Share a Student Success!
Every session you tutor your student(s), you are making huge strides! Has your student sent his first email? Did your Basic Literacy student just learn to read a 10-letter word? Did your ESOL student pass the interview for US Citizenship? What kind of “quality of life improvements” has your student gained? Each achievement is a cause for celebration, so tell us all about it!
Fill in and sumbit a comment below. If you are going to use your student’s name in the post, be sure to get permission first.
3 responses so far | | 
Print This Page
When my Basic Literacy student, Rosie, and I started working together she couldn’t spell two letter words. We’ve only been tutoring for five months, so I can’t believe the improvements I’ve seen her make. She’s working so hard, reading the Junkyard Dan series on the weekends and practicing with a computer program after work.
The other day we had huge successes - she spelled the words “situation” and “determination”…and she read the word “opportunity.” I can’t even believe it! Even though we work in the library’s tutoring room, she can’t contain herself when she reaches a success like this - so she screams, kisses me, and then starts crying. I’m so proud of her, and I can’t wait till she reads to the audience when she graduates at our Appreciation Assembly next year.
Among my six ESOL students Lily stood out from the rest since the beginning of our sessions in April, 2008. She used to bring in her little son of four years into the class, while her daughter an avid reader, enjoyed the library books. Being a very devoted mother, it is hard for her to leave them at home and she still continues to bring them in. But this also shows her dedication to learn English.
Coming from Venezuela where the native language is Spanish, she continued to have some of the main pronunciation problems like “n” in the place of “m” and “g” in the place of “y”. Her grammar both in written and spoken English needed tremendous effort in the beginning. But after eight months of stress on correct grammar and pronunciations from my side and her continued devotion and hard work, she is finally speaking correctly and in complete sentences. My heart fills with endless joy when I hear her speak now.
She recently said to me with utter joy that now she understands and converses well with the native English spoken teachers from her son’s school. The other day she informed me that she spoke quiet fluently with a representative from INS whom she spoke only in Spanish in the past. What more reward could I have asked for?
I am constantly having a debate with myself about who’s teaching whom when I meet with my ESOL student. Birgit, who is from Meßstetten, Germany, has already taught me how to coax cheese curd into a delicious German cheesecake and what is involved in the practice of accu-pressure (she studies homeopathy). Birgit’s goal is to speak English more quickly and fluidly. Our conversations — about recipes, natural medicine, her husband’s position at MacDill Air Force Base — are geared toward building her vocabulary and her ease with casual talking. Since we’ve been together, I’ve noticed that Birgit now initiates conversations more often and even elaborates on what’s going on in her life. Every week I look forward to meeting with her – and my sweet tooth isn’t complaining either!