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Gloria Escobar: Making Up for the Past

All learners coming to Project Read have a goal in mind; to be able to use reading and writing skills to better their lives is often the basis and the motivating factor. Gloria Escobar is no different; for her, she has come to the program to aid her in reaching her long term goal of becoming a social worker.
        Frustrated with her slow progress in learning to read and write, Gloria came to Project Read. She had been in school before, but didn’t feel as if it helped her – a class setting didn’t seem to work for her, and she was eager to work one-to-one with a tutor. “Trying to spell and pronounce words was frustrating – the teacher didn’t help me – he would say I didn’t need to know that….‘you don’t need to know sounds, you want to learn to read.’ But how can I read if I can’t sound it out? That was most frustrating part about it, so I stopped going. I didn’t feel it was helping.
       Gloria has been with Project Read for the past 6 months. To ensure her steady progress, Gloria works with three tutors, and also spends time practicing her skills in the Computer Learning Lab. Education has become very important to her. “Not being able to read or get a job. Now that I have babies, it’s hard to read a book. Now I know it’s important.” She has two children: a son, Miguel who’s 4, and a daughter, Alicia who turned 2 on July 6.
        As a result of reading and writing better, Gloria’s long-term goal is to be able to go into social work, or assisting people. Gloria was recently emancipated from the foster care system, and is now living on her own. Being in foster care since 1992 gave her a lot of insight. “It was easy – I didn’t have to worry about anything – people had to worry about me. Now that I have my babies, I have something to worry about. And now, being out on my own, I see how hard it is to make it by myself. And having to spend and make my own money! In foster care, they give you money, so you don’t feel like spending – I mean, you don’t think about spending the money. Now that I’m on my own, I worry about spending $20! Everything is so expensive. Everything is different – it’s a lot harder.”
        If she could have done anything differently, Gloria believes she would have accomplished things that she should have done earlier – and education is on the top of her list. “It’s too late to change the past, but now I want to make up for it.” Her tutors are Linda Ramey, Francky  Sahmel and Andrea Weiss. “They’re pretty good.” The sessions “go good – they’re not too long.” Gloria also spends time in the Computer Lab working on different software (as this article is being prepared, Gloria and Linda are working on the Ultimate Phonics software). Gloria is also excited about the time she spends on the computer. “I know how to type – not fast enough, but I want to use some of the different programs that will help me in my sessions.” She also wants to be able to use e-mail and send messages to other students in other programs as well as e-mailing her tutors.
        Some of the things Gloria wants to be able to do are write a letter, fill out job applications, read books to her children. “I am starting to do that now!” Before she would give up as she read, now “I try to sound it out.”
        Advice she has for others: “Stay in school.  If you’re with a tutor, study and work hard, and keep trying. Without reading and writing you can’t do nothing. You can’t get a job. If you go to the dentist, you can’t fill out the paperwork. So you have to study and work hard.”