Foreign kids.

This week I started tutoring some middle school kids who have moved to the United States within the last few years.  They're all just learning English, so they have a hard time in school.  I'm working with 4 kids.  They're all precious.  Let me tell you a little about them.

Helena:
Helena is an 8th grader from China.  She is the tiniest 8th grader I have ever seen.  She's probably no more than 4 feet tall, and I'm sure she weighs no more than 60 pounds.  Adorable.  Yesterday she asked me to help her with her history.  We were talking about slaves, and we read in her textbook that slaves could sometimes inherit land from their masters.  Helena didn't get it.  So I started trying to explain what the word inherit means.  This is quite difficult to do to someone who doesn't have an extensive English vocabulary...  You should try it sometime.  So I'm trying to explain to Helena that when someone dies, they can leave their stuff to someone else.  She still doesn't get it.  I worked on explaining that word for probably 5 minutes.  Then all of a sudden, little bitty Helena laughs and says with her cute Chinese accent, "Why you keep saying people die?"  Oh, Helena.

Jenny:
Jenny is also Chinese.  She has given herself an American name.  I told Jenny why I was there, and she didn't even give me a chance to make small talk before she pulled out her pre-algebra book.  She found what they'd been working on in class, and we figured it out together.  After we worked a couple of problems, she turned to the next section and we did the same thing, and then the next.  After about four sections, I asked Jenny when she's having a test on the material.  She said, "I don't know.  We haven't even gone over this in class yet.  We've only done the first section."  Those stereotypes about Asians being good at school are so true.  She pulled out another assignment to look at and I noticed that all of her stuff was so stinkin' organized!  Hers and Helena's both.  I don't know how those parents teach that, but it was amazing!

Ren:
Ren is the only boy I'm tutoring.  He's from Germany.  He shook my hand when I introduced myself--such a gentleman.  I asked him more than once if he had anything he wanted to talk about or look at, and he just kept saying no...  After a few minutes he took a cue I didn't mean to give and just left.  He was very polite about it, but he was also anxious to get back to class.  Maybe next time.

Weam:
Weam is the only 6th grader I'm helping; the others are 8th grade.  She is from Libya and wears a Muslim headdress.  She is a spunky little girl.  She talked my ears off.  As soon as I asked her if there was anything she wanted to work on, she said, "You came on the right day!"  I kept asking her to read things, and finally she said, "I'm tired.  You read it."  I told her that I was tired too; I'd been at school all day just like her.  She said, "Oh yeah, I've been at school since 6:45 this morning.  What time did you go to school?"  She kept trying to bargain with me, but I eventually won.  She had to decide on a bad guy for a scary story she has to write for English class.  She chose a boy she likes who doesn't like her back.  She then proceeded to tell me the whole story.  He's dumb, but she likes him anyway.  She doesn't know why she likes him.  He likes her best friend who is like her sister.  She should be mad at her friend about it, but she's not; she's still her friend.  Oh, the drama of a sixth grader.