Pam Nash

Weekdays Pam Nash works as a scheduler at Pilgrim's Pride (formerly Wampler) in Marshville. Besides teaching Sunday School and giving piano lessons, she has no formal teaching background. Still, three years ago Pam decided to take the Literacy Council's tutor training workshop because she realized what a handicap it must be for someone who couldn't read; moreover, she believed she could teach someone to read.

Since that time, Pam has worked with a Colombian woman whose initial goal was to improve her spelling and writing. Over the years, this goal has evolved into understanding higher elements of grammar including the tricky areas of subject/verb agreement and verb conjugation, topics for which Pam admits she doesn't always have ready answers.

Still, the student's excitement for what she is learning keeps Pam going. "My student wants to learn so badly and won't give up," she says. She also sees how her student's confidence level has increased. Pam has seen her student advance to better jobs as the student's English proficiency has increased. This year the student is even helping teach English to Spanish-speaking children!

When asked what qualities a tutor most needs, Pam cites patience and understanding because each student has an outside life that does not always permit her to practice her new skills as much as the tutor would like. Because of this limited reinforcement of topics covered in a tutoring session, sometimes the student can become disheartened when progress seems slow. Encouragement is another important quality for the tutor to bring to each session.

Pam enjoys tutoring so much that she lightly says she may gain more from the experience than her student does. One thing that both have gained is friendship. "I would do anything for her, and she'd do the same for me," says Pam. Despite the bond between them, the student still has a hard time believing her tutor helps her for free.

What a powerful statement this makes about the kindness of our literacy volunteers!