Voices of Project Literacy - Watertown Free Public Library

When I came to the U.S, I had four childrenand I couldn’t speak English. I needed to go tothe doctor and I needed to talk to their teachers,but I didn’t really know any English, so that’s whyI began to learn English at Project Literacy.Now I feel a lot better knowing that I canunderstand what my doctors and teachersare saying when they’re talking to me. I’verecently gotten my Drivers License and my Citizenship. I want to thank you because,if we didn’t have free classes, we wouldn’t be able to do most of the things that we do inour daily life now. Thank You.– Haseen Ahmed, StudentI think the best partnerships are reciprocal, and I have gotten a lot out of the experienceof being a Project Literacy tutor. I admire my student’s courage, openness, curiosity, grace,and capacity for appreciation and learning. Each week, we work hard, laugh, problem-solveand share highlights or lowlights of our respective weeks. Seeing Watertown and Bostonthrough another’s lens broadens my own perspective on things I might take for granted.Over the shared desire to communicate, we have found common ground. I look forwardto our time together, and I love seeing the good progress made month to month.– Kate Lanou, TutorWhen I was new in this country, everything was new for me. I hadn’t gotten my driver’slicense yet, so I walked everywhere. I wanted to go to my friend’s house and I took ashort-cut. I realized I was walking too far and also this area wasn’t familiar to me. I gotvery anxious and started to cry and walked some more, until I saw a policeman and wentto him. When he saw me crying, he walked toward me curiously. He asked me “Whathappened? Why are you crying?” and I explained. So he told me as a joke, “if you won’tstop crying, I won’t show you the way.” The policeman left the person he was helping tocome and help me.– Naira Bilbulyan, Student17