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  • 1 year ago
A program aimed at improving the literacy skills of Aboriginal and Torres strait islander adults is set to expand to more regional communities. Participants in far north Queensland say going back into the classroom later in life has helped them turn their lives around boosting their job prospects and helping them connect with their children.

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00:00Mustering up courage
00:04Good morning, Hawaii. Good morning.
00:06To get back into the classroom.
00:08I try to tell them to break that shameless barrier in front of you, you know.
00:12A First Nations-led literacy program has now helped more than 500 adults fill gaps in their knowledge.
00:19Oh, it's pretty complicated and hard, you know.
00:22But now, since I've come to this course, I really know how to read and write now.
00:27The Literacy for Life Foundation estimates more than 40% of Aboriginal adults have low English language literacy,
00:34but in some remote communities, that figures as high as 90%.
00:38By having one literate person in a household then has a ripple effect on other people living in that house.
00:46The program partly credits its success to having classes taught by community members,
00:51some of whom began as students in the same course at Yarrabah in Far North Queensland.
00:56I'm pretty glad people in the community look after me like a leader in some way.
01:0326-year-old Ashley Richards and her partner Lex Costello have just graduated,
01:07two weeks after the birth of their third child.
01:10Probably trying to do more courses.
01:13Hopefully find a job. Once baby gets a bit bigger.
01:17The foundation has received funding to expand to three more Queensland communities,
01:21but advocates say the nation needs to invest much more in closing the literacy gap.
01:26Working with people that are functionally illiterate takes a lot longer than six months or twelve months to get people,
01:33even being able to walk in the door and undertake a set one level course.
01:38I'm really grateful for where I am and how far I come from and it's really teaching me a lot.
01:44that dall ludzi Lorde.
01:47That is a true protection of a village God to have access me to by the people who are life does.
01:48To meet my helper and all women who are accessing us,
01:50I appreciate that!
01:51mass differences.
01:52If you say hello, see you've a job or see what your hunting your evening makes a meeting.
01:53You don't know why you are saving them,
01:54people who don't think they look either.
01:55I yap the Johan Holiday School who prefer theach to at Sea Inc JON process,
01:56wake hand them to go Brother Sandillo.
01:57And you only have to wait six months to River Island for Luzon uno phase,
01:59the offering people who have met people with bringing farmers to Italy in far space is great.
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