For those of you who have been reading my Substack newsletter for several months, you may recall that my original plan was to write about my tutoring for Literacy for Life on Mondays. As I got more involved in the process of helping my new learner (Sonia and her family) (not her real name), I began to run across all the organizations in Williamsburg that help people who need help. I have written about these groups for nine weeks, and I was prepared to write about four or five more groups before I exhausted the possibilities just in Williamsburg. But I’ve decided to go back to my original focus, writing about what it’s like to tutor Sonia.
Once we got everyone settled into the community and her kids set for school, Sonia and I began to talk about what we wanted to focus on. After all, that was my assignment from Literacy for Life. We spent the summer responding to emergency needs – finding food and clothing, getting her children settled in school, securing medical and dental care for them, and so forth. In August, before Tim and I went on our 3-week trip to England, Sonia and I had settled on a plan. She is very interested in history, government, and economics. When she told me this, my response was “Girl, you have come to the right place.” So we began to work on some history, government, and economics lessons.
After looking around, I decided to use the YouTube channel Khan Academy as our primary source of information. I have used Khan Academy before, and have found the videos and explanatory material very useful in explaining complex topics.
A little background – and I have to confess, I feel like I’m writing another “people who help people” essay. In 2008, Salman “Sal” Khan incorporated Khan Academy as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, funded mostly by donations from philanthropic organizations. It’s purpose was to provide free educational materials to underserved populations. In 2019, the corporation reported revenues of $28 million.
I’ve used Khan Academy videos in the past to explain things like the Napoleonic Wars to an Osher audience of educated old folks. These videos are clear and concise, but do not talk down to the learners. Educational videos are offered in math, science, engineering, chemistry, biology, arts and humanities (including history and civics), computing, economics and finance, and test prep. In addition to the YouTube videos, the Khan Academy maintains a website with teacher and student resources. I have signed up for the Khan Academy because of my role in tutoring with Literacy for Life, and I didn’t face any issues when I signed up. Access to the resources are free to teachers and students, although there is an opportunity to donate if that’s what you want to do.
I began to pore through the Khan Academy videos I thought would provide Sonia with a solid foundation for American history, civics, and economics. In August we watched two videos about basic Enlightenment Political Philosophy as it contributed to the ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As she watched the videos on her own, Sonia took notes about vocabulary or word usage so we could talk about them when we got together. She is very intelligent, and she had great questions about the content as well. These videos are very short – 5-10 minutes each – and they are very visual (good for people who are learning English).
When we get together this week, we’re going to talk about two videos:
England in the Age of Exploration
Motivations for English colonization
Because Sonia has lived her entire life in another part of the world, she doesn’t know this history, although she’s aware of the broad outlines of it. I expect her to have a lot of questions – she is not only very intelligent, she is very curious. It’s a joy to work with her.
You can follow along and watch these videos with us. Next week, I’ll tell you what we ended up talking about and let you know what we’ll be watching next. If you have thoughts or comments about these videos, let me know what you’re thinking and I’ll share your ideas with Sonia. We’ll be one big happy class.
What a creative idea! I will watch the videos and get back to you. Enjoy your day!!