Every girl deserves an education

My name is Vani Sood and I am 15 years old. I became part of the OneProsper English Learning Buddy program this year and it has been an amazing experience. I got paired with a 7th grade student from the Lotus Petal Foundation and had half an hour weekly sessions with her, through which I helped her get better at pronouncing words in English. We read a book together and I helped her with words or phrases that she couldn't understand or didn't know how to pronounce. Along with being educational, our sessions were a lot of fun! We talked about our interests and often conversed about where we are from. We were both extremely happy to get to know each other and share our backgrounds. This was a great experience for me as I truly felt honored to be a small part of furthering a young girl's education. As of now, I am part of another program with OneProsper and cannot wait to participate in many more! I consider them a learning experience for both parties as through helping my student, I learned a lot of skills as well such as better communication and organization. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed being part of this program and will be participating in more in the future!

Through OneProsper's English Learning Buddy Program, I have helped a greater cause: education for everyone. This program has allowed me to help others and myself. It has helped me make a difference in someone's life for the better. OneProsper has helped me feel like a member of the world. I would love to continue volunteering, and I highly encourage anyone and everyone to try it.

Volunteering with children through the English Learning Buddy pilot program was an incredibly enjoyable experience for me! I had done an in-person program similar to this before at a school near me (before Covid-19) and had a good time, so I was intrigued when I learned about this second opportunity over Zoom. The best part is that anyone can do it without any previous experience! Over this program, I was able to mentor and make friends with a student, making our time together both entertaining and educational. I would 100% take this opportunity up again if I was given the chance and I would recommend everyone to give a shot!

The OneProsper English Learning Buddy program allowed me to connect with two girls who attend the Lotus Petal Foundation school in India. I enjoyed how much I was able to interact with them in general and help them with their English pronunciation and reading comprehension. I also liked how I was able to learn about their lives and their interests. I could tell that they were very engaged every week, and seeing that truly made this program a great experience for me.

I have been an English Learning Buddy for several months now, and I can say the experience is unusual and interesting, to say the least. The tutoring itself is simple: you listen to your buddy’s reading and correct their pronunciation. The part I was most anxious about was meeting and talking with my buddy: Will they understand me? Will I understand them? Will we be able to find common interests? Although I was really nervous the first time, the sessions and the entire experience were beyond my expectations: I was able to bond really well with both of my buddies, despite occasional misunderstandings and technical problems on either side of the screen. Overall, I am really thankful to the Lotus Petal Foundation and Mr. Raju Agarwal for providing the English Learning Buddy program.