By Sandra Chen Lau

In Portland, Maine, the average high in December is 38°F. But today, many of Portland’s kids are learning outside, including the students at Gerald E. Talbot Community School, a public elementary school. They aren’t in fancy outdoor classrooms either. They are sitting on upturned buckets, in the snow. Meanwhile, here in Los Angeles, it’s 75°F outside and my kids, 10 and 6, are staring at screens, for hours on end. Something’s not right. California kids should be learning outside.

Since the pandemic began, only three scenarios have been up for serious discussion by our state education leaders and local school board members: distance learning, a full return to the classroom with smaller cohorts and social distancing, or a hybrid model combining the two. Ten months into this, I think we can confidently say that distance learning isn’t working for many kids or many families.

In our household, my husband and I are both fortunate to have jobs. But now, in addition to our regular jobs, we juggle the roles of impromptu teaching assistants, technology troubleshooters, and counselors, all the while monitoring our children’s academic progress, which is the least of our concerns. More than that, I worry about their mental and physical health. On top of all the screen time, they are isolated from their friends and peers. I know I’m not the only parent concerned about the immediate and long term effects of distance learning and the impact on brain development for the early learners.

Every day, I hear another story or read another headline about how kids are struggling and suffering. And that’s apart from the learning loss that has been well documented, in particular for lower income communities. So why don’t we pivot? Why don’t we move school outside? If they can do it in Maine, surely we can do it in sunny Southern California. If restaurants were allowed to open up for outdoor dining until the latest surge, why not schools?

Shortly after the pandemic began in March, when schools were forced to close, Linda Holst, who retired from a long and successful career at Warner Bros. Television a few months earlier, began looking into volunteer tutoring opportunities. She explored some possibilities, but nothing seemed like the right fit. Then something serendipitous happened. Holst caught the tail end of a segment on Spectrum News about Speak UP’s iFamily program, which had launched just a few weeks earlier. She went online, filled out an application to become an iTutor, and shortly thereafter heard from program director Tracy Grand, who paired Holst with a then-second grader named Khloe.

Speak UP’s iTutors program provides low-income kids in Los Angeles with free virtual 1:1 academic tutoring by connecting them with volunteer tutors. The iFamily program also offers kids free online book clubs and improv classes, and parents free tech training, English as a Second Language and citizenship classes.

The commitment Speak UP asks of iTutors is one hour a week. But because Holst knew Khloe, like many LAUSD students, wasn’t getting any live instruction after schools closed in the spring, she and Klhoe’s family agreed that she would work with her three hours a week.

Prior to working at Warner Bros., Holst was a Montessori school teacher for 11 years. So she wasn’t worried about teaching, per se. She was, however, a bit nervous about whether Khloe would be “receptive.” Turns out, her fears were unwarranted.

“She’s very sweet and engaged and actually started sharing things right away,” Holst said.

Over the past seven months, Holst has worked with Khloe on telling time, counting money, adding and writing, among other things. Khloe helps Holst with her Zoom skills. Often Speak UP’s Tracy Grand provides them with supplemental worksheets.

“When there’s progress, I praise her,” said Holst. “That can be more important than the addition tables: having someone who believes in you… It’s showing up, giving her an opportunity to express herself, to validate her. That's really what it’s more about.”

In June, Holst was catching up via email with her friend and former boss at Warner Bros., Sam Wolfson, who is “semi-retired.” She mentioned the tutoring she was doing with Speak UP”s iFamily. According to Holst, Wolfson asked if she thought he would be a good candidate.

Her answer was unequivocal: “Yes, absolutely.”

By Carley Watman, Speak UP Intern

Speak UP has launched its first remote English as a Second Language (ESL) class for parents and caregivers. The class is taught by Simone Wallace, a volunteer at Speak UP who has many years of experience as an ESL teacher. Speak UP’s iFamily program, however, is her first opportunity to teach virtually.

The aim of the class is to enable Spanish-speaking parents to better communicate with teachers and school administrators and to advocate for their childrens’ education during the pandemic and beyond. Currently, eight Los Angeles-based Spanish-speaking mothers are enrolled in the class. Lessons consist of practice with verbs and tenses, developing better conversational skills, and reading comprehension. While students do not use a traditional textbook, they often read from Sandra Heyer’s More True Stories, human interest stories geared to English learners. Similar to a book club, the students chat about the material. The atmosphere is warm and encouraging.

Student Teresa Rodriguez said she has “never felt so comfortable speaking English.” She also said that “the teacher makes [her] feel confident,” a sentiment echoed by several of her classmates.

Xochilt Alcaraz said that she needs “to learn basic English for citizenship,” and when her son was having health issues recently, the class helped her communicate more effectively with his doctors.

Magda Vargas shared that the class helps her better understand her daughter. She also is now more comfortable “talking to people in stores” and other venues. Both Alcarez and Vargas described significant progress in their English competency. They also underscored how much they were enjoying the learning.

By Carey Begbie Westerfield

I am white and grew up in a time when the vast majority of white Americans did not discuss race. I was taught that being "colorblind" was a positive thing. For 37 years, I said that I didn't see color, that I wasn't a racist, and though racism surely existed, it wasn't that big of a deal. What happened at 37, you might ask?

My husband and I adopted our twin daughters from Ethiopia. We have two biological sons who are white and never really discussed race with them before then. We had taken the required classes about transracial adoption but were ill-equipped to deal with the realities of parenting children a different race than our own, especially Black children in America. Slowly, but surely, I dipped my toe in the metaphorical deep pool of racial injustice. It was uncomfortable. The water was not fine, and I did not want to jump in. But for the sake of our daughters, my husband and I became sponges. We listened. We self-evaluated and reflected. We researched. And then we did it again, and again, and again, and we continue to do so.

Over the past several months, I have received many calls, texts, private messages and emails from white friends wanting to know what they could do to help. This outreach, which I took as genuine, and seeing so many white friends posting on social media about race, people who never posted about it before, and hearing national conversations about race, gives me hope during these dark times. Much like I experienced in my childhood, the vast majority of white Americans didn't grow up discussing race. So this is new and uncomfortable territory for many, and way overdue. I told these friends to put down their preconceived notions and start the learning process with an open mind and heart. It is imperative to really listen to (and not just hear) the lived experiences of those that are negatively impacted by racism everyday.

When talking to people about racial issues in America, you are going to screw up at some point. (I have more times than I can count and will no doubt continue.) It's like learning anything new. You keep practicing, and it gets easier, and you get better. The main thing is not to get defensive. As soon as that happens, and it is usually our automatic response, conversations tend to go terribly wrong. Realize that just because it wasn't your intention to hurt someone with your words, the impact was, nevertheless, that you did. Recognize it. Own it. Apologize. Say you are going to do better and then keep learning how to actually do better.

The current pandemic was one of the worst, but also one of the best things that has ever happened to me. We were thrown into quarantine toward the end of my senior year at Hamilton High, interrupting what was supposed to be my best year of high school.

Thankfully, I was not negatively impacted academically. However, my mental and emotional health began to suffer before I decided to make these a priority. Despite uncertainty about the future and feelings of isolation, I learned that with self-reliance and resilience, and by using resources at my disposal, it was possible to make the best of the rest of the school year at home.

My first few weeks of quarantine were rough. I had the pressures of graduating with good grades, deciding on a college and managing to stay sane inside a house with seven other people weighing me down. Despite being stuck inside with my parents and five siblings, I felt isolated, and I was determined to find ways to get out of that funk. I refused to stay in bed all day, eating and sleeping away the feelings of loneliness and despair. Staying at home and having reduced class time meant I had huge chunks of free time available, and I had no idea what to do with myself. If I wasn’t doing the little amount of schoolwork I had, I felt unproductive and lazy. I didn’t realize at first that I had finally been given the chance to slow down, do some self evaluation and relax. I looked for activities that brought me peace, as well as some that were fun. Recreational reading, cooking and journaling were among the multitude of activities that helped me feel good and pass the time.

As a graduating senior, I was very uncertain if the class of 2020 was going to be able to experience so many of the rites of passages we had been promised at the start of the school year. Sadly, as the pandemic progressed, we realized there would be no graduation, grad night, senior picnic, prom or graduation parties to look forward to. I never would have thought that I would be graduating in the middle of my living room, turning my tassel sitting on a couch instead of surrounded by my friends.

It was important that we knew how much we mattered and that we deserved just as much if not more attention for our achievements during this pandemic. My family created a banner announcing my commencement that they hung in front of our house, watched national television specials dedicated to the class of 2020 with me, surprised me with a graduation drive-by and threw a graduation party for me (with only the members of our household). I am so grateful for all they did to make me feel special and to make up for the things I had lost.