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I'm afraid that I'm boring everyone with all this tutoring talk, but right now it's the central thing in my life.
There's been a two week break while the new school year starts, and the kids adjust to their new schedules and expectations. This is my back to the grindstone week.
I've found two books for my little fact lover. Great Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: written by Himself should give her some more of the Civil War background. Both books are short, but I admit to being a little worried about the vocabulary. I don't want to overwhelm her.
The eleven year old boy is still good at tests. But his French teacher is Boston born and he has a terrible Boston accent when speaking French. It's far worse than his accent when speaking English. He loves swashbucklers, and, when I suggested a book on Robin Hood, he was ecstatic -- ecstatic to the point of borrowing one of my scholarly works on Medieval outlaw tales. His essay writing is improving, though I'm a little worried that he didn't do the actual assignment.
I'm teaching the 6 year-old the sign language alphabet to see if it helps him remember his letters and the sounds associated with them.
The ten year old who's been held back will be getting more Scrabble and more science stuff. It really makes her glow.
All of this is leading into my newest student. Well, I hope she'll be my newest student. I've set up two appointments with her and her mother. They've missed both. Lele is an interesting case. She and a group of the kids on my block picked the peach tree in the front yard clean a couple of weeks ago. I caught them at it.
The rest of the kids, who included her 12 year old brother and a pair of 10 year old cousins, tried to run away. Lele stood her ground and informed me that she told them they should ask first. We exchanged names and had a little conversation that included a few pertinent facts about green peaches and unripe raspberries.
Considering that Lele herself is only 9, she's pretty obviously a forceful personality. At the recommendation of a friend, I offered to tutor her. Lele got her mother downstairs to talk to me. She's arranged the two appointments that were missed. Frankly, she wasn't interested in my offer until I mentioned possibly visiting a museum. Since then she's been tenacious. The first missed appointment bothered me a little, but as I hadn't given her family my phone number (they're on the poorest part of the street and I suspect lack a phone) I figured something had come up which is what Lele's mother told me when we rearranged to meet up today.
Now as some of you know, the directions to my house from the local public transportation stop include the directions, "Turn left at the drug dealers." Lele's family lives in one of the apartment buildings at that part of the street. When I walked by there tonight, Lele stopped me and said they'd be there later. I pointed out that they were over an hour late, and I had to be elsewhere this evening. Lele pulled me over to a group of ladies and tugged on her mother's sleeve. Her mother's eyes were unfocussed and bloodshot and the smell of pot was strong.
I hope that I can tutor Lele. I'm even willing to consider tutoring her "me, too" twin cousins. But this is the first time that I'm facing something like drugs -- at least in this context. I don't know what to do.
Please continue praying, chanting, dancing, or whatever you do to send out good vibrations to the universe for the National Braille Press job. They still haven't interviewed for the position. From the phrasing, I think that means they haven't interviewed anyone, not just me.
There's been a two week break while the new school year starts, and the kids adjust to their new schedules and expectations. This is my back to the grindstone week.
I've found two books for my little fact lover. Great Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: written by Himself should give her some more of the Civil War background. Both books are short, but I admit to being a little worried about the vocabulary. I don't want to overwhelm her.
The eleven year old boy is still good at tests. But his French teacher is Boston born and he has a terrible Boston accent when speaking French. It's far worse than his accent when speaking English. He loves swashbucklers, and, when I suggested a book on Robin Hood, he was ecstatic -- ecstatic to the point of borrowing one of my scholarly works on Medieval outlaw tales. His essay writing is improving, though I'm a little worried that he didn't do the actual assignment.
I'm teaching the 6 year-old the sign language alphabet to see if it helps him remember his letters and the sounds associated with them.
The ten year old who's been held back will be getting more Scrabble and more science stuff. It really makes her glow.
All of this is leading into my newest student. Well, I hope she'll be my newest student. I've set up two appointments with her and her mother. They've missed both. Lele is an interesting case. She and a group of the kids on my block picked the peach tree in the front yard clean a couple of weeks ago. I caught them at it.
The rest of the kids, who included her 12 year old brother and a pair of 10 year old cousins, tried to run away. Lele stood her ground and informed me that she told them they should ask first. We exchanged names and had a little conversation that included a few pertinent facts about green peaches and unripe raspberries.
Considering that Lele herself is only 9, she's pretty obviously a forceful personality. At the recommendation of a friend, I offered to tutor her. Lele got her mother downstairs to talk to me. She's arranged the two appointments that were missed. Frankly, she wasn't interested in my offer until I mentioned possibly visiting a museum. Since then she's been tenacious. The first missed appointment bothered me a little, but as I hadn't given her family my phone number (they're on the poorest part of the street and I suspect lack a phone) I figured something had come up which is what Lele's mother told me when we rearranged to meet up today.
Now as some of you know, the directions to my house from the local public transportation stop include the directions, "Turn left at the drug dealers." Lele's family lives in one of the apartment buildings at that part of the street. When I walked by there tonight, Lele stopped me and said they'd be there later. I pointed out that they were over an hour late, and I had to be elsewhere this evening. Lele pulled me over to a group of ladies and tugged on her mother's sleeve. Her mother's eyes were unfocussed and bloodshot and the smell of pot was strong.
I hope that I can tutor Lele. I'm even willing to consider tutoring her "me, too" twin cousins. But this is the first time that I'm facing something like drugs -- at least in this context. I don't know what to do.
Please continue praying, chanting, dancing, or whatever you do to send out good vibrations to the universe for the National Braille Press job. They still haven't interviewed for the position. From the phrasing, I think that means they haven't interviewed anyone, not just me.
