Read a Story: My Experience teaching English to a Student

My Experience Teaching a Student English


Today, India's majority population is still illiterate and unable to receive proper and complete education due to various reasons such as poverty, lack of proper resources. as well as social stigma and stereotypes. Girls don't complete studies higher than 10th grade. Wanting to pursue a career in STEM myself, like other women in my life, I want to do something to help bridge the many gaps created by society in the field of education. Everyone who wants to learn, deserves to learn. 

Here is what I did to help. I signed up through an organization called 'Read a Story'. They connect students willing to learn English living in underprivileged areas of India with people who are proficient in English. One can volunteer for free and help a child learn. They go to under served and tribal areas to help young students connect with volunteers. A call is made between the student and the volunteer where the volunteer helps improve the student's English via a one on one call. The calls can be conducted as per your convenient time. 

The organization ensures the safety of the students and to avoid breaking any regulations, I will change the name of my student while talking about my experience. Let's call her Sarika. I registered as a volunteer for read a story back in June. I was nervous and excited for my first call. I called her and we spoke for around half an hour. I asked her a few questions and got to know her better. The first few calls were sort of awkward considering that I had no teaching experience, the class was over phone calls, and it was the first time we ever spoke to each other. We decided on a time of the week that was convenient for the both of us and thus began our journey of learning. 


Sarika was a very attentive student. We began by reading chapters from her textbook. This way I got learn about her level of understanding English. She was a good reader but she struggled with the pronunciation of words. Over time her pronunciation improved and I was so happy to see her progress. The reading of chapters got boring and repetitive over time so I slowly started explaining her the meaning of the chapters she read. I recently told her that we would play a little game where I explain to her the meaning of new, unknown words and give her time to understand their meaning. Then, I would ask her the meaning of the words. 

 She is very patient and eager to learn and I appreciate that from her. Her Marathi is very fluent and mine is a little broke, so on the first day, I asked her "Is it okay if I help improve your English and you help improve my Marathi?" She agreed and since then we have had weekly calls talking, reading and working on our languages. 

It was a great experience and I always look forward to those 30 to 60 minutes of my week. I am glad I could make her feel comfortable and I hope I have helped her a little. She asks me help during her exams and I help clear any concepts she is having difficulty in. She is just around my age and she is like another friend to me now. It feels great having helped someone and seeing them improve just motivates you further to find ways and keep going. I think everyone should give back to society and if they have the resources and time, they should definitely help someone who needs it. 



Comments

  1. Anonymous20 January 2024 at 13:28

    thats so cool, keep up the great work 🙌

    ReplyDelete

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