Learning English

Truddy
I think for me, my life never stops. You know, I'm always on the go. I've got four children. It can get quite interesting; it can get stressful. On Sunday, we go to church. Church has become very much a part of our lives. It's given us a social life. When we get back from church, we do three sets of washing. We get homework out of the way. We get violin practice out of the way.

Sometimes, you just need somewhere to just go and be you, and have a quiet moment. And my garden is my sanctuary window. Sometimes, I just sit there, you know, and listen to the birds and think how far I've come, you know, despite all the odds.

I'm currently studying children's literature and it's my final year of study. The project I did is part of my distance-learning course. It's about children's literature, say, from the beginning of when people started to write for children, and how it's evolved over the years. You choose a question, and then you sort-of bring together all the assignments that you've done.

The length of the project is different from the normal assignments: it's twice the normal assignments. It's involved a lot of online research, a lot of group discussions, and media research, which I find difficult. You get placed within a group, and then you choose a book, and then you discuss it. If you choose a book that's been made into a film, you also have to look at the film; look at the reviews and the criticisms it's had, and then you compare and contrast it.

I did online research on various criticisms, but the majority of it was writing: I did a lot of writing. You have an introduction. You have your body and the conclusion. For me, it was a big challenge. Fortunately for me, my group were very supportive.

With an assignment sometimes, I can sit there in one day and write it. In writing a project, you've got enough time to do it. You get somebody to read it for you to see that it makes sense and I don't often get to do that with my assignments.

I suffer from sickle cell disease: it's a genetic illness, so it constantly makes me anaemic. I haven't got an immune system because of that, so I tend to spend a fair bit of time in hospital. Distance learning has been good for me because it has reduced that travelling to university, and your disability shouldn't limit you. So, you're here to dictate to that disability and not the other way around.

Currently, I work as a teaching assistant. On a daily basis, my job is very interesting; no one day is the same. I do love my job. I think the children bring the best out of me, and hopefully I bring the best out of them as well. After I've graduated, I hope to train as a primary school teacher, come out as a professional despite all my difficulties, and make my children proud.

Go the distance.