Vagaba

I recently signed up to do some tutoring at the African Community Education Program here. The kids range from Grade I to high school. Some of them have only recently come to America. While they speak English well enough, they cannot read or write very well. They mostly ask you to help out with their homework on a one-on-one basis.

They assigned me to this kid called Vagaba from Liberia. He is 15 years old and has been in the US for 3 years. He had never attended school in Africa. He seemed like a nice kid. Typical teenager. Said he hated school, and was better off in Liberia where he never had to go to school. His goal in life is to play soccer. I asked him whether he wants to go to college. I got a huge guffaw in return. College, yeah right! He just wants to play soccer, he said. And after that, I probed. What when he is too old to play soccer...what then? He said he will just go home and die! I didn't read too much into that answer. I guess he really doesn't know what he wants to do. Heck, I'm 27 and still not sure what I want to do. At 15, I would be amazed if he knew.

I had to help him with his English homework. The child is in the 9th grade. His reading skills are those of a 3rd-4th grader. I'm not sure anyone ever taught him how to read. But he picked up quickly enough. I showed him a couple of times how to break up a word and try to read small parts of it. After the 3rd or 4th time, he was reaching for the pencil and paper automatically, and doing it himself, when he found a word he couldn't pronounce. He got frustrated with himself when he couldn't get the same word right, when it came up a second time in the chapter we were reading. But underneath all the "I hate English", "I'm too dumb for all this" bravado, I think I detected a hunger for knowledge. I believe he does care. He does want to learn. He is only 15. There were girls around him laughing at his halting reading. He seemed to take in good part and joked with them. But I think he was embarassed and he wants to learn. I liked him a lot. I think he is a good kid who could do well, given the right opportunities.

It took us 2 and a 1/2 hours to get through 1 and 1/2 pages of pretty easy reading. At which point he asked me to do his homework for him. I refused point blank, and gave him a piece of gum to chew on instead. Unfortunately we didn't have time to finish the homework, we only got through some part of it. He said he would try to get through the rest himself.

So the reason I'm writing all this in excruciating detail is this. I would like some feedback on how best to try to help this kid, and any others I may end up tutoring. Is there any particular thing I must keep in mind while dealing with him? How do I deal with teenage angst? This I just want to die drama....how do you respond to such a statement? I actually said, I don't think its that easy to die Vagaba. I don't think its a particularly good answer. I was a little taken aback when he said that, so I didn't know how to respond. Most importantly, how do you go about building a rapport with these kids? Do you probe into their lives, or not? Do you wait for them to talk with you, or do you talk with them? I tried telling him what I was studying at school. He seemed most uninterested. I don't blame him. Most people I know respond the same way.

So..let me know what you think. I know atleast 5 people read this stuff(you know who you are), so please...help me!