Rising up: Tutoring snapshot, Latino Community Center - Ander Rosales Peraza, student, and Melanie Bozic, tutor

2022 | Written by Faith Schantz, Report Editor

Ander Rosales Peraza, a 3rd grader at Beechwood PreK-5 in Beechview, lives with his family in Mt. Oliver. Ander was born in the US after his parents emigrated from El Salvador. Like most children his age, he loves to play. He doesn’t mind playing video games in English, but he prefers to speak Spanish when playing with others, such as the friends from Honduras and Mexico who were in his class last year. Ander also loves to do math—especially measuring things. During an interview, he holds up a ruler and notes that he’s had it for one year. When he grows up, he wants to be a doctor.

Ander was in kindergarten when he met Melanie Bozic, a retired PPS teacher who volunteers as a tutor for the Latino Community Center in East Liberty. It was April of 2020, just after schools closed, so they met online, twice a week for two hours. Over the years their meeting times have fluctuated, but they’ve settled into meeting on Saturdays now, still mainly virtually. Sometimes Bozic, who speaks conversational Spanish, travels from her home in Oakland for a lesson on Ander’s porch.

Ander first learned to read in Spanish from a book he had at home. “My brother helped me learn the words,” he says. “And then I started reading. And after that I started reading English.” He remembers that the first book he read with “Miss Melanie” was Big Shark, Little Shark, by Anna Membrino. They moved on to Pete the Cat books, written by various authors, followed by the Magic Tree House series, by Mary Pope Osborne.

Bozic prepares lessons for Ander using her knowledge of the PPS curriculum. When he was in kindergarten, they read books that emphasized particular phonic elements, and she showed him how to count using tally marks. In their English Language Arts lessons she incorporates social studies and science, including weather, climate, and animal facts, because Ander loves animals. She keeps track of what he knows and can do. When reading, he can draw logical conclusions, predict outcomes, identify characters and the setting, and talk about the plot. In math, he can add and subtract 4-digit numbers and use symbols for greater than and less than, she says. Ander adds that he also knows his 3-D shapes, but problems such as “9 take away 10” (a skill not usually taught as early as 2nd or 3rd grade) are still difficult.

Bozic calls Ander “a tenacious learner.” Even in kindergarten, “His attention was remarkable,” she says. “There’s not a lot of down or silent time between us because Ander is not very shy and he’ll give his thoughts.” He also has felt free to personalize their learning space. At times, “he’ll have his little toys or little men sit with us during class.”

Speaking two languages may give him an edge. Studies have shown that being bilingual has many cognitive benefits. For example, having to make spot decisions about which words to use requires flexibility and the ability to focus. In addition, people who speak more than one language are more likely to understand math concepts and solve word problems than those who speak only one.

Ander appreciates that Miss Melanie loves pupusas, an El Salvadoran dish his mother makes that “tastes yummy,” he says. He also appreciates that their relationship is one-on-one. Compared to his experience at school, “Miss Melanie helped me more because we were just two, and my teacher needed to help a lot of the kids in the classroom.”

To request a tutor for a child whose first language is Spanish, call the Latino Community Center’s Family Hotline: 412-335-7446.

To volunteer, view the range of opportunities and sign up here. Tutors are not required to speak Spanish fluently but it helps if a tutor has a background in Spanish or another language.