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The Youth Center’s after-school tutoring program teaches kids from TK to eighth grade in subjects from English to math to science. Recently, the program expanded by hiring another tutor, so multiple sessions can run in the same time slot. This allows more kids access tutoring so they don’t fall behind close to the end of the school year.
“Everyone needs a little extra support sometimes, and we at The Youth Center are here to provide that,” said Janae Roberts, Youth Programs Supervisor.
Each 30-minute tutoring session costs $15, and tutors are available Monday through Friday from 2:30-6 p.m. at the Youth Center or their Rossmoor Park location. The tutoring schedule is assembled weekly and billed the week before the session.
“We’re always looking for new hires and kids that are interested,” said Johnny Flaim, the Youth Center’s Tutor Lead.
The tutors, trained high school and college students, meet with kids one-on-one and cover as much material as possible during their session. They assess the student’s thinking skills, help with homework, and fill in content where necessary. Sometimes tutors work on homework with their older kids. With the younger students who don’t have much homework yet, the tutors choose what to teach them.
Flaim, a junior at Los Alamitos High School, tutored his siblings before applying for a position with the Youth Center. Currently Flaim tutors four kids, multiple days a week and at least two kids a day. He uses Brain Quest workbooks to create curriculums for his students. For his more advanced students, Flaim teaches beyond what they are learning at school.
“I change what I teach according to what I know they’re comfortable with,” Flaim said. “I’ve been teaching all of them for a couple months now, so I know what they can handle and what they will struggle with a little more.”
Shannon Lee, a sophomore at Long Beach City College, started out by helping her peers with homework before becoming a Youth Center tutor.
Most of her kids need help with math and spelling. She uses fun learning techniques, rather than traditional methods like flashcards, to engage her students more. For math, she uses whiteboards to draw pictures and create problems for them to solve.
“I like to do Hangman, that’s a fun one for spelling,” Lee said. “It’s good because they go one [letter] at a time, and they get to figure it out themselves. It makes it more fun; it’s a game.”
“It warms my heart to see kids open up to our tutors and take a bit of time to work through something they’re struggling with, and then walk out feeling more confident,” Roberts said.
For more information and to sign up for Youth Center tutoring, go to https://www.theyouthcenter.org/tutoring/.
