During this semester, CYA student Asa Berolzheimer volunteers as an English tutor for Falaq, one of the teenage boys living at the shelter for unaccompanied minors run by The Home Project.

Twice a week, Asa finds his way to Kipseli, a downtown Athenian neighborhood, to meet Falaq for their 2-hour English lesson. Last week, we joined the class and had a chat with Asa to find out more about his volunteering experience.

Asa tells us that they often take about 30 minutes doing grammar/vocabulary exercises and then they simply have a chat about nothing and everything. He thinks this is the best English language practice for Falaq!

Falaq wants to improve his English so that one day soon he can go to university. Most of the time he wants to know more about the U.S. and the schools there but sometimes his questions can be “tough”: “Since America is a rich country, how come there are still poor people there?”

Asa has great teaching skills but as he says, “Falaq makes it so easy for me – he is a joy to teach because he is kind, thoughtful and very eager to learn! I think of my work at The Home Project not as teaching Falaq, but as working together to help each other learn.” Falaq, on the other hand, tells us that the class with Asa “is never boring. It is very helpful and also very fun!” He has seen great improvements since he started the tutoring and so have the staff at The Home Project and his teachers at school.

Asa only has good words to say about The Home Project: “it is a fantastic organization, with staff members who really care about the children they are working with. I would definitely recommend volunteering at The Home Project to future CYA students because you will be helping a good organization and you will have the pleasure of working with incredible individuals.”