Editor's Note: Jenna Hickenbotham, a graduate student in language education from Lilburn, wrote the following article describing her experience tutoring elementary-aged Latino children in Athens. Her volunteer work is part of a class project but more volunteers are sought. Class credit is now offered through Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (Contact Dr. Knauft or Anna Scott). Also, the College of Education will now offer one hour credit (ELAN 6000) for tutoring. (Contact: Dr. Betsy Rymes). For more information on volunteer tutoring, see: www.uga.edu/discover/oasis/index.html.
By Jenna Hickinbotham
As
I drive into the trailer community, I am taken to a different place, as
I am every time I come here. The single-wide trailers are mostly
adorned with Halloween and fall decorations at this time. Some have
small, well kept flower gardens in front. There are clothes lines
hung outside with freshly cleaned clothes blowing in the soft wind of
the early evening. I hear music in the distant being delivered in
a Spanish voice. A few of the women are out sweeping the front porches
of their homes and there are children on bicycles and some playing in
the front yard of one of the trailer homes. I smell evidence of
someone cooking an early dinner as I make my way to the trailer where
the three nuns live. The scene is distantly familiar to me, one
of a small village somewhere in the middle of Mexico that I might have
visited on a past trip to the country. The only difference is that
this Mexican village is in the middle of an American city.Pinewood Estates North is a trailer community just north of Athens off U.S. Highway 29. The community is home to one of the largest concentrations of recent Mexican immigrants in the Athens area. I come here twice a week to tutor elementary aged children that live in the community. As I turn my car into the makeshift parking space just outside the trailer that three nuns call home, I see the 30 or so children waiting for their respective tutors to arrive. I spot one of my 5th grade students who I have been working with now for several months. She sees me and runs over to meet me at my car. She asks me where I’ve been all week. I have to remind her again that I am only able to come twice a week. I explain to her that I wish I could be there everyday, but with school and work, it just isn’t possible. She smiles and tells me she is glad I am there today. I agree with her. As we settle in for our 1½-hour tutoring session, she takes a minute to reprimand her younger brother who is across the yard not quite ready to concentrate on his homework at the moment. She addresses him in Spanish and he immediately sits down and begins to reluctantly retrieve items from his backpack. She turns back to me rolling her eyes, “He is so crazy sometimes.”
Today we are lucky because there seem to be enough tutors here to work with the children in small groups. Most of the tutors work with five or six kids at one time, which makes individualized instruction quite difficult. One-on-one instruction is the main goal of the nuns who live in the community and run the after school tutoring program; only one of the many programs they coordinate for the largely Latino community.
As a graduate student in education, this experience has taught me so much. One thing that has amazed me about these kids is their language abilities. The ease in which they can go from speaking Spanish to English naturally is incredible. Most speak both Spanish and English somewhat equally, an ability that I and probably many others who have spent years studying a second language, envy. To have conversational fluency in two languages by the time one is 10 years old is an invaluable ability that should be nurtured. Retaining their Spanish will most likely be the real challenge in preserving their bilingualism as they grow older.
Another lesson I have learned is that these kids depend heavily on help from us as tutors because their parents are often unable to help them with their homework. Most of these kids have parents who speak very little or no English. The work we do with them is crucial in reinforcing the lessons learned in school. Most of the kids also attend Saturday school for additional instruction. The tutoring program is gaining momentum but is still in dire need of more volunteers.
As the nuns are kept extremely busy helping the families in the community in countless ways, I feel compelled to help increase exposure of this program among my fellow UGA students. I encourage all who read this and want to make a difference in a child’s life to come visit the program at Pinewood Estates. The benefits that both you and the children will gain from this are immeasurable. As Sister Margarita told us during our orientation at the beginning of the semester, “We want to build bridges between different cultures within the community. We want to show these kids that the citizens of Athens care about them and their education.” As I leave the community each day, I know that whether I have spent the entire session helping a child with math problems or if we spent the time playing a memory game, I have made a difference and that is what keeps me coming back.
For more information on volunteering at The Oasis at Pinewood Estates, please contact Anna Scott, program coordinator, at akscott@uga.edu or call 542-1611. You can also contact Sister Margarita at acjoasis@juno.com.