Pre-K KOREH Volunteer Voices

By Jamie Zimmer,
Westminster Early Education Center

Yoselin is an adorable four-year-old with long brown hair and seven silver capped teeth. Her favorite expressions are "Yep!" and "I like it!" She loves to sit by herself and draw, though, she has also been known to take a swing at kids who invade her space -' even if they're bigger than she is (which most of them are).

I'm one of the few male volunteers who read to the children, and I visit Yoselin's school in Venice once a week. I soon discovered that for some reason Yoselin had a great deal of difficulty identifying colors. I would hold up a picture of the sky and ask her what color it was. She would hesitate then look up at me and whisper "red?" "And the clouds?" I'd ask. "Um, green?"

I tried everything I could think of to teach her to name the basic colors. I had her jump on colored buckets. I had her find objects of a certain color in the classroom. I brought her picture books and flashcards. And I had her draw, of course.

My goal was to make the learning experience interactive and fun for her. But many months went by until I received a response to my efforts. One day she was sitting in a circle with a dozen of her classmates on the far side of the school's large playground. I was leaving to go home, shutting the gate to the playground behind me. Suddenly, Yoselin spotted me, broke away from the group, and ran towards me. Arriving at the gate, she pressed her face against it, looked up at me, and said "I like you!" Then she quickly scurried back to rejoin the others.

Even though she eventually learned all the basic colors and several more besides, that brief exchange was the most satisfying moment for me out of the many hours we spent together.