those workers who decided to switch careers. Many realized they needed proper reading and writing skills to have more employment opportunities.
At any given time there are about 50 people on the waiting list for the tutoring program. Prostebby said this highlights the importance of literacy in every day life. At the end of 2011, a two-year enhanced learning grant from Alberta Advanced Education and Technology will run out.
The funding was used in part to run community programs with the Red Deer Public School District, and public speaking, speech and conversations classes at the library. Prostebby said the library works closely with Central Alberta Refugee Effort and Red Deer College to ensure services do not over lap and to point learners in the right direction for specific programs.
“There’s always people we feel are slipping through the cracks,” she said. “None of us can provide all the services . . . We need sustained government funding to keep these programs running. Unless we find other avenues of funding all those classes and initiatives that we started in 2009 will not go forward.”
In the meantime, Shmakova will continue to work with her tutor to improve her English skills.
This fall, she will apply to an orthodontics program at Edmonton’s University of Alberta because her professional certification is not recognized in Canada.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com