Young Judaea Year Course - Program In Israel - Genna Morton - "Helping Students One Letter at a Time"

About a week ago, I was asked to volunteer a small part of my time picking oranges for hungry families for the organization Table-to-Table. I was happy enough to do so, recalling the one time I went apple picking with my family and remembering how much fun it was.

We took a bus to the orange orchard, and once we got there, we were promptly dropped off and left by ourselves. There was a large pile of crates, and each person, or every few people, would grab a crate and walk into the orange groves. It was a busy scene. Oranges were being flung overhead everywhere, and many were testing the ripeness of the oranges firsthand. My two friends and I took a crate and wandered to a less-populated area (where we wouldn't be casualties in the orange wars) and began picking the fruit. As I tossed the oranges into the crate, I watched them rise and rise until it was overflowing with delicious fruit, soon to be tasted by those less fortunate than we. The process continued, crate after crate successfully being filled. I found myself wishing that my volunteering had the concrete results orange picking did.

Ever since I saw the many volunteer options available to me at my Year Course orientation, I knew that I wanted to spend my time working with Israeli children and teaching them English. I wanted to be involved with kids who could benefit from my skills as a native English speaker. When I found out I was placed in an elementary school (after two weeks of suspense!), I couldn't have been more thrilled.

The lovely school to which I was assigned to work at for a three month period was called Katzenelson Elementary School. I was full of excitement to meet the kids and optimistic that I would be the one to make them understand English. My first impression of the school, on our visiting day, was that it was very...purple. The exterior was painted a delightful light purple that made me smile whenever I saw it. The kids, as far as I could tell, were energetic and friendly--perfect to teach.

Then the big day arrived: our first day of teaching. I volunteered with two other girls, Hannah and Anni. We were excited and nervous for our first day in the classroom, but I was ready to make my difference in the lives, or at least in English, of the students. For the first class the three of us split up. Because I knew Hebrew and Anni and Hannah didn't, they were sent to a sixth-grade class (because they know more English), and I was sent to a fourth-grade class with Svetlana, the other teacher.

The girl I was working with was called Ofek. She was a cute 9-year-old girl with no comprehension of the English language. And when I say no comprehension, I mean that she could barely finish singing her ABCs, let alone write the individual letters. She didn't know letters, sounds or words. She didn't understand the difference between vowels or consonants. All she had was a packet with worksheets of the letters. She worked diligently on that packet, not really understanding it. I felt like I was being asked to teach her the entirety of the English language from scratch.

For the rest of the day, there was a pattern to the kids I taught. They were always the kids who barely knew any English, and those who did know some only knew it in a limited capacity. I worked on little exercises that Svetlana suggested, but I still felt defeated. They might be able to do a few simple exercises, but in the big scheme of things, what did that mean? They were still nowhere near close to grasping the language.

But then something amazing happened. I was with Ofek one day, maybe two weeks later, and she was working on her worksheets. Just on a whim, I pointed to a word in an exercise and asked her to read it. The word was "cab." She had already done worksheets on "A," "B" and "C," so I thought it would be worth it to give it a try. She stared at the word for what seemed like forever, so I decided to try and help her.

"What sound does 'C' make?" I asked. "K..." she said. "What sound does 'A' make?" I continued. "Ah..." she said. "What noise does 'B' make?" I finished. "B..." she said. "Az mah ha'milah?" So what is the word? She sounded it out and sounded it out and sounded it out until she finally spit it out. "Cab." Cab. She had read a word!

Ofek had done something I thought would be impossible for her. She had made a big step. A giant step. Then I realized she had only read one word. That's where my thought process changed, right there. Because for Ofek, it was not only one word. It was an advancement I thought could never happen. It might as well have been the entire English language.

Picking oranges is easy. You watch your labor come to a profit. I saw the oranges I picked, carton after carton full of oranges, and I knew they would be helping people. Working at a school is a lot less concrete, but as I learned, not at all less rewarding. Because even if the only thing I ever did there was help some child do his or her homework or teach a seemingly hopeless girl to read a word, I know I did my job. They might not know English well, or barely even at all, but if I made anything easier for them, well, then I made my difference.

Young Judaea Year Course: Check out our Program in Israel