Tag Archives: Mentoring and Tutoring

Being a Friend–as well as a tutor–to refugee youth

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Julia and I had been working together for a few weeks and yet, as sweet and polite as she and her family always were to me, I could not help but feel like the meetings were obligatory for her and not much more than homework help. After all that she has been through in her life as a refugee, I wanted our Wednesday nights to be an opportunity for me to make things easier for her in the US and I wanted to be her friend. In this attempt, I regularly offered an open invitation for Julia to come visit me at school when leaving, yet never received much response from her other than a shy ‘ok, maybe.’ So when, a couple weeks later, she asked me what I was doing the following Friday, I was really excited and hopeful she was becoming more comfortable with me. Having her meet me posed a few difficulties, since she does not have a cell phone or know her way around campus, but we ended up finding each other eventually. We walked around campus and talked about what her school is like, as well as daily life. I did not realize until near the end of our visit that she was wearing (on one of the coldest days yet) only a t-­‐shirt and a thin sweatshirt. I made sure we spent the rest of the time inside after she would not accept borrowing one of my coats. This was really interesting to me because, as compared to how I was raised to always politely speak up when I was uncomfortable (“squeaky wheel gets the grease,” my mom would tell me), Julia was being polite in her own way by dealing with the cold silently. I made a mental note then to, in the future, subtly make sure that she is comfortable without making her feel as if she is being rude. This visit brought us closer in multiple ways that I would later notice in our meetings. First, I think it really helped for her to come and see where I am living (a tiny dorm) so the relationship feels more equal than me just always coming into her space. It also allowed me to understand Julia and her culture better, allowing me to adjust how I tutor. I always make sure that she understands the material we are covering and is not just saying so out of politeness. Serena S.

Learning English–Loss of Status or Occupation and Starting Over

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For this past semester, I have been working at Jubilee House. Throughout my placement, I have worked with a variety of students, although Pi Mu has been the most consistent. Coming to the United States is obviously going to be a very difficult affair. Whether it be due to a language barrier, inability to find employment, discrimination, inability to access resources and understand rights, or simple homesickness, there are many challenges that immigrants face. The immigrants and refugees at Jubilee House have come to learn English and utilize this great resource. They also come to Jubilee House to gain social capital, find a cultural broker, and make connections in their new homes.

Upon arriving in the United States, many find that their situation has completely changed, although this is not always positive. A number of the immigrants I have worked with have experienced a loss of status. One woman I worked with from Honduras, Bea, had attended university in Honduras and received a masters degree. Her current level of employment in the United States was not specified to me, but it is clearly below her education level. She has faced enormous difficulty getting her degree recognized here. As such, it is almost as though she didn’t attend school at all – all of that hard work and financial investment for essentially nothing. It is an unfortunate reality faced by many immigrants. This loss of status is not only evident in employment and perceived education level. It is also present in the level of independence held.

Unable to speak the common language, immigrants are isolated and incapable of accessing certain resources and agencies. The act of getting a drivers license, applying for and collecting food stamps, applying for a job, procuring an apartment, or even getting around can become incredibly hard tasks. For those with children who were either born in the United States or who have been able to pick up English easily, one’s identity as an ‘adult’ is somewhat challenged–another example of loss of status. The parents become, in a way, reliant on their children’s language skills in order to go about day to day tasks. For a great majority of my students, gaining back that independence is a primary motivator for learning English. The loss of status and place in society is a difficult, painful transition for many, and one that is incredibly common and prevalent. Niaill H.

Tutoring English Means Being a Friend Too–HPL

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This semester, I volunteered at English language classes at the Hartford Public Library and assisted the English teacher in her course for beginners. I was able to interact with a lot of really interesting people who comprised the class, and were also recent immigrants in the United States. Most of the students were from Latin America, and spoke Spanish as a first language. The classes were really well structured and focussed on holistic education, so that students could practice reading, writing and speaking while they were there. More importantly, I got a chance to meet a large number of really interesting individuals with whom I had some long conversations with. This post will describe some of those conversations.

One of the first conversations I had was with Hugo, from Colombia, and Maria, from the Dominican Republic. Hugo arrived in Hartford around a year ago, and lives in an apartment on Main Street. His company, which processes coffee, sent him from Colombia to help with the marketing of their product in the region. They chose Hartford because of its large Hispanic population, which consumes that particular brand of coffee, and the city’s proximity to both Boston and New York for additional expansion. He seems to be very well off, and said that he currently holds a senior executive position at his company in Colombia. He says that he likes it here, and is looking forward for the next four years that he is supposed to live in the United States. He does mention, though, that had he been in a city with English as the dominant language, he would have found it easier to learn English.

Maria is a citizen of the United States, and had come here from the Dominican Republic around 12 years ago. Her level of English is really advanced, in comparison to the others in the class, but not good enough for the intermediate level class, that is also held in the library. She was mentioning about her recent visit to the dentist, and we began talking about health insurance. She said that she was lucky that she was covered under the insurance; otherwise, her bill would have been extremely high. She said that she was eligible for low cost insurance under Obamacare. She lives in Windsor, and drives to Hartford for the classes. She seems to be very culturally assimilated into the United States, probably because of the long time she has spent in this country.

Midonso is from Togo and is the only student in class who does not speak or understand Spanish. She speaks French, and her native language, Mina. As I am the only other person in class who speaks at least some French, I have had to explain many new words to her. Her learning rate is phenomenal, she can now communicate pretty well in English, albeit the difficulties she has with reading. What is surprising is that she is more than seventy years old, and still manages to attend every single class without fail. She lives in Hartford with her extended family. Her son is a part of the intermediate English class, and she comes to the library with him. Her whole family visits Togo every year to meet with old family friends and relatives. She says that being comparatively wealthy, her family is socially pressured to buy expensive presents for their relatives back home in Togo, and as a result going back is very expensive each year. But in spite of that, she says that she goes back because she misses life in Togo; the cold winter provides an additional incentive to go back as well.

The most important thing that I learnt from these interactions was that showing an interest in the lives of immigrants puts them at ease and helps them feel comfortable in the new environment of their host society. The amount of information that I got to learn from them made me realise the huge diversity that was present in the English classroom, and allowed me to identify with what immigrants think and made me realise the importance of the immigration process.  Chinmay R.

Burmese Karen Parents Struggle to Learn English

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Throughout this lab, I have worked with Dahtoo’s family members as a tutor. At first, I didn’t think this was going to be interesting, my plan was to finish my tutoring hours to fulfill the lab requirements. However, over my experiences with this family I have realized a lot of things that have not ever crossed my mind. Firstly, the concept of assertion; Dahtou and her family have brought their own culture from home and are constantly asserting it into American culture. It goes from native decorations, to native foods, to how they dress and are very hospitable when receiving guests. I realized that the notion of respect is very important in their culture; they always showed most respect but are also teaching their kids to do the same.      The elders always asked the children to behave, give them orders like go to another room, do homework or go to bed; the kids never complain but acted accordingly.

The children are much more educated than the parents because they go to school in the United States but the parents have never received an educational degree.  In fact, the children were very helpful in terms of translating some words to their parents or helping them understand a word or even an expression. This suggests dissonant acculturation because the children and parents acculturated at different rates. This  is very common for immigrants because the parents speak their native language and barely any English. However, a lot of credit goes to the parents for putting their kids into schools to learn English so they can maybe have a better life and be successful.

Even though the parents had a low English level, they showed interest in learning and were willing to do anything to improve: repeating one word ten times was not a problem for them, as long as they were learning something.

Working with this family was such a memorable experience for me, it went beyond tutoring, by making me learn more about their lives and their personalities as well as how they reflect their culture and assert it into the American one.  Kanzy E.

Tutoring at Park Street HPL–2015

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The First week of the lab I arrived at the public library and I was told that I was in the wrong location. Fortunately the next week I was able to arrive to the correct destination which was located on Park street.

As soon as I walked in, I saw a room full of young kids doing drawings while some others were on their laptops. I immediately asked for Leticia Cotto, who would be my new supervisor. She promptly told me that the ESL lessons had not started yet (they would start in a week or so) but she told me to sit down regardless of that and view how the children were going about with their homework; I was very nervous, I still don’t know for what particular reason though. Meanwhile a man who had just arrived in Hartford was taking a basic English test to view and comprehend at which level he was at.

After many minutes went by I took a look at this test and was very surprised that his knowledge of English was close to nothing. At the time I wasn’t even introduced to this man and I was wondering how it would be to work with him in the upcoming weeks. I was sure that it would not be easy for me to teach this man but I was willing to do so. I was willing because I could tell that he really wanted to work and acquire the English language.

I am excited for how the rest of the semester will go and hopefully I will learn a great amount from this experience.  Hugo B.

Mentoring Refugee Youth

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Each week at the Youth Mentoring Club, it can be difficult to encourage the children to open up and participate in certain activities, especially with a language barrier. The younger children often stick together while the older boys who are in high school are more willing to participate in more of the activities that we plan. One activity that brought everyone together across the language barrier and the age gaps was allowing everyone to draw something special to themselves.  I sat with the younger Syrian children and we got to know more about each other by drawing and practicing English. One of the girls was clearly an artist and she couldn’t draw anything if it was less than perfect. She showed me photos of some  drawings she  had done and grew frsturatd when what she was working on at the meeting was not turning out the way she wanted. Her sister ended up drawing something for her to hang up on the board with the rest of the pieces, but we also shared the pictures of her other drawings to the rest of the group. Everyone in the group participated and was passionate about what they drew. At times, it can be difficult to plan activities for such a diverse group but when we are successful in this, it is a rewarding experience.  Kathleen D.

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Helping a Syrian Family Gets a New Start in Greater Hartford

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As always, we met around 6:45 at Mather Circle to Uber to the Syrian family’s house. The day before, Peter had kindly left booklets with Chaplain Read for us to use and I had picked them up earlier. I called the eldest son and he met us downstairs to let us in the apartment. We started out talking about what he and his mother did during the day; His mother said that she went to her ESL class, came back, called her family, cleaned the house and cooked for her children. Later his younger brother came out of his room and when we asked him what he was doing, he said he was watching X-Men: First Class. I couldn’t believe it; it was one of my favorite movies! We talked about the X-men series for a while, and started to work when he went back to his room. Tenzin and I worked with the mom, and Chris worked with the older son.

The booklet that Peter had given us had four parts to it; reading, true/false, yes/no, and short answer. We read along with the mother and described the words that she didn’t quite get by breaking down into easier words and using our phones. The format was really helpful, but on our car ride back to Trinity, we agreed that the material might be slightly advanced for the mom. Nevertheless, we worked on two sections.

The second section was a story of a girl who needed to choose between a vacation to Hawaii or tuition for college.  The mom told me that the girl should choose college because education is very important. The story emphasized the concept of making a difficult decision, and the short answer portion asked about a difficult decision that the reader had to make. When we asked her, she thought about the question for a while, then told us that she needed to make a difficult decision when she was choosing to leave for Egypt or to stay in Syria. I knew, just because of the fact that they’re a refugee family, that they have been through so much already. However, when the mom said this, I realized that they’ve been through more than I could imagine and was reminded of the sacrifices and difficulties they had to face coming to the United States.

This time was especially amazing for numerous reasons. When we were talking about what food she made for her children, she ran to the fridge and brought us a delicious Syrian dish called tabouleh (it was kind of like salsa) and brought each of us a plate to try it. Later, when Chris mentioned that he didn’t have a chance to eat dinner yet because he was busy, the mom again ran to the fridge, grabbed and heated up food for him. When Chris said that she didn’t have to do that because he would eat once he goes back to campus, she insisted saying that Chris was her son now. And she called us her daughters and that whenever we’re hungry we should tell her. Not that I think this experience was amazing because she offered us food, but it was very a very touching moment for all of us for her to describe us as her children. I can feel that we  are now much closer and have a special bond. I am very thankful for them and their hospitality.

On our ride back, Chris explained what we had just done to the Uber driver. He listened but didn’t say much, but later asked Chris where to go if he wants to do the same. He told us that he speaks four languages including Punjabi but is not good at speaking English, and that he wants to learn too. Chris said that he would speak to Professor Bauer and gave him his number.

It’s amazing how since I started this semester I’m beginning to meet people who have started a new life in America. As they share their stories, they share their resilience, bravery and love with me. I am truly grateful for this opportunity.  Susie R.

Getting to Know the Kids at the Park St. HPL Branch Homework Club 2017

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I have been to the Park Street Library twice to be a study buddy. My first time I reached the library at 3:10 pm, but there were not many kids as their school ended at 3 and they took some time to arrive. Then, when it was 3:30 lots of kids started showing up, and I went up to the kids to ask if they needed help. All of them refused. Most of the kids were shy, some of them didn’t even look me in the eye while I was talking to them. Finally, a kid named J. with his Math assignment and asked me if I could help him. I told him to sit beside me and I asked his name, he told me and I tried repeating it. But, I pronounced it wrong.  J. said: “Noo, it’s J.”. Then he started complaining about how all the kids in his school pronounce it wrong and there is a q in the end, and he also told me if he should just take out the q and make it J. I smiled at him and told him his name was unique and he shouldn’t change it. He smiled back at me. Then, we started the math homework. He told me how much he loved math and didn’t like any other subject. He was doing it homework on his own I was just supervising. He finished his homework and went swiftly to play games on the library computer.

My second time I felt more comfortable in the library.  Some of the kids recognized me and waved hands. That day was Valentine’s Day. There was a small event in the library for the kids. The kids had to write something nice for themselves on a heart shaped paper. There were many creative ones. One of the kids made the heart look like an angel with wings and was showing it off to everyone. After they were done writing, snacks were served, I helped the librarian to serve snacks to the kids. Then, one of the kids asked me to help her with English homework. It was a vocabulary assignment. She was struggling with the assignment, maybe because she wasn’t paying attention to the work, but anyway she finished her work and went to talk to her friend. Kishwor P.

Creating a Mission for Take2 Mentoring

Richie and I, along with Janet Bauer, decided to create a mentoring program that would efficiently offer tutoring programs for students interested in pursuing higher education. Initially, the we set out to create a program to assist students in college applications, applying for financial aid, and taking the appropriate SAT or TOEFL examination. However, as Richie and I began conducting interviews of Hartford refugee families, we determined that there were a plethora of other educational needs these families had. These ranged from ESL tutoring for parents to assistance and monitoring of students currently enrolled in college. Therefore, Richie and I decided to expand our program. We wanted to take a step back in the college process, as well as take a step forward. In other words, we wanted to assist younger kids with their homework, making sure they were on the right track for college, and assisting kids who are already enrolled in college, and making sure that they stay interested and enrolled, as well as utilizing the available academic services colleges offer.

We decided to call our services “Take 2 Mentoring.” We decided on this name for two reasons. The first being America provided opportunities for these refugee and immigrant families. It was a second chance at stable life. Also, we thought of in-school learning as “Take 1.” As is with most first takes of projects, nothing always goes 100% smoothly, and there are always corrections that can be made. Therefore, our services will be “Take 2.” We will help students and families get the knowledge, tools and resources that. We decided to create a website for our program to encourage the community to get involved, as well as bring some comfort to families. Our official mission began as:

“Take 2 Mentoring is a tutoring program that aims to increase academic success, and set refugee students, or students whose parents claim refugee status, on the path towards higher education. Savahna Reuben and Richie Freckleton, Trinity College students, founded Take 2 Mentoring to address a fundamental issue facing Refugee families: a lack of educational resources. Immigrant parents typically have little to no knowledge of the American school system. Furthermore, Refugee parents often do not know how the college process works, or the necessary steps that need be taken to pursue higher education. Take 2 Mentoring attempts to bridge this gap, and assist students who desire to pursue higher education.”

But Richie and I decided that it was important to get the perspective of actual refugee parents and to see what they needed help with, what they would feel comfortable with, and what they though about our program. In that way could we best create a mentoring program to fulfill the needs of the refugee community in Hartford.

In our first parent interview the father was clear that he wants his children to go to college, get a degree, and then think about marriage afterwards. Furthermore, he was proactive in answering our questions about homework assistance for the younger children, and seemed very eager and interested when we mentioned the possibility of working with the children in their home.  However, the parents prefer that their children live at home throughout their college experience, in order to help with their younger siblings.

Eventually, the conversation shifted from how we could help the children, to how we could help the adults. The mothers said that they could really use ESL help, and that it would be ideal for someone to come into their home. Furthermore, the parents explained that their inability to speak English was the reason that they could not assist their children with any of their work, as well as their inability to obtain knowledge about the college system in America. Therefore, Richie and I decided to broaden Take 2 Mentoring. We wanted to offer services to the parents as well, so that we could make sure that we were offering the best possible services to these families.

In our second interview was with a mother from Burma named who had three sons, ages six to fourteen. She talked about the oldest son’s dreams of becoming a pilot, and the youngest son’s dreams of attending a Magnet school. The mother didn’t speak much English, but enough to answer most of our questions. She told us how she was enrolled in classes at Jubilee House, a refugee center in Hartford. She was excited that she was at level 2, and had finished level 1. She was eager to show us her completed level 1 notebooks, and happily flipped through them as if to show off her proud accomplishments. She asked us for help: to help her sons fulfill their dreams of education. And we promised her we would.

In another interview, and perhaps the most insightful, we spoke to a father named Karin father and his daughter who had been enrolled in Capitol Community College, but had recently dropped out because she wasn’t sure if nursing was what she wanted to do. We questioned her about talking to her college advisor about her academic future, but she said that she was too shy and didn’t want to go speak to her. Furthermore, she didn’t know what her college advisor could do to help. Her father seemed dismayed at this. He wanted his daughter to re-enroll in college and to graduate. He also mentioned an 18 year old son, and inquired about Trinity enrollment. He was very grateful for the program we were starting and were eager to get his children involved. Similarly, his eldest daughter seemed very interested in talking to us and getting a mentor, so that she might be able to apply to new colleges and pursue her passion of the arts. In contrast with the other families we interviewed, this father and daughter both agreed that she should live in a dormitory to focus on her education. The father noted that there are many distractions in the home, and that if she lived away from home she would be able to be more focused on her studies, as well as get more practice with English through submersion.

Through these interviews we realized that our mission needed to change. They were extremely insightful and now we are able to better tailor to the needs of the community. We look forward to putting the program in full motion in the fall, and perhaps taking off and allowing the program to eventually help families with green card applications. The possibilities are endless, and Take 2 Mentoring is excited to get to work.