2nd Tutoring Session

This was my second tutoring session with E. I decided to go with her to a room close to the classroom. I brought paper and crayons. I asked her to draw me a picture of something that she likes to do. She drew a picture of the outdoors and said she likes to play. After that, I couldn't get her to draw anymore. She said a few times that she thought her teacher was coming. It was difficult to communicate with her. Sometimes, when I would say things she would respond back in a few English words and then mumble a few words in Chinese. She began to point to another place in the room where there were other art supplies and a few games. I asked her if she wanted to play a game, and she said yes. So she picked out a game with lots of little animal cards. We took turns flipping over the animal cards. As she flipped them over, I would say each one. After a while she would attempt to copy me and also say the words. I pointed the penguin out to her and told her that this was my favorite animal. She giggled and smiled and then told me the monkey was her favorite.
Although I felt like I didn't accomplish very much in this tutoring time, I know that it is important that I build a relationship with E first. My only fear is that with the short amount of time I have with her this semester, it may take most of the semester to build that trust. I think it will have to be a continuing process of learning to communicate and understand each other while gaining her trust. I think that although she does need help learning to read, it may serve her well to practice communicating orally first. I would like to spend time talking about things with her and hopefully increasing her ability to speak in English. I was thinking that perhaps allowing her the opportunity to teach me some Chinese might also help her get a better understanding of English words. We could partner together in learning, because I am sure many times she feels as if people think she is stupid. This would give her a sense of being the expert that Lisa Delpit talks about. I can tell that she knows just as much as any other child, just not in English. It is important in the future that I continue to remember that not being able to speak English is definitely not a sign that the child is not intelligence.