There are moments that stay with you. For Janet, one of them happened on a doorstep – the moment before she crossed the threshold into her first student’s flat, butterflies dancing in her stomach, not quite knowing what came next. What she didn’t realise then was that the woman on the other side of that door was far more nervous than she was.
A whisper and a cup of coffee
Her student’s voice was barely a whisper as she offered one of her few words of English: “Coffee?” It was a small word. But it was a beginning.
The lessons that followed were unlike anything Janet had anticipated. Her student could not read or write in her own language, which meant that progress was slow and patience was everything. Janet quickly discovered a talent she hadn’t known she had: miming. Gestures, expressions, a kind of physical storytelling that crossed the language barrier when words couldn’t.
“Sometimes I was too ambitious, and tried to move on too fast.”
It is this kind of honest, self-aware reflection that marks a tutor who is genuinely paying attention.
Coming out of her shell
The weeks turned to months. And slowly, steadily, something shifted. Her student learned enough to move on to a group English class. Then she went further still – volunteering in a charity shop, talking to strangers, growing into herself.
She now has a job. And an allotment, where she chats to everyone she meets.
Janet and her former student have kept in touch. What strikes Janet most is not the practical milestones, impressive as they are, but the transformation in the person herself – the terrified woman who once whispered a single word is now chatty, warm, and possessed of a great sense of humour.
The ones who aren’t ready yet
Janet is clear-eyed about the fact that not every pairing works out. Sometimes outside factors – circumstances beyond anyone’s control – mean a student simply cannot engage. When that happens, she says, you have to hold on to hope: hope that they will return when they are ready, and in the meantime, move forward.
It is a generous and realistic way of seeing things. Not every story has a tidy ending. But some of them do. And for Janet, those are the ones that make everything worthwhile.
“When I look back at my first student and see how far she has progressed, then I know it’s all worthwhile.”
Janet, LEAH volunteer
