National Adult Literacy Database

This five-minute video is one of a series prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), featuring adult learners explaining how improving their literacy skills changed their lives.

The subject of this video is a 44-year-old man who grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and, from the beginning, struggled academically in his small rural school. He dropped out of school and eventually ended up in jail.

After getting out of jail, he turned to a literacy organization in Saskatoon where, with the help of tutors, he learned to read fluently. By the end of the video, he is working as a waiter in a large hotel in Ottawa.