The Reluctant Big

He was a reluctant mentor. He is a retired physician in his late 70’s who is a gentle and caring man but was not sure that he knew what to do or if he had the right skills. His children and grandchildren are now all adults and the world of elementary school felt like a venture into alien territory. His wife proposed that they volunteer together in our School Based Mentoring Program and they became a Big Brother and a Big Sister in a local elementary school second grade classroom. 

      Over the past 4 months the Big Brother has worked with a 9 year old Guatemalan boy who is exposed to English primarily during the 6 hours each day that he is in school. It was difficult to understand this Little Brother at the beginning of the match. His English was heavily accented and his responses were often unrelated to the question that was posed to him. The Big was unsure about his effectiveness during the one hour once a week that he spent with the boy but he persevered. In each follow up with the Big, he related his amazement about how much the Little didn’t understand in the books that they read together; basic words like what is a tractor, or a stage, or a celebration. But the Little Brother is a lively boy who was learning fast and was eager to do whatever work was presented to him. His teacher always provided worksheets or books to read and explained to the Big what concepts he should work on with his Little Brother.

      I met with the pair with only 3 weeks left in the school year. They were engrossed in a book, discussing the main idea of the story and making inferences about what will happen next. The Little was reading fluently and answered questions in complete sentences. The Big was smiling and it was obvious that there was a friendship between them. The reluctant mentor is now a committed Big. He has seen that he can make a difference in a child’s life and the tools he needed he already possessed within himself; patience, enthusiasm, and compassion. 

Dr. Oscar Lenit, & Napoleon Ramon in Mrs. Dickinson’s 2^nd grade class, Port Salerno Elementary School 2006-2007

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