Tyler Izuagie TP1

I've been working with Annie Wu for about a month now. I was assigned to her by the Leon County Literacy Volunteers. Initially, I started volunteering to see what it was like to teach. When Karen, the director, was telling us of the experiences volunteers would have, I was expecting to just be helping someone learn the basics of the English language. Instead, I was selected to prepare Ms. Annie for her Naturalization test. This test is comprised of a writing, speaking, and reading portion, as well as a 100 question civic test, of which only 10 questions will be asked. We've been working on it for weeks now and the material is very intense. But Ms. Annie takes her lessons in strides. Her persistence will reward her. I am confident that by the end of our sessions, she will be ready to take her test. What's been most difficult is getting Ms. Annie to believe this. She is very hard on herself and she often repeats negative things. I think her favorite is, "My English is no good."It cringes me to here her say this. Especially when I understand how different her native language, Mandarin, is from English. But we've been working on this. Its only minor work that she needs. Therefore, most of my energies go into making sure that when she takes her test, she approaches it confidently.