Welcome to ENP!

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By Penina Gershbaum
ENP Volunteer
Student at Midreshet Moriah

This past Wednesday I volunteered in an Israeli public school to help teach English to Ethiopian children who need some additional English lessons. It was a really eye-opening experience working with these children. I had never worked with Ethiopian children before and I had never tutored anyone in English. There were 4 students who were scheduled for extra lessons, one who knew English pretty well and the other three were each on different levels. We were each given a student, and were given a worksheet with a few paragraphs and questions that the student had to complete. I thought I would just help the student with a few words she didn't understand or had trouble pronouncing, but I didn't realize how little she knew. We sat for an hour and a half working on the sheet, and we just finished reading a three paragraph passage. I helped her pronounce words she had trouble with, and translated many words into Hebrew so she would understand the meaning, and then would test her on the words. It was a little bit frustrating having to try to translate some words and repeat basic words that any 14 year old American would know, but it was rewarding at the end to know that I am making a difference in someone else's life. I am giving up 2 hours of my time a week, to help a student I don't even know, but these 2 hours of extra English are helping her and could change her life. Looking forward to what this week brings :)

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