Tutor

I am a volunteer math tutor to two elementary school students in the city.

My co-tutors have changed over the months. All very interesting young adults who are charged and challenged with their life ahead. Some leave because they’ve landed a new job.

My latest co-tutor is Maya. Maya is from Lebanon. She told me she misses her grandparents and hopes to revisit Lebanon when it is safe to do so.

We only have a few minutes to chat before the students arrive. Maya confessed she feels she speaks English slower than others. I replied that I thought her English language was perfect and she had no reason to be self-conscious about it. Her challenge she explained was that she thinks in Arabic, so the translation in her brain she assumed slowed down the flow of the English words spoken.

by Diane Dalrymple