Victory!

An actual assignment today. For most of the day, I was helping out the HILT-A classes, and for the first two periods (a combined English/reading class), I was helping a boy one-on-one with his reading skills and comprehension. It was pretty great, and also pretty challenging since it was essentially teaching a five-year-old learn how to read. (He can read better in English than a typical five-year-old can, but what made it that difficult was that he could barely speak the language, so when I asked him to do something he may not necessarily have understood.) I also accompanied the students to their math class, and didn't really have much to do there but was basically on-hand to answer questions. The science teacher didn't need assistance, but I did help with social studies, and that was great, too. I was working with all the students and actually had a fair amount to do. What's interesting, though, is that all classes involved language skills (basic acquisition, grammar, etc.) since all these children are coming from a native language that is not English. They were at different levels but were all able to glean something from the lessons at hand. They were also all incredibly eager to learn. I wonder if part of that eagerness comes from a survival mechanism, but whatever the reason, they all seemed motivated, which kept me motivated, as well. Hopefully this will become a regular thing.