Graduation ... sort of

Today was supposed to be my last tutoring session for the woman with whom I have been working for a couple of years. When we began, I often had to do much of the tutoring in Spanish. Although she had lived in the States for almost a decade, like many non-English speakers, she mainly socialized and worked only with people like herself. She understood quite a bit but was reluctant to try to speak. This is typical of people learning a foreign language. I was the same way my first summer in Mexico. The friars called me Mickey Místico because I mostly smiled, nodded and listened.

My student and I met once a week for an hour or so, which is certainly not much. But over the months she made remarkable progress. She is very dedicated and took the initiative to find and use language CDs and online courses in addition to her classes with me. She has blossomed and is more confident and the librarians have commented on how well she is doing. (We have our classes there and she comes to the library several times a week with her sons to get books and to use the internet.) Her English is far from perfect, but she is now able to work in a store, work a register, wait on customers and carry on ordinary conversations quite comfortably. Her biggest pride is that the director of her son's Head Start program asked her to help translate and explain things for other parents who struggle with English.

I am very proud of her, but it is time for her to move on to another teacher or, better yet, to a class setting where she can continue to improve in a more structured environment. 

I found a certificate template online and printed one up for her. Yesterday I got a presentation folder and put the certificate in it to make it more like a real graduation. And I got her a small box of chocolates as a gift.

She called me this morning, however, to let me know that she is starting a new job today and we need to re-schedule. As soon as she finds out what days she will be free, she will call me and set something up.

That is a disappointment in some ways. I was looking forward to our little graduation ceremony. On the other hand, two years ago we would have needed to have that phone conversation in Spanish. Tom answered the phone when she called and she chatted with him for a bit before he handed the phone over to me. And that is more important than any certificate.