I forgot to post last week.. 5th Meeting

Our meeting last Friday went well. We reviewed different tenses of verbs and how to form questions from statements. She had a lot of trouble in forming questions, however, after I gave her some tips, she got the hang of it. Following the workbook exercises, we moved to the computer station and created a Yahoo email address for Marisol. Unfortunately, Univision's emails require a subscription and monthly fee, something that I was not expecting. I felt really bad when this happened because I know Marisol was really excited about getting health food updates emailed to her.

As our meeting drew to a close, we spoke about how many meetings we had left together. I informed her that next week (the 1st) would be our last meeting. However, I told her that I wanted to continue helping her next semester and continue to make an impact in her life. I could tell she was excited about the continuing of her English education. Hopefully things will work out next semester and I can continue to tutor Marisol.

April 17th Meeting- Univision!

Today was a good tutoring session with Marisol. We went over our usual workbook activities but today, she wanted to learn more about computers. I decided to split the time in half. While in the midst of her workbook activities, I met some of Marisol's house keeping supervisors. Both men were very funny and joked around with Marisol. She then explained to me how nice they are to her and how her past supervisor was well, rude.

I've talked about it before but I will say it again. I don't understand how so many people can be so rude to Marisol. I know she is always working and when she is on the job I'm sure she is doing her best, however some people just don't care. She told me about her old boss and how she got all of the other housekeepers in trouble if they sat down for a minute, etc. They are human too... I don't understand why the boss could be so rude.

We then switched over to computer exercises. I showed her how to log on and how to access the internet. I asked her what she wanted to read about and she said that she wanted to learn about health and healthy foods. I went to "univision.com", one of her favorite TV channels and let her surf the website a bit. I showed her how to move the mouse and how to scroll up and down the page. She was so intrigued by this and she always got so excited when the page moved really fast. It was a lot of fun showing her how to use a computer.

We were going to set up an account on univision.com but she doesn't have an email address so we decided that we would set up a Yahoo account next week. This way she can get weekly recipes and health tips. She is a very fit woman and she always works out after our sessions. I know she will love the emails and hopefully she will be able to learn how to log on and check her email without me there. Until next time!

Getting to know Marisol- 4th meeting

My last meeting with Marisol was different. We went over the normal things, did a couple of lessons in the comprehension book, but for the majority of the time, we just talked. We talked about her life and her kids. She told me she has 4 kids: 18, 16, 14, and 10. She is divorced but has a boyfriend. She has been working two jobs for the past 19 years of her life. I could not believe that... I complain about having to study too much or write a paper but Marisol, she works 2-3 jobs every week and only gets about 4 hours of sleep a night.

We really got to know each other on a greater level after this last meeting. She talked to me about her past relationship with her ex and she told me how he doesn't pay child support on a regular basis, making it tough for her to pay bills. This really touched me. She is such a hard working woman and the motivation behind her is her kids. She told me how she wants to have money to buy her kids things and have a roof over their head and food to put on the table.

One of the interesting things we talked about was her two other jobs. She cleans houses for a lawyer and a judge. She told me about each one and the type of things she has to do. She told me how disrespectful they are to her sometimes and how demanding they are. A lot of the time, they don't appreciate what she does and how hard she works. This made me think about how meaningful a simple "thank you" can be. In any situation, if you really thank someone for doing something, it can mean the world to them. Everyone likes to be appreciated and there isn't an exception for that.

Marisol also told me how she is not embarrassed to tell people she cleans houses and buildings for a living. She simply said, "why should I be?" She is a hardworking woman who is just trying to provide for her children. She has no shame in what she does. I can only hope to have the same outlook on life when I am her age. Oh, another thing! She said she is 37 years old... She doesn't even look 30! She tried to say that all of her hard labor makes her look really old but I quickly corrected her and said she looked a lot younger than her age. I know this flattered her.

Next time we are going to go over some computer usage and a little more grammar. That's all for now.