Tutoring at the Catherine McAuley Center--post by Sarah Yoerger

This semester I had the privilege of volunteering at the Catherine McAuley Center. I was very excited for this opportunity. Here in the Writing Center, I really enjoyed working with international students. I find it to be super rewarding to work with someone to overcome communication barriers, and I think that the “Aha!” moments that come with that are really special, even if sometimes you can feel a little awkward or unsure of yourself. 

I tutored two students. The first was Jael, a mother from the Democratic Republic of the Congo living here in Cedar Rapids. She spoke four languages already, and she was learning English so that she could forge a path with her family here in Iowa. The second was Radwa, a young woman in her twenties attending graduate school in Egypt. She ultimately plans to immigrate to the US with other members of her family and finish medical school so she can be a doctor. It felt awesome to help both of these women pursue their dreams. 

The Catherine McAuley center encourages a very open and comforting environment where students can learn at their own pace and there are no grades, and if students stop attending lessons for any reason, they are always welcome back. The goal is improvement, and that looks different for every student. Some students at the CMC have goals like fluency and pursuing higher education here in the US, and other students just want to learn to read their mail or get by at the supermarket. 

Every sort of goal is okay, and all of them feel really magical to help the students achieve. During my training, they told one story about an older man who had the goal of being able to read a children’s book to his youngest child before the child grew up, since he was unable to read and therefore couldn’t share those moments with his older children.  

Though distance learning during Covid-19 did bring some barriers and challenges, the experience was still enjoyable, and I felt like I really connected with my students. It felt awesome to be able to form a bond with someone who was living on the other side of the world, even if we sometimes had difficulty articulating exactly what we wanted to share about ourselves. I am still figuring out the details of my summer job, but if I have the time, I will definitely continue tutoring remotely. 

[Consultants interested in tutoring at the Catherine McAuley Center for Topics/RHE-312 credit, please contact JCN for more information!]