My Nonprofit Reviews

I started working as a NWFS tutor about a year ago. I am a licensed teacher with a bilingual endorsement (ELD) and I spent the past 30 years teaching ELD/ESL to adults and students K-8. I was also a classroom teacher for several years. The new NWFS tutoring job presented new and exciting challenges: tutoring students that are mostly HS age.
I came to the U.S.A. as a refugee at the age of 19 and still remember all the difficulties I had to face, including learning English and supporting myself while studying. Understanding the academic language, analyzing literary and scientific texts and writing essays and papers presented the biggest challenge during my studies.
My very first NWFS student was Rebecca, a bright 18-year-old HS girl who spoke 3 languages at home (Romanian, Spanish, and English). Rebecca's English academic language (C.A.L.P.) was well developed, but due to missing almost a year of school during COVID, she was far behind... We talked and made a great connection. She showed me the missing assignments and we worked hard to complete them. I noticed that she was able to work independently once she knew what to do and how to approach a problem. With a little bit of guidance and newly found confidence and structure, she completed all the assignments and was ready to graduate! During our last meeting she left me the following note:
"Dear Julia, thank you so much for your help and support! I appreciate you as a person. I only met you a few times, but you are DEFINITELY my fav tutor!!! I hope the best for you in life. Have a safe trip to your homeland. Love, Rebecca"
This illustrates one of the many great services NWFS offers. Rachel is now a college student.
Success!!