I have two English tutors since I came to this country.
I learned from my first tutor when I was in Toledo. He was a middle-aged lawyer. When we first met, he had long hair, which made me doubt if he would be a good tutor. It turned out he was pretty good. Once I asked him why he liked being a volunteer. He told me he wanted people who came from other countries could lead a better life here. He used to prepare some very practical materials for us to read and discuss. What he taught us was some basic necessities living in this country, for example how to order in restaurant, what the waiter or waitress will say. I remember when I attended a meeting in New Orleans several years ago, my friend and I went to have breakfast. I wanted to try the sunny side up eggs. But I could not remember the word “sunny side up”. It was very embarrassed that I could only murmur several “sunny” at that time. Being in this country, I try to use their ways of thinking to communicate with them. This was what my tutor tried to help me. He was a warm-hearted happy guy. I usually made jokes with his big belly and bad hand writing. Being with him gave me a lot of happiness, not only from learning with him, but also from effected by his personalities. I am lucky to know him and luckier to be one of his friends.
My current tutor is a 78-year-old retired old lady. Her background is Hungarian. She looks very energetic because she has been keeping her heart, her thoughts very active. She is so talented that she established a reading program for children. She also created many kinds of teaching materials. She really loved her job as a language teacher. She has already written no less than 400 stories for students range from grade 1 to 12. Many of her stories are myths. She takes this volunteer job very seriously. She recruited as many as retired people to be teachers. Our classmates are from almost all over of the world including China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, etc. She divides students into different levels so every student will be treated specially . She not only wrote stories herself, but also encourages the students to write. Once she wrote a story about Halloween with an open ending. Her students finished the story with 15 different versions. Isn’t it cool?
Learning from an experienced person is enjoyable, which will definitely enrich one’s life. The more one meets, the more one experiences, the more one thinks, the more one will obtain. God gives everybody equal opportunities, one needs to grasp it and creates one's own future.
