This week, I finally met my mentee, Kevin. To be totally honest, things didn’t go all that smoothly at first. Not only did it take me about ten minutes to realize that Kevin was a Spanish speaker, but I was actually talking with the idea that he moderately understood what I was saying. Pretty soon I found out that pretty much the entire time he had been nodding along silently to everything I was saying, smiling on cue with my smiles. It was actually kind of convincing until I asked for a response
and he smiled and nodded. When I realized he was Spanish it wasn’t all that bad, since I’ve taken 4 years of Spanish, but it made me about 100% aware of how little I remember and just how ridiculously faded my Spanish speaking ability was, but I was able to recall enough to at least talk, and follow somewhat coherently. I found out he has one older sister, really enjoys basketball, and enjoys the Spanish culture much more than the English. I personally can relate to this in that I went through the same thing as a child, just in the opposite way. My family’s from Sri Lanka, and I lived there for about a year when I was four and learned to speak the language fluently, as well as forgot English. When I returned to America, I quickly absorbed the culture as I was so young but missed so many of the cultural aspects of Sri Lankan life and so I favored it for years, always telling people about it any chance I got and reminiscing as much as possible. Kevin seemed the same way about his family and his roots, but again, we weren’t able to connect incredibly well through spoken language, so I thought it might be a good idea to try letting him draw, since he looked like a quieter kid who might enjoy doodling. Sure enough, his eyes lit up when I mentioned the word dibuja and boligrafo, which don’t necessary fit as pen and painting, but he knew what I was saying. After that, things went pretty smoothly, and he demonstrated his enjoyment of drawing by mapping out his closest family for me and then asking about my family, which he then drew. He kept the drawing and even seemed kind of fond of it, but I would blame him for not holding on to it. Overall, I really thought Kevin was great for me especially to spend time with. He seemed like a great kid who cares about family a lot, the only concern I had was the language, which it turns out I’m able to recall but only in baby steps. Hopefully, this will be a mutually beneficial relationship we have going.
My mentee is named Jose. Currently a nine-year-old third-grader who attends AMIS, Jose moved to Cincinnati from Mexico with his family seven years ago and does not remember much about his time there. Most of his family still lives in Mexico, and he told me it has been hard not seeing many of his relatives. Jose didn’t talk much, but I did learn that his grandmother had passed away last October, and that he remembers his mom crying all day. A relatively shy kid, I attempted to get more than one-word answers and silent gestures from him. Eventually I learned which subjects he enjoyed most and which teachers he liked. We also talked about his interests outside of school; Jose loves to swim and snowboard, and medieval army combat computer games are his favorite. I hope to get Jose out of his shell more in the coming weeks, and cannot wait to see him again.
In third grade, my mind was always wandering. I could never focus on one thing for long, and was eventually tested for ADD. While I do not have ADD, I do feel as though I can relate to kids who have trouble focusing, and noticed that Jose’s mind was constantly wandering. He watched children on the other side of the room constantly and had to ask me to repeat questions often. In that sense I can see that Jose and I are a lot alike. At his age, however, I loved school and was always excited to learn. I drew all the time and loved art, but Jose doesn’t care for the subject at all. Beyond surface similarities and differences, it seems as though Jose and I are actually a lot alike. His immigration experience did not seem to affect him much and he spoke English perfectly. Culturally, he also seemed completely American. I hope that he will continue to open up and allow me to see some of the cultural hardships that he experiences.
