Amy on working with students on school subjects

"The disparity between a student’s English ability and his intellectual capacity can sometimes make an otherwise simple concept extremely difficult. For example, ESOL students can take math, science and history classes, but although those classes do not specifically test English, they do require a certain amount of proficiency in it. As mentors, that’s one of the situations in which we can be of most help.

When one student came to me last week because he had trouble with his science homework, I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t be able to explain the concepts using very simple terms. However, it turned out that conceptually, he already grasped the topic and only needed help with understanding the textbook and his homework questions. By teaching him what some basic terms meant, I was able to show him how to find the given variables and the variable for which to solve within the questions, and he was able to find the right equations and calculate the answers by himself."