Today I went to school for the first time to meet with E. I'll be honest, I was a little frightened of meeting this supposed feisty five year old. After talking with Mrs. McVicker, I found out that besides being somewhat of a difficult student at times, she also has two other tutors who are fluent in Mandarin. I don't speak Chinese, and although I might be able to learn a few words, it's slightly impossible for me to learn it quickly enough to tutor in Chinese. How am I as a non-Chinese speaking tutor really going to help this little girl? The more I thought on this, the more I realized that this could be me in the future. God put me here for reason, and there is obviously something for me to do, although I may not see it right now.
The first session was mainly a time for observing and just allowing her to become comfortable with me. All predispositions aside, my first impression of her is that she is a very sweet girl. She sits quietly during most of class, but answers with short answers when she's spoken to. As I was observing, I was also helping pass out supplies for a paper the children were working on. When I passed a piece of construction paper to E for the second time, she gently tapped me and said, "Me. My name is E." She also pointed profusely at her name tag for me to look at. She smiled up at me very excited to make a new friend. I found it very interesting that although she did not speak much English, she was the first child to attempt to introduce herself to me. Perhaps she simply wanted to make herself known to me, or maybe she remembered me from when I was briefly introduced to her earlier in the week. As I watched E, I noticed that her interactions with the other children were very normal. The other children seemed to like her and would laugh with her and talk with her. I could tell immediately through the body language and interaction which girls she seemed to be friends with. Later in the day, she was working at a station where she could cut and glue paper and draw on it. I was watching her create a picture with her papers and decided to ask her about it. On her paper she had drawn a sad person and a happy person and then put a cross underneath it. When I asked her what she had made, she told me that the cross was Jesus and that the person was her. She was sad, but now she smiles. When I asked her why, she said Jesus. I then smiled and asked her, "Do you like Jesus?" She smiled a large smile and nodded her head. I smiled back at her and said, "Me too." She then smiled at me again.
This is only the beginning of my experiences with E. I am still learning how to apply what I have been learning to what I will be doing with her. However, she has already won my heart. I think that since this trust has hopefully been established, tutoring will be a bit easier. It keeps coming to my mind that E is a whole child, she has cognitive, physical, and social-emotional needs that must be met. I think that by establishing a relationship I will be able to meet as many of these needs with her as possible. Next week, I would like to hopefully spend some time finding out what her interests are and building on those if possible, as well as maybe doing some reading to start off. I believe I will gain more insight after my second session with her. I would like to find out more about her culture and how I can make what we're doing relevant to her. Here's to an adventure with a child who has already captured my heart.