Tutoring

The last time I tutored was nearly five years ago when I was still living in Zurich. There I worked with teens from immigrant backgrounds who were in need of language practice and socialization with those who were a bit more connected to Swiss life and culture. I was there, I think, to provide the teenagers contact with a standard German speaker as the other volunteers were native Swiss German speakers. We volunteers cooked meals with the teens, played football together, worked on homework assignments together and played group games once weekly. It was good fun. This particular integration program was sponsored by the Swiss Red Cross. When I returned from Switzerland, I looked to the American Red Cross for similar volunteer opportunities, but quickly learned that our Red Cross is primarily concerned with disaster relief efforts and not cultural integration programs. 

For about two years, I worked as a volunteer with our Red Cross helping those who had been displaced by fire (either man-made or naturally occurring) and flooding. I found the work rewarding, but a bit isolating as one worked mostly alone and a goodly amount of the client contact was conducted over the phone.

I really prefer mentoring/tutoring to what I had done at the American Red Cross, so I recently joined a literacy program operating out of an elementary school in the vicinity. The tutoring program assists pupils who are between six months and two years behind their grade level in reading. My 'tutee', I think we refer to them as 'learners' nowadays, is a bright and funny third grader. I'll give him the pseudonym of 'Mike'. Mike is in a bilingual class directly across the hall from the tutoring center. I was fortunate to have bumped into his teacher, Mr. N., in the hallway recently, so I asked him a few questions about Mike. Mr. N. mentioned that Mike, along with a few other boys in class, is very fidgety, so he allows Mike and the other boys to get up, go to the back of the room and walk around a bit in order to get some of the excess energy out of their systems. Mr. N. told me that he has also provided the pupils with things to hold onto during class--I can't remember if they were stress balls, or what--but he said that the kids continually lost them. I got the impression that Mr. N. may not be replacing said items. 

The chat with Mr. N. was invaluable. To the next tutoring session I brought Play-Doh for Mike to hold onto/mold into shapes during our time together. This seemed to help Mike focus on the task at hand: reading a story and answering questions on its context. Whenever Mike yawned or seemed to disconnect from the material, I asked him if he needed to get up and walk around, but he declined. Prior to session start time in the hallway, Mike and I did a few jumping jacks, waved our arms in the air and wiggled our fingers. I admit that I was a bit more enthusiastic than Mike during our calisthenics, but I do think it may have helped Mike be a bit less fidgety in class with me than during our previous sessions together. Do any of you have experience in tutoring primary school kids? I'd love and tips, tricks or what-not you might have to share!