Volunteers tutor students in an underserved community during Covid-19
-- June 22, 2020
When students around California switched to distance learning as COVID-19 shelter-in-place order came down, many parents struggled to manage home schooling. The struggle was greater for parents in the CIMI program because their limited English skills prevented them from helping their children with the online video classes published by San Jose Unified School District. The children were frustrated at home, unable to do the assignments. These elementary school and middle school students were in a household where Spanish was the primary language and 40% of them did not have a computer. About 25% of them had neither a computer nor an iPhone. These students needed help with math, reading, comprehension, and writing.
Volunteers from CIMI stepped up to tutor these students during the month of May.
CIMI organized a tutoring program for these students. CIMI parents signed up their children for 1:1 tutoring sessions by listing their needs and availability on an online form. Volunteers chose students from the list then contacted the parents to introduce themselves and to further clarify the needs of the students. Once mutual agreement was established, the tutors worked with the students. Half of the tutors spoke Spanish, the other half conversed with the children in English.
We received positive feedback from tutors and students. We are encouraged by this and will be offering summer school tutoring.
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