Brian Rosner
7 April 2025
We slip into the imposing 510 Lygon Street when someone exits the building; the buzzer doesn’t work. Up to the second floor and along the corridor, the three of us are greeted at the front door of the flat by an excited assortment of Somali siblings. There are six in all, one in Year 10 and five in primary school. Debbie talks to the mum. We settle on Aaron doing science with the eldest at the small dining table, me next to the Year 6 girl on the couch covering English and Maths, and the rest on the floor doing word and number games with Debbie – the nine of us within a 2.5-metre radius.
We get straight into it. Read this book about dinosaurs and write a one-page report. She reads well, with only a few words needing explanation. I suggest a plan for the piece, correct some spelling and add some apostrophes. Maths is straightforward (although I need to refresh my memory about the difference between prime and composite numbers). Thankfully, I’m more distracted by the happy cacophony of the crowded homework-hour than she is. The role is a combination of tutor, coach, encourager, and substitute uncle whose mother tongue is English. The session ends with me being asked for a report: “She is very good at Maths and good at English, too.” Amusingly, a younger brother jumps on the difference and cheekily announces: “Ha! very good at Maths, but only good at English!!”
The next week I prepare a short quiz on apostrophes and one on the difference between “their, there, and they’re.” She passes, with a few corrections. I ask about Ramadan and when dinner will be served tonight. The answer is 7.37 pm. We discuss how the fast gets slightly shorter as the month of March proceeds. Debbie is away this week so the youngest four roam free. Mr Cheeky tells me a joke and when I laugh teases his sister: “See, I’m funnier than you!” The group tries to guess my age. They are shocked to learn how old I am and fall about in disbelief. It emerges that they estimate age by the unreliable measure of the number of grey hairs. Still, I feel rather chuffed at their looks of incomprehension at my maturity. Aaron is only 19. Another surprise, apparently.
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The youngest wants to guess the model of my iPhone. When I pick it up to check they notice a picture of my youngest son on the screensaver. “He looks like Harry Potter.” My Year 6 girl boasts that she is a Harry Potter expert. “Have you read the books?” “No, just watched the movies.” “You learn a lot when you read,” I suggest. “I’ve heard that many times,” she replies.
For the last 25 minutes I move to the Year 10 girl. I redeploy my quizzes, never one to miss an opportunity to talk about apostrophes. She also passes with a few corrections. For homework she needs to read the first part of a play, entitled, Stolen. We do the reading aloud. I take the boys’ parts and the narration. I confess to finding it a bit confusing. So, we look up a synopsis on Google to get some orientation. It’s about the experiences of five children from the Stolen Generation. I fill in some of the details of this sorry episode in our history. We also talk about her subject choices for the VCE and what she’d like to do at university. She aspires to be a lawyer.
Tutoring at the Estates is many things all at once. It gets you out of your bubble. It’s a privilege to be in someone’s home and to interact with family members at close quarters. It’s loads of fun. It’s demanding, but specialised knowledge is not necessarily required; flexible, friendly and faithful is the formula. It’s a reminder of the challenges that less privileged Australians face. It’s a chance to give some assistance to the less fortunate. It’s also an opportunity to follow Christ in loving your neighbour.
“You are to treat the foreigner living among you the same way you treat the native born—love them as you love yourself. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:34)
The Reverend Dr Canon Brian Rosner is a member of St Jude’s Carlton, which has had a ministry to the nearby public housing towers for 50 years. Part of this involves offering tutoring to the school age children of migrant families.
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