Winnie

For a class in college, I was supposed to volunteer. Here is a small description of my experiences.

For my volunteering experience, I decided to give back in a different way than the typical soup kitchen, Habitat, organized charity. For my choice, I thought about three things: what I have experience in doing, what I want to do as a career, and an old Chinese proverb which says, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for one day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime". Such a proverb is perfect in relation to my volunteering, because what I did involves both education and the Chinese people. I tutored a young Chinese girl in her kindergarten studies. Why did I choose to do such a thing? I have always considered an education to be absolutely crucial to any sort of success; this belief of mine led me to decide to be a teacher once my own education is finished. The little girl I tutored, Winnie, is the daughter of two Chinese immigrants who own a small restaurant near my home.

For two years, I watched Winnie grow. She, for the longest time, was a very quiet, shy girl who spoke very little English. I had already been thinking a while about tutoring her when this assignment came up, because I had felt bad for this little girl who was beginning life already with the disadvantage of being a stranger, of being a foreigner in America. Winnie's parents speak just enough English to run their restaurant; Mrs. Lin, Winnie's mother, couldn't even read her daughter's homework. I already had experience tutoring foreigners in English: a Chinese exchange student, a Korean exchange student, and even my German and Slovak girlfriends. Teaching foreigners has always held a certain allure to me, of helping people who would have the hardest time to learn in the American education environment. Tutoring Winnie, also, presented a way for me to challenge and better my teaching skills, for all my pupils had been teenagers like me. Never before had I taught a small child.

What I didn't count for when I took on the challenge of tutoring Winnie was her brilliance, and the ADHD present in all children. I feel like I never actually tutored her, but babysat her instead. The first day, I wanted to go over the alphabet; she not only knew it by heart, but could write basic sentences. I bored and frustrated her to no end that day, for she was far more advanced than I had expected. Her homework, which consisted of simple sums, spelling "cat", and other typical kindergarten material, presented but one problem for her: her unwillingness to sit still through her work.. If it weren't for that unfocused energy and spirit all children have, Winnie would have flown through her work. On my second day, I had bought for her some Playdow to stimulate her imagination. I had made the mistake of giving it to her before we began our work, and so I mentally exhausted myself that night, trying to get her to concentrate on adding two and two, and not on the Playdoh.

Tutoring Winnie both made me happy, because she was so fun and energetic, and exhausted me for the very same reasons. She confirmed my belief that I have not the energy to handle teaching small children, and that I'd be better off working with high school kids (as I'd already planned on doing). While I didn't get much experience in teaching, as I originally hoped for, I did learn a lot that week about how to handle a kid. I went to learn to teach, and learned instead how to be a parent in the future.

Author's Note

Yes, this is also the paper I'm turning in for the assignment.

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[Proletariat Uprising]

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