A motivated student can be a joy to teach
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It’s often said that quitting smoking is impossible without a desire to quit smoking. In the same way, you aren’t likely to be taught anything if you don’t want to learn. That’s why motivation is so important to education, and too often, schoolchildren and even college students lack it.
Some people, however, have not just a desire but a critical need to learn, and for many of them, school is not an option. They are people who for any number of reasons cannot read or have difficulty reading, or who now live in this country and cannot speak English. For them, everyday life is one daunting challenge after another. They seek help from the Literacy Council of Southwestern Pennsylvania, which offers free tutoring.
Unfortunately, there are too many of these highly motivated students and too few volunteer tutors to help them.
The Literacy Council, now with offices at Fairhill Manor Christian Church in Washington, needs more community members to step forward, no experience necessary. Training begins with a workshop at the church Feb. 11. More information is available of the council’s website, www.lcswpa.org. Among the information there is this testimonial from a volunteer tutor of English as a Second Language:
“Imagine moving to a new country where you do not know the language. You can’t read shopping labels or know what the items are in a grocery store, talk to the doctor, read prescription labels, chat with a neighbor, understand the radio or TV, read the newspaper, have a conference with your child’s teacher, ask for information or directions, get a job, or do many of the daily activities we take for granted. For many of the students who seek ESL this is a daily problem that isolates them from our community.
“Speaking English is a gift to us from our earliest days and it is very rewarding to be able to pass this gift to others to help them adjust to their new country. I have been an ESL tutor for over two years now and each class still has its exciting moments when a student masters a difficult sound, vocabulary, or grammar structure. In addition to learning English, students learn American history and culture and know they are welcomed into our community and they have a resource to help with life’s little problems.”