By Rachel Maydew

Every Tuesday and Thursday, at 3:45pm on the dot, you will find a convoy of Cary Academy students journeying to our sister school, Reedy Creek Elementary, to tutor students in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Some of us will be on the bus discussing our upcoming tests, and others will be in their own cars wondering how they managed to get lost an a half-mile drive. Nevertheless, we all make it to the school. We walk through the halls, giving high-fives here and there to wide-eyed students watching the big kids strut past them – we’re practically famous. Upon entering the trailer classroom, though, it’s time to get down to business.

We retrieve the red folder corresponding to our student that holds our mission, should we choose to accept it (just kidding – we have to). Each tutor figures out what the plan for the hour is, and before we know it, the eager, sweaty kids are coming in from recess. Once we make eye contact with our students, enthusiastic greetings ensue – anything from head nods to waves to secret handshakes occur before it’s time to split up into our classrooms. The students set up their snacks, pencils, and folders to get ready to work. They insist upon finishing their homework within the hour so that they don’t have to do it at home. Their dedication is inspiring.

A few questions into their assignment, though, the student might get a bit frustrated. It’s understandable – these are ESL students doing homework in English. They are incredibly intelligent students, but not only do they have to figure out how to apply the concepts they learned in class that day, they also have to decipher what the homework actually says. When things start getting tough, we tutors step in to help. Our goal is to keep them excited about finishing their homework, so we do everything in our power to make learning more fun for them.

Each tutor has techniques up their sleeve to accomplish this goal. I, personally, like to adopt voices for the characters in the book. If my student is reading a monster book, we’ll switch off lines in our monster voice. Sometimes it’s tough – these kids have amazing monster voices – but it’s worth it to see them in a fit of giggles, motivated to keep reading.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. At the end of the hour, the students and tutors alike groan at the announcement that ends the tutoring session for the day. Our walk back to the lobby is spent discussing our plans for the rest of the evening and, in some cases, adding to secret handshakes (they get pretty long!). We say our goodbyes, but we remember that we’ll be making the same 0.5 mile journey the next week to do it all over again.