Testimonials from Students & Teachers
Testimonies from our students and MIT teachers, including the ELD Resource teacher, also demonstrated the positive impact of our program on our students' English language and literacy skills. All of our students reported enjoying reading more, and the students’ teachers described our students having become more fluent and literate. MIT’s ELD Resource Teacher viewed the “Los Ayudantes program as highly successful in helping to increase the literacy levels of these students, as well as in improving their sense of connection to school and efficacy as learners.”
The second year MIT students (second year in the US) recently completed a survey (in English and Spanish) about the Los Ayudantes program and its impact on their lives and learning. The responses were very positive and the students noted the value of the field trip to Chinatown where they learned about another immigrant culture and the positive impact of the workshops by the Latina Girls Club. We found that the actual act of participating in a survey in which their opinions were sought and valued was a positive experience for the students.
Our students are so enthusiastic about their new language self-confidence, that they have requested books to read at home. They want to come to the sessions prepared to learn even faster. We have requested funding for a project to develop a lending library of high interest and low reading level books and magazines for our students. This library will augment the hour of tutoring each student receives every week. We believe that more interesting reading material will keep our students more involved in the learning process and will improve their reading comprehension scores faster than by participating in the tutoring sessions only. As graduation gifts we recently purchased Chicken Soup for The Teenage Soul for the students and incorporated the book into our last tutoring session of the year. Although a stretch for some of the students, the subject matter was relevant to their lives and they were thrilled to own personal copies of books they could and wanted to read.