Sometimes Great
Things Come in
Small Packages
His name is Emmanuel,
and he is a force to be
reckoned with.
He is a cherubic,
bespectacled five-year old
darling who came to visit
me in my little tutoring
room this past spring.
He was just finishing his
first grade year, but his
father was told by the
teacher and the school
district that Emmanuel
was not ready to advance
to first grade.
His wise father became
Emmanuel ’s advocate, and
convinced the district to
retest his son one more
time before the final
decision to retain him in
kindergarten.
His papa could not accept
that decision. He knew his
son, and he knew what I
would soon come to learn.
Our little Emmanuel was
not only bright, but inside
that tiny frame was the
bulldog determination of a
never-give-up hard worker.
That is how Emmanuel
came to work with me for
several hours per week this
past summer.
And work we did! He
memorized sight words,
segmented phonemes, read
countless nonsense words,
beat me over and over at
the Train Phonics Game,
and learned the names of
geometric shapes.
I still smile when I think
of that little voice
flawlessly saying difficult
terms like “rectangular
prism.”
It was a challenge getting
him to be able to
pronounce the “th” sound
without those teeth, but he
practiced and practiced
until he got it right. I
can still see that
determined little face
working to form the words.
When we first began
working together,
Emmanuel had two teeth
missing.
Small but mighty,
Emmanuel did anything
and everything I asked
him to do, without a
whimper or complaint, as
we vetted him for the retest
mid-July.
As the day of retest came,
I prayed and waited to
hear if he had passed.
When his dad arrived at
our center, he was all
smiled as he proudly
showed me the
congratulatory email on
his phone.
There were high-fives all
over our lobby, and we
took Emmanuel ’s photo
with both thumbs up, to
put on our bulletin board
to celebrate his victory.
If one strolls through our
center during a busy day,
one might hear
Shakespeare, calculus, or
physics concepts wafting
through the air.
At Oxford Tutoring, we are
in the business of helping
all of our students achieve
their individual goals.
But we take every bit as
much pride in the successes
of a kindergartner like
Emmanuel.
We take pride in our high
school students who score
high on their SAT’s and
go onto Ivy League
schools.
At Oxford Tutoring, there
are no small victories.
Oxfordtutoring.com
(949) 681-0388
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Story by
Oxford Tutoring