On tuesdays I go to an inner city school and am a Big Sister (www.bbbs.org). My little is in first grade and she's super cute, but it is a little weird going there and seeing all the differences between that school and the one I went to (I grew up in the suburbs.) For one thing, I remember going to the after school program at my school once or twice and maybe a dozen kids would be there. At my little's school almost every kid is in the after school program. The other big thing I've noticed is that it seems like there's less of everything, fewer teachers, fewer books, even fewer pencil sharpeners. I can also compeletly see how kids in inner city schools might "slip through the cracks" and not recieve as good of an education as they deserve. My little reads well, but one of her friends has some problems, and becuase there are so many kids the teacher never really has much time to help her. I try to help her out when I'm there, but I'm only there for an hour and a half in the week, and they usually only read for about the first fourty-five minutes I'm there. I have no idea how to fix the education system so that everyone gets a fair shake, but I really wish there was a way.
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Good for you. My high school had a similar program and we also used to read to third-grades. I didn't mind, though I may have done more damage than I should--my little sister picked up my accent.
**Save English as a first language, yo.