Your Time And Help Can Make A Solid Difference

Some of my early memories are of looking through pages of magazines when my parents visited friends. As an only child and a Depression baby, there were few books in our house, so the gift of my very own children’s book for my birthday was my first chance to have someone read to me. I was delighted and anxious to get to school so I could learn to read.

In first grade we were given the book, “The Little Red Hen,” as our initial text and to my dismay, I could not learn to read it! In those days there were no extra helpers for poor readers and a prerequisite for moving to second grade was the ability to read this book. My mother didn’t have much time to spare, but she would try to help me by reading the same pages to me, and somehow, I managed to memorize “The Little Red Hen.” Fortunately, for the final test, the teacher started at the beginning of the book and I spouted the whole first page correctly. Thank goodness the second-grade teacher had extra time to work with me, and to my delight, I learned to read.

At 71, reading is still one of my favorite pastimes. Still, when I learned that the elementary schools in Spokane were seeking literacy tutors, it was with some trepidation that I signed up, for I knew nothing about teaching.

However, the organizer explained the program to me and showed me the routine and how to proceed. We work with the teachers who need extra help in the first, second or third grades. It may be with reading, spelling or math. In my case, I am there from 9 to 11 on Tuesdays and 9:30 to 11 on Thursdays. With reading, we start out slowly and at the end of the session, progress has been made and we are friends.

It becomes something I look forward to, and when the children smile proudly after reading without mistakes, their joy is obvious and I am elated to have helped them achieve the gift of reading that will last for the rest of their lives. We also have fun together. One day, a little girl and I were reading a book with tongue-twisting words, something like a pollywog in a puddle was puttering around. We started giggling and that particular book became the most popular one the next day.

This year more tutors are needed. If you have an hour or so of free time during the weekdays and want to make a difference, please call an elementary school and offer to help. I promise, you won’t regret it!