Andrew and Caroline are both freshmen in high school. Their duty is to read to younger students for whom English is not their first language. Andrew and Caroline dedicate their time to be able to help younger students with their reading comprehension and understanding of the English language.
This is Caroline’s second year in the program and Andrew’s first year in the program. Caroline and Andrew both enjoy this program because they can do what they love, which is to help out younger students. Despite being full-time students, they are able to fully dedicate themselves to this program on top of their schoolwork.
A typical day at this program would be a half-hour class every week. They start by going over the class’s agenda, and afterward, Caroline and Andrew take turns reading to the students. And finally, after their reading, the teachers and students engage in conversation, and the students are asked comprehension questions for them to try to answer.
The student-to-teacher ratio is about 1 teacher to about 5 students.
Andrew and Caroline both agree that from the moment they first started teaching to now, they have seen a lot of growth in the students they teach. They talk about how more students are showing up to their classes, and the students are starting to come out of their shells. This means that they participate more often and get more comfortable talking to the class. They also talk about how they see that the students are more engaged in their class and how enthusiastic they are about it as well.
Over time, the student’s reading levels have improved too. Caroline and Andrew talk about how they first started out with short stories, but now they are reading full-fledged novels. For example, they are currently reading The Hatchet, an advanced book, and they have also read books like Charlotte’s Web.
Even though the classes have been going well, there are also challenges. Students are sometimes nervous about participating, and being online introduces technical difficulties. Despite the challenges, after a few weeks of classes, the class has become more comfortable with each other, and students are more eager to participate and share what they think. Because they are all reading very advanced books, sometimes the vocabulary and grammar are challenging for the students to understand, but they are all able to work together and understand it.
Now, it’s not only the students who are shy; Caroline talks about how she is also a shy person. She joined this program because she wanted to improve her public speaking skills and used this program to help her with that. But now, as time goes by, she is very comfortable with her class and is able to speak with them confidently.
When asked how family and friends have supported them, Andrew and Caroline talked about how their family helped them find this fantastic opportunity to help these students.
Andrew and Caroline joined because they are passionate about helping younger students improve their English skills and reading comprehension. Andrew talked about how he wanted to do this because he puts himself in his students’ shoes. He takes Spanish in school, and because Spanish is not his primary language, learning it was a bit challenging for him. So Andrew did this to help students like him with a language they are unfamiliar with. They both want the best for their students and want them to succeed, and they want to be able to make an impact on the younger students and become role models for them and students to come.
