Literacy charity helps woman have independence

Jessica Wang said Read Easy had helped her understand addresses at her job

A charity that teaches people how to read has helped a woman to become more independent.

English is not Jessica Wang's first language, and she found that she struggled at her job in a takeaway in Telford and needed help from her daughter.

For about 18 months she has been attending coaching sessions with Read Easy Telford in Donnington Library in Shropshire.

"Before some customer details, some addresses, I didn't know how to read them," she told the BBC. "Now it's easier to do things myself, my shopping… I helped my husband register at the GP. I can do it myself."

Mrs Wang was paired up with a volunteer reading coach - Wendy Parkes - who helped her learn how to read.

Wendy Parkes started volunteering after she retired and was paired with Mrs Wang

To learn the addresses, Ms Parkes used local maps and also helped Mrs Wang to say street names and the names of routes on the way to her customers.

"Some of the things Jessica does now she doesn't rely on translation tools as much as she used to; she's just doing more for herself, and I've seen her confidence grow a lot. It's really nice and puts a smile on my face," said Ms Parkes.

"As well as reading the words, we'll go on to understand and discuss what the words mean."

She began volunteering for the charity after seeing an advert on Facebook not long after she retired.

"I thought this would be something that would be interesting to me and would also help somebody learn to read, because I love reading and couldn't imagine not being able to read," she said.

"I'm not a teacher; I'm a coach more than anything, and I'm just helping."