About a year and a half ago we had severe problems with our thirteen-year-old daughter and her school. She was experiencing difficulties in English (not her mother tongue) classes. She refused to speak. She refused to even try to speak English to anyone.
Whenever we, as parents, tried to help her do homework, it would always end up in huge discussions. She would throw a tantrum if we asked her if she understood what she read.
She would get into fights with her classmates. It was a very unhappy situation because we felt that no matter what we did, we could not help her.
She did not want to read any books and she hated schoolwork.
We began to do the Ollie program with her, and from the very first three to four lessons the situation started to change big time.
Quickly she realized that if there was something she did not understand, it was not because of her or that there was something ‘mystically’ wrong with her. She, herself, found out that if there is some text she doesn’t understand, most likely there is one or more words she doesn’t know the definition of, and all she needs to do is clarify the meaning and then she can understand.
We honestly could not believe the changes with her. But gradually she started to speak in class, she would get into fewer fights with her classmates, she started to find subjects that interested her and wanted to learn and practice these subjects.
Last week she told us that she was now one of the better students in her English class. She has conversations on her own with English speaking friends. Last weekend she suddenly told us she had spent most of the weekend reading ‘The Hunger Games’ for herself just because she liked it.
We later watched the movies and she demonstrated fantastic and detailed understanding of the books.
Even German grammar is a subject she masters because, as she told me, ‘If I don’t know what it means I just look it up in a dictionary.’
Today she comes and asks for help with her homework if there is something she doesn’t get, and there are no arguments anymore. We can work together!
We are so happy that we did the Ollie program with her. It is not like all learning and school is a ‘pink sky of happiness,’ but she now knows and has the confidence that she can learn and wants to do that.
Best thing we ever did for her and ourselves.