Volunteer Spotlight: Tutor Bill Bertonneau
This month, the Literacy Update is beginning a new
section for the newsletter — Tutor Spotlight.
It’s an opportunity to recognize a volunteer who displays exemplary
behaviors for learners and other tutors in the Literacy Program. It’s an opportunity to get a perspective on
the program through the eyes of a tutor.
For our first article we proudly shine the
spotlight on Bill Bertonneau. Bill has
been a Basic Literacy tutor since Fall of 2012. Bill is a retired teacher. He
was a U.S. Government and History teacher at El Monte High School for 31 years.
The following is an interview with Bill, conducted
by Communications Intern Melissa Martin.
“Volunteering creates a national character in
which the community and the nation take on a spirit of compassion, comradeship
and confidence.” — Brian O'Connell
Melissa: Can
you tell if you've helped to make a difference in a student’s life? Any examples you can share?
Bill: I
worked with my first student for slightly over a year. She was a high school
graduate, and she went to Pasadena City College after she graduated; however,
after a few weeks, she realized she didn’t have the writing skills necessary to
complete one semester. When she came to the program, she could read books, but
she could not form one sentence. Her writing skills were horrible. She wanted
to fortify her vocabulary and grammar, so we did a lot of writing in our
sessions. I would have her read articles from the Los Angeles Times, or stories
she enjoyed reading, and she would write summaries on the articles. I can
honestly say that over the course of the year her writing skills significantly
improved. She was writing much better than she did at the beginning of the
year, and she was even able to write resumes. She became more confident in her
abilities to write complete and comprehensive paragraphs.
The student I am working with now is very
determined to write English. He speaks and reads very well, but does not know
writing skills such as grammar. He would like to learn how to use idioms and
prepositions in addition to growing his vocabulary.
Melissa: Has
being a volunteer tutor made a difference in your life in any way?
Bill: After
having taught students for so many years, it’s nice to be able to do something
that I want to do that’s related to teaching. It’s also nice to help other
people improve their skills and learn something that might help them.
Melissa:
What would you say to someone who is considering becoming a Basic
Literacy tutor?
Bill: It’s
not your basic ESL session. These students have a foundation of [speaking]
English. It’s always good to help other people, particularly if you have skills
that you can share with them. When people are being helped, they appreciate it.
In this program, you’re teaching people that want to be here and learn, as
opposed to people who are forced to be in school.
You find out that basically, most people are pretty
nice.
The Literacy Program would like to say thank you
to Bill.
We, along with his students, feel that he’s pretty
nice, too.
