Louise | Volunteer Inspirations
Volunteering is at the core of our society. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” Some people volunteer to gain skills, some to network, some to give back to society and feel satisfied, etc. Personally, I get a sense of belonging in my community when I volunteer. What is your motivation behind volunteering?
Join us as we connect with the wonderful volunteers at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House (MPNH) — family tutor program.
This month I got the opportunity to talk to Louise Phillips. Louise is a volunteer tutor at our Family Literacy Outreach program. She has an internationally recognized diploma in English as a Second Language and used to teach in language schools in Vancouver. To learn more about Louise’s creative side, please visit https://louisephillips.ca/
Louise found her early inspiration in literacy and the English language because of her grandmother. Her grandmother is Ukrainian. She could hardly speak or read in English. While growing up, Louise missed being able to communicate with her grandmother. She thought, what if she could help people to read and converse in English — enable them to do basic things such as go to the grocery store? Her first literacy volunteering started in Toronto. Once, a courier person came to pick up a delivery. Although he was an English speaker, she knew he could not read from the questions he asked once she gave him the package.
“I wanted to help. I started volunteering with a Church literacy program. The first person I tutored spoke Farsi.” said Louise.
She has been a tutor volunteer with MPNH for over six months now. She started with one learner. It is the first time she is tutoring through Zoom. “The fact that I can teach on Zoom surprised me, and I enjoy it. It works really well with my learner.” — she added. “If I want to talk about cooking, I can quickly grab a fork from my kitchen and show it to her, unlike in a classroom where I had to use photographs. I can talk about the weather and what to wear when going out. Try and describe slippers — it is difficult. I show her jackets, coats, and shoes — my learner gets it immediately.”
Louise plans more exercise-based lessons than formal ones. She gives 6 English words to her learner to write sentences for her homework. When they meet, her learner reads what she wrote. It allows Louise to assess her pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, verb tense, etc. Then Louise makes sentences and reads them aloud for her learner to write. “A good listening practice!” — said Louise. “I choose words that she should be able to use and words she might not know.”
She shares that teaching how to make sounds has been a little challenge they navigated together. While talking about her learner, Louise mentioned, “Vivienne was born in China and can speak Cantonese and Mandarin. She was disappointed that she did not know the right sounds and wanted to learn so that she could be understood. We have worked a lot on pronunciation and sounds. Vivienne is eager, hard-working, and determined. I try to challenge her. She is a certified Yoga teacher and wants to teach Yoga. So we work on the language that will be useful for her to teach.” Listening to Louise reminded me of the play ‘Pygmalion’ by George Bernard Shaw, which I read long ago.
Louise is also tutoring Vivienne’s ten-year-old daughter, who knows a lot of English from school, yet needs to grow her speaking fluency. “I am encouraging her. She is smart, I like her, and we draw together. I am fortunate that I can draw. Before teaching, I used to work in advertising, and I can illustrate and draw. I used drawing a lot as a classroom teacher. Students like it when you don’t draw beautifully. Drawing and writing are very close to language!” Louise added in excitement. “My breakthrough with this young learner was when she asked me a question, a whole sentence in English! That was engagement.” Louise told me, “It was a great moment.”
When I asked Louise about her takeaway from volunteering and the impact she feels she is having, she said she feels grateful. She narrated thoughtfully, “Maybe, gratitude is the takeaway. The tutor/learner relationship is a different kind of friendship. My learner is vulnerable. Everything is new for her. When my learner doesn’t get the pronunciation right, she has to believe me — she can make a mistake, and I can correct her. There is a lot of trust. And I am always reminded of what I can offer and how important it is. My learner has more confidence speaking English now. She is beginning to understand grammar in a way that is practical. She will be able to teach Yoga and know the words to use, the tone of voice, and what people in Vancouver would expect. She will feel confident!”
Louise possesses empathy and understanding. She explained that people who work with immigrants should have more tolerance. Immigrants are not starting from scratch, they have so much experience and wisdom, and now they are learning a new language in a new country. Those who speak English can make it much easier for the newbies.
To my last question: what next? Louise said, “I have quite a bit of experience teaching in the classroom. Tutoring is different since it is one person. The nice thing is that I don’t have to give tests and mark them. It is an ongoing process. Tutoring through Zoom, not marking papers — encourages me to investigate how I can do more. Maybe I can have a whole day to teach instead of a few hours. While I speak, I am thinking — I can do more.”
