My junior year of college, a friend of a friend of a friend asked if I might be interested in tutoring someone in English. I asked for a little more information and then said I'd be happy to help. Yosuke Yamamoto (pronounced YO-skay) was a fifteen year-old boy from Japan who had dreamt of attending college in the U.S. So to get a head start on things, he moved to Santa Barbara to stay with family friends and attend high school. He had very limited English skills, and it would be my job once a week to talk with him, help him with certain homework assignments, and hopefully help him make a little more sense of our wacky language.
After my first two meetings with him, I only knew a handful of things: he liked skateboarding, he emphatically hated parmesan cheese, he enjoyed writing graffiti-style in his notebook, and he was a fan of the Sex Pistols' music. His English needed a great deal of work, but we were communicating pretty well. In his assignments, if he came upon a word he didn't know (which was very often the case), he'd stop and ask me. "What means 'shopping cart'," he'd say while pointing to a math word problem about the market. "That is what you push around at the market and put food into," I'd say, employing expert pantomime to leave no doubt about the meaning. "Oh, ok." And so it went, usually just like that until he understood every word he was reading for that assignment.
We ran into two problems though. I was feeling pretty comfortable that I'd be able to explain any word he came across, seeing as how it was a 9th-grade textbook and all. Then one day early on in our sessions, he turned to me and asked, "What means 'unless'?" "Well," I said routinely, "It's...it means that unless...no, hold on...'unless' means...if not it's because of something...hold on...crap." I grabbed his English/Japanese dictionary, found "unless," and pointed to the Japanese characters next to it. "Oh," he said. I tested him a couple of times to make sure he really got it, and he did. Gentle readers, how would you have answered that (without consulting a dictionary)? To this day I don't have a good definition on hand for that, should the situation re-arise.
The second problem came during an assignment on American History. We were going over the chapter on the Revolutionary War, and he stopped and pointed to George Washington's name. "What means 'Washington?''' he asked. "'Washington' is just his last name; it doesn't really mean anything. You know, like, what does 'Yamamoto' mean?" I asked. Yosuke answered, "Yama mean mountain, and moto-" "Ok, ok," I interrupted, "maybe that was a bad example." I walked right into that one. It was at this point of the after-school special that I saw that sometimes the teacher can learn lessons from the student. Awwww.
For the record, I did tell him several times that "What means" is not the correct way to ask the question, but it never sunk in. Over the next little while, his English definitely improved, yet he still managed to surprise me every once in a while. I remember one time in particular, I came in and asked how his day at school went. "Oh," he said with a heavy sigh and an extremely pained look on his face as he shook his head, "very good." "Ok, let's talk about what 'very' means," I replied.
After a little more time went by, my tutoring sessions with Yosuke ended. I had a very busy academic quarter coming up (including 20+ hours a week at my other job), and truthfully, I'm sure he learned more English from sitting in school and hanging out with his friends than in his twice-weekly sessions with me. I wished him the best of luck and hoped that we'd stay in some sort of contact, although this was before everyone had email so we knew it wasn't likely.
About five years later, Dave and I were killing some time in a new Urban Outfitters that had just opened on State Street. A few guys were trying on the funky pairs of sunglasses nearby, and one said to another, "Hey Yosuke, check these out." I walked over to the young Asian man of the group and said, "Yosuke?" "Yeah?" he answered. "Hi, I don't know if you remember me but I'm Peter; I tutored you in English a few years ago when you moved here." "Oh my God, totally!" he said, sounding as American as I do. "Wow, it's been a long time, man. Whatcha been up to?" We chatted for just a minute, and I'm pretty sure I had a completely shocked look on my face the entire time. I again wished him the best of luck, and he went back to browsing with his buddies. The shy Japanese kid I had known was long gone, and it felt both rewarding and nostalgic. I just hope he still hates parmesan cheese, or else everything I know is a lie.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to dive into my yama of real work. Happy Tuesday, everyone.
After my first two meetings with him, I only knew a handful of things: he liked skateboarding, he emphatically hated parmesan cheese, he enjoyed writing graffiti-style in his notebook, and he was a fan of the Sex Pistols' music. His English needed a great deal of work, but we were communicating pretty well. In his assignments, if he came upon a word he didn't know (which was very often the case), he'd stop and ask me. "What means 'shopping cart'," he'd say while pointing to a math word problem about the market. "That is what you push around at the market and put food into," I'd say, employing expert pantomime to leave no doubt about the meaning. "Oh, ok." And so it went, usually just like that until he understood every word he was reading for that assignment.
We ran into two problems though. I was feeling pretty comfortable that I'd be able to explain any word he came across, seeing as how it was a 9th-grade textbook and all. Then one day early on in our sessions, he turned to me and asked, "What means 'unless'?" "Well," I said routinely, "It's...it means that unless...no, hold on...'unless' means...if not it's because of something...hold on...crap." I grabbed his English/Japanese dictionary, found "unless," and pointed to the Japanese characters next to it. "Oh," he said. I tested him a couple of times to make sure he really got it, and he did. Gentle readers, how would you have answered that (without consulting a dictionary)? To this day I don't have a good definition on hand for that, should the situation re-arise.
The second problem came during an assignment on American History. We were going over the chapter on the Revolutionary War, and he stopped and pointed to George Washington's name. "What means 'Washington?''' he asked. "'Washington' is just his last name; it doesn't really mean anything. You know, like, what does 'Yamamoto' mean?" I asked. Yosuke answered, "Yama mean mountain, and moto-" "Ok, ok," I interrupted, "maybe that was a bad example." I walked right into that one. It was at this point of the after-school special that I saw that sometimes the teacher can learn lessons from the student. Awwww.
For the record, I did tell him several times that "What means" is not the correct way to ask the question, but it never sunk in. Over the next little while, his English definitely improved, yet he still managed to surprise me every once in a while. I remember one time in particular, I came in and asked how his day at school went. "Oh," he said with a heavy sigh and an extremely pained look on his face as he shook his head, "very good." "Ok, let's talk about what 'very' means," I replied.
After a little more time went by, my tutoring sessions with Yosuke ended. I had a very busy academic quarter coming up (including 20+ hours a week at my other job), and truthfully, I'm sure he learned more English from sitting in school and hanging out with his friends than in his twice-weekly sessions with me. I wished him the best of luck and hoped that we'd stay in some sort of contact, although this was before everyone had email so we knew it wasn't likely.
About five years later, Dave and I were killing some time in a new Urban Outfitters that had just opened on State Street. A few guys were trying on the funky pairs of sunglasses nearby, and one said to another, "Hey Yosuke, check these out." I walked over to the young Asian man of the group and said, "Yosuke?" "Yeah?" he answered. "Hi, I don't know if you remember me but I'm Peter; I tutored you in English a few years ago when you moved here." "Oh my God, totally!" he said, sounding as American as I do. "Wow, it's been a long time, man. Whatcha been up to?" We chatted for just a minute, and I'm pretty sure I had a completely shocked look on my face the entire time. I again wished him the best of luck, and he went back to browsing with his buddies. The shy Japanese kid I had known was long gone, and it felt both rewarding and nostalgic. I just hope he still hates parmesan cheese, or else everything I know is a lie.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to dive into my yama of real work. Happy Tuesday, everyone.
1 comment:
German child: Stacy, what means meanwhile?
Stacy: What? I'm sorry I didn't hear you.
GC: What means meanwhile?
Stacy: Hmmm....still can't hear you.
GC: (sighs heavily, rolls eyes) What does meanwhile mean?
I feel your pain, bro.
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