Blog

Good afternoon, everyone!

My name is Safa Bouaddi. I want to thank you for selecting me to receive the learner achievement award. Thanks also for all the help your foundation has provided me with throughout the past three years.

I immigrated to Canada in 2016 right after I finished high school in my home country of Morocco. After arriving to Canada, I decided to attend school. I was told that I needed a completion of certain subjects in high school to qualify for university entrance and pursue my journey of a career in education or health care. I upgraded a variety of subjects and fulfilled the graduation requirements in Nutana Collegiate and successfully graduated in 2019. It was then that my English journey began. I couldn’t get in to university without a language test. I tried taking it several times but I missed the requirement by half a point. It was then that I decided to search for help. I tried so many other organizations but they did not meet my needs as they taught basic English which was not my goal. I was looking for a place where I can get help with my areas of weakness when it comes to formal English including advanced writing, speaking, reading and listening skills. I came across The READ Saskatoon organization during my search within the internet. It was one of my neighbors, my current friend, and “grandma Shirley” who was familiar with READ Saskatoon and encouraged me to contact with them.

I contacted Beth at READ Saskatoon, explained my needs, and registered for help. After a of couple weeks, she assigned me, one-on-one, with one of the most wonderful people I have met in my life, Brenda. Brenda agreed to work with me in meeting my goals. We met at least weekly and sometimes more as needed. She helped me to gain self-confidence and improve numerous areas that I had been struggling with relating to my English. The areas included grammar, speaking, vocabulary and much more. Brenda was flexible for meeting times as I have a number of competing responsibilities such as working part-time, going to school full-time, and being a mom to my five-year-old son. Brenda’s coaching made a great impact in my professional and personal life. Thank you so much Brenda.

The past year, I was enrolled in the educational assistant program, which I completed in the spring and I am proud to say I graduated from with great distinction. Since then, I have been offered a full-time temporary position with the Saskatoon Public Schools as an Educational Assistant.

To conclude, I am still learning and improving my English as it is the key to my future success when it comes to becoming the person I want to be. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey and everyone who has donated to Foundations Learning and Skills Saskatchewan to provide needed help to adult learners like myself. You have made such a wonderful impact in my life. Thank you so much, you have contributed to my success.