Monday, June 23, 2008

Tutoring high school students


Before I talk about the picture, I should bring you all up to speed on what I've actually been doing.
I am one of the leaders for the English tutoring community service program. I run this program with several other rustic pathways staff members.
The other western staff member with me is Galen. He's thirty years old and is from San Francisco. He has tutored English before, most notably in Barcelona. He's also a trained massage therapist (and gives massage classes here at the base!).
Every program has both western staff and Thai staff. With tutoring we have Chat, Gyfsy, Bpa, Ta and Jupe. These are of course their nicknames.
They are fairly proficient in English, and are critical to the success of the tutoring program, as well as Rustic Pathways in general. They are perfect examples of how being multilingual can really raise the ceiling for you, no matter where you are.
Jupe is a pivotal player in the organization of the tutoring program. He and I go out to the schools to meet with the Director and/or the English teacher to explain what we are trying to do and to structure the tutoring sessions. Not only are Jupe's language skills important, he understands the needs of everyone involved and is good at anticipating problems.
The picture posted above is of the 10th grade class we tutored this afternoon. Jupe and I set this up late last week. The teacher's (nick)name is Sue, and she was very excited to have us.
Sue is a good English teacher, and is quite proficient with the language. She definitely recognizes the value of having native speakers to converse with.
The title is a link to a short video taken in the classroom.

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