Tutoring a family from Afghanistan
For the last 6-8 weeks, I’ve been teaching English to a husband and wife from Afghanistan. I cannot describe how sweet, resilient, patriotic, loving & warm they are. Genuinely, I find new things to admire and appreciate about them every week. I am so lucky they’re in my life, and I look forward to the hours we spend eating, learning, and laughing together. Twice a week, I sit down with an $11 textbook from Amazon, a translation app on my phone, my iPad or a piece of paper, and we just do our best.
Me and my student. Emoji used for her privacy.
This volunteer work combines three of my passions: language, cultural exchange, and community. I have some experience tutoring in a very different capacity and environment, so this is really new to me. I’m working with her on verb tense because she has a good amount of English, while he describes himself as a soldier first. Despite being really smart, he was never a student in Afghanistan, so we work on essentials. He’s learning to read for the first time, and he’s learning to do it in English—one of the hardest languages on the planet! We’re working on days of the week, time, colors, and terminology from his work—things he can hopefully use and practice everyday. Meanwhile x10.
I don’t have a certification to do this, but I’m so glad I didn’t let that stop me because the community of refugees need this kindness now—not in the distant, fictional future when courses in Pashto or Dari are easily accessible to the kinder part of the American public. They need community connection and someone who can simply sit down for a social hour or identify spam texts. They need help understanding leases, their children’s school assignments, phone bills, immigration documents, appointment reminders… but truly all they really need is someone willing to help them learn, and they are so eager to learn!
…Not just for their sakes, but their family’s in their home and homeland. Last week, I met with my fellow tutors and the refugee community’s case worker. There, I learned that the Taliban is targeting and blacklisting the Afghanistan-based friends and family of refugees here in the States, like my students. Many of these refugees qualified for asylum in exchange for aiding American troops when we were oversees. As a result, their families are being blacklisted from jobs and housing, so the salary of my student alone is used to support dozens of people. Anything I do as their tutor and friend that can help them improve their earning potential or save a little money on their phone bill, is magnified by their generosity and responsibility. I cannot emphasize enough the vast ripple effect of this work.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I happen to know a lot of people who are good at the whole English thing. Fellow undergrad majors, minors, and professors, colleagues from my years in content management… I also happen to know a lot of kind and generous people. And people who are sympathetic to Muslim communities who have been negatively impacted by American foreign policies. So, that makes my circle a particularly good one to spread this message and share this opportunity. I know many of my kind hearted friends might think. “I’d love to, but I’m not qualified for that…” Please *said emphatically* do NOT let perfect be the enemy of better! One of my fellow tutors is TSOL certified, and she said she had to throw that training out and just take it day by day. Truly, there is no certification, no program, no curriculum that accommodates for every combination of culture or language, every student *and* where they’re at. The best you can do is learn on the fly and do your best, whatever that is. Whether you’re only interested in a casual social hour or a more structured lesson, there’s a need for your English skills and time. If the refugee community had to wait for a proportionate fleet of tutors to learn their language or complete a course, they’d wait a hard lifetime. 3 things. That’s all you need: English, time, and an inclination to help the refugee community in your backyard. If you have those 3 things, private message me. I’d be happy to connect you with the network I’m a part of (if you’re in Central Indiana) or with an equivalent network near you (if there is one).
If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
