“Volunteer tutoring program helps kids succeed” plus 1 more |
| Volunteer tutoring program helps kids succeed Posted: 08 Mar 2011 11:56 PM PST Seven-year old Karla Zenon shuffled into the tutoring room with a stack of multiplication tables, her ponytail swinging from side to side. She slid the paper across a table and, not wasting any time, grabbed a pencil. "It's hard, and I come over here because they help me," she said. "I like stuff that's hard." Since 2008, three Zenon siblings and about seven other students have raised their grades in La Escuelita, an informal tutoring program in the office of Magnolia Park Townhomes at 2000 Imola Ave. It's run by one Napa Valley College student, Maria Perez, and one other volunteer. "When we started, parents were struggling with the kids because of the language barrier," said Perez, 23. "The parents want to help, but don't know how." Every Tuesday and Thursday, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., the students come to study whichever subject they need help with. "A lot of the parents say the students' grades are going up," said Adriana Jacinto, resident service coordinator at Napa Valley Community Housing, which oversees the Magnolia apartments. "They're very happy. They can't stop talking about it." Perez knows herself what it's like to struggle for direction. After four years at Napa Valley College and switching between majors, she plans to graduate with an associate's degree in TV Broadcast Engineering this year. "I want kids to know, even if they have that language barrier, someone will be there to say they can go to college," she said. Nancy Zenon, 13, said she improved from a C to an A- in math. Jaime Zenon, 8, reads from the more than 100 donated books at the program. He curled up in a chair with "Ghost Town at Sundown," an adventure book by children's author Mary Pope Osborne. "They have a magic tree and they have a book and they can go to places to find mysteries," Zenon explains. The program has helped him with math, spelling and reading, he said. "Sometimes, my homework, I don't know how to do it. It's confusing. They help me and I understand it more." Still, Perez said the program needs more volunteers. On Thursday, she and one other volunteer wrangled 10 students into doing their homework. Two students peeked up from their books and giggled repeatedly. Parents also wandered in and out. Irma Avila, 39, watched her daughter, Cynthia Avila, 11, work on a history project about ancient Greece. "Because I don't speak much English," Irma Avila said in Spanish, "sometimes I can't help with homework." Cynthia Avila said the program helps her socially, too. She had recognized her neighbors at school before, but they've become closer through La Escuelita. Now, "we're all friends." In the middle of the frenzy, volunteer Kiersten Gurule, 19, helped 7-year old Karla Zenon with her multiplication tables. "What's three times eight?" Gurule asked. "18?" Zenon guessed. "No." Gurule gave Zenon a pile of beans and asked her to separate them into three piles of eight. Zenon's small fingers counted carefully. "24!" she said. Perez watched over their shoulders. "We're getting somewhere," she said. "It's slowly, but we're getting there." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| New tutoring centre opens in Collingwood Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:46 AM PST This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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