Canandaigua Woman Becomes U.S. Citizen With Help From Literacy Volunteers

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey — Literacy Volunteers of Ontario and Yates

November 17, 2025 Paul Szmal 9:28

The logo for Literacy Volunteers of Ontario + Yates, an organization featured on the FLX Morning Podcast.

or listen on

A Brazilian immigrant living in Canandaigua recently became a United States citizen after more than a year of preparation — with crucial support from Literacy Volunteers of Ontario and Yates, a local nonprofit that helps community members improve their English and reach personal milestones.

Silmara Bailey, who has lived in Canandaigua for about a year after previously spending time elsewhere in the U.S., was sworn in as a citizen at Rochester City Hall in October 2025. She began preparing for the naturalization exam in October 2024 — a full year before the ceremony — working with volunteer tutors at Literacy Volunteers to study U.S. history, practice pronunciation, and work on English writing skills.

The citizenship exam is a multi-step process. An interviewing officer asks up to 20 civics questions, of which applicants must answer 12 correctly. The exam was recently updated — the question pool expanded from 100 to 128 possible questions just within the past month. Applicants must also read and write a sentence in English, and the officer evaluates overall spoken English proficiency throughout the interview. Bailey waited seven months between submitting her application and her interview appointment, using that time to continue studying and practicing with her tutor.

Bailey said the most exciting part of becoming a citizen is the freedom it brings — including the ability to vote and to travel internationally without the restrictions she faced as a permanent resident. She was also surprised to find another person from Brazil being sworn in at the same Rochester ceremony.

Liz Searle, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Ontario and Yates, said Bailey’s story reflects the kind of community impact the organization strives for. All tutors are volunteers who receive training and ongoing support from the organization as they work with learners on individualized education plans.

Those interested in volunteering — whether or not they’re sure how their skills might fit — are encouraged to reach out. Literacy Volunteers of Ontario and Yates can be contacted by email at [email protected] or through their website at lvoi.org, where an inquiry form is available.

Read Full Transcript

Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues, it is 8.15, cloudy skies right now, temperature at 31. Let's welcome in our guests this morning, first off we have Liz Cyril from Literacy Volunteers of Ontario and Yates. Good morning Liz.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Hi Paul.

Paul Szmal: And also joining us is a Literacy Volunteers learner from Brazil, Silmara Bailey. Silmara, good morning. How are you this morning?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Good morning. I'm doing well, thank you. How about you?

Paul Szmal: Ah, doing well, yes, doing well.

Originally you're from Brazil, Silmara?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Sorry, can you repeat please?

Paul Szmal: Yes, okay. What brought you to the United States?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Canandaigua.

Paul Szmal: Okay, okay. How long have you been in Canandaigua?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: One year. Not just a year, wow. Yes, before I lived in Phelps, almost four years.

Paul Szmal: Okay.

You have recently become a United States citizen. You took the citizenship oath back in October. When did you start preparing for the exam that you had to take?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: I started last year, October.

Paul Szmal: And what sort of help did you get from the folks at Literacy Volunteers in preparing for that exam?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: They helped me with the U.S. history, also a hundred questions.

Paul Szmal: Now, I imagine those questions probably seemed like a lot to handle.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Yes.

Paul Szmal: Yeah, it can be. Preparing for the citizenship exam is actually a pretty rigorous routine. Were you nervous at all about taking the exam or did you feel like you were prepared when you went in?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: I was feel tense.

Paul Szmal: I can understand that, certainly, yes. But you passed. You did tremendously well, obviously. And congratulations on your U.S. citizenship.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Thank you.

Paul Szmal: What was the most challenging part of the whole thing, do you think?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: I think everything, because I had three steps. The first step, the official asked me about questions. She asked me ten questions. I answered six correct, then I passed. After that, I read. The third step, I wrote one sentence. After that, she asked me a lot of questions about my life here. That's it.

Paul Szmal: Okay, okay.

Tell me about the big day itself, the day you were sworn in as a U.S. citizen. I imagine that was pretty exciting.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Oh, yes. The most important, I believe, that day, we went to the city hall in Rochester. I think almost 50 people swore in that day. Also, I had one guy from Brazil, too. I'm surprised.

Paul Szmal: There was another person being sworn in who was from Brazil?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Yes.

Paul Szmal: Oh, I didn't know that. That's great.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Yes, absolutely.

Paul Szmal: What does it mean to you to have that U.S. citizenship now?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Now, I can vote. Now, I feel freedom. I can go everywhere in other countries. I don't need more stay. Before, I cannot stay more than one year in the United States. Now, if I can go everywhere, I can stay there how long I want to.

Paul Szmal: Yes, depending on the program that an individual is in the U.S. under. You need to be a lawful permanent resident with a green card in order to apply for naturalization. You can travel outside the country, but there's limitations on how long you can be away. I know Silmara is looking forward to going home to Brazil to visit family and not have to worry about that restriction.

What else are you looking forward to doing now that you're a U.S. citizen, Silmara?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: I think I look for federal jobs.

Paul Szmal: Okay. I think that and being able to travel back home are two excellent goals to strive for. Congratulations on the work that you've done to get to this point so far. It is not easy work to do.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Yes, thank you.

Paul Szmal: You're quite welcome.

Liz, we'd like to bring success stories like this along to show people the positive effects that literacy volunteers of Ontario Yates can have.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Right. We love to work with folks on whatever aspect of literacy they want to improve. In Silmara's case, she wanted to prepare for the citizenship exam. That's a pretty involved process. The application itself is pretty involved. Lots of questions that get into a lot of interesting topics about you and your life and behavior. Preparing for the questions themselves.

The exams recently changed. Just in the last month, it used to be that you had to study 100 questions. Now you have to know the answers to 128 questions. You can be asked any of those, but you will be asked a maximum of 20 now. You have to answer 12 correctly. Then, as Silmara said, there's the reading portion. Oftentimes, we'll have learners that come to us and they want to really work on their pronunciation and their spoken English because that's part of the assessment that the interviewer is considering.

Does this person speak English sufficiently well? Then, I think she was most nervous about the writing part because some words. English is an interesting language. Lots of words sound the same but are spelled differently and that sort of thing. It also can be a lengthy process because from the time you apply, you need to wait for your interview appointment. I believe Silmara had to wait seven months between those two dates during which she just studied and worked on her pronunciation and continued to prepare for it. Obviously, did very well.

Paul Szmal: Yes, she did. She did.

All right. Silmara, thank you for joining us. I really appreciate it. I wish you the best of success going forward and moving on in your life here as a United States citizen.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Thank you.

Paul Szmal: Liz, let's talk for a minute or two, if we can, about how volunteers play a role in people like Silmara having these success stories.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Absolutely. As our name would imply, we do rely on volunteers. All of our tutors are volunteers. These are really committed community members who decide they want to give back and help other folks in the community. We provide them some training and then support throughout their time with us as they're working with learners. We create education plans and provide resources and advice and support on lessons and how to move forward so that the learner can reach their goals. It's all community volunteers that we wouldn't be able to provide our services without them.

Paul Szmal: And if people would like to volunteer, maybe they're not sure how their skill set might fit in, what's a good way for them to kind of get their foot in the door and explore the possibilities?

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Just contact us and we're happy to talk to you about everything that's involved. You can send us an email at info at lvoy.org or you can go to our website, which is lvoy.org, and click through the tabs. You'll find a form where you can just send an inquiry and we'll reach out and talk to you about the entire process.

Paul Szmal: Wonderful. All right. As always, Liz, we appreciate it. Thank you very much and we'll check in with you in a month's time.

Liz Searle, Silmara Bailey: Great. Thanks so much, Paul.

Paul Szmal: It is 825 on FLX Morning.