Blog #5 - Post-Service Reflection

           My time volunteering for World Relief has ended, and I am grateful to have met the fun and hardworking refugee family assigned to my partner and me. At the beginning, it was difficult because I felt awkward being in a new environment (their home), but I realized it was probably even more difficult for them because they were also in a whole new environment (the U.S., which must be much more overwhelming for them than their home is for me) since they were refugees. My realization kept me thinking positively and patiently.  It definitely helped though that the family always created a welcoming and friendly atmosphere with their equally welcoming and patient demeanors. Although I could tell they were also frustrated at times, especially the mother when she could not differentiate between similar sounding words or when her children were playing around instead of paying attention, they kept trying anyway and laughed away their stress.  Over time, we all became comfortable with each other, and the teaching/learning became more fun.

My partner and I focused intently on teaching the family the phonological and semantic rules of language over the other two (pragmatics and syntactic rules). Phonological rules deal with the sounds of language, so in our case, the sounding out and pronunciation of the words. Semantic rules deal with the meaning, which is the vocabulary portion where we attempt to help the family recognize the meanings (represented in words) of the pictures on the flashcards. Syntactic rules deal mainly with grammar, and since we did not want to overwhelm the family with difficult English rules of sentence structures, we ignored this aspect of language. Pragmatic rules were also irrelevant for us to teach because they deal with social context and appropriate of words, which goes beyond syntactic rules and simple vocabulary. We limited our English tutoring to vocabulary since we had a limited time period of service, in addition, we would only be able to start teaching pragmatics and syntactic would if the refugees were more fluent in English or had already amassed a good amount of English vocabulary. 

Other concepts discussed in class that appeared during my time with the family were nonverbal and verbal communication, collectivism and cultural competence. All of these I had already discussed in my previous posts, but I wanted to expand more on collectivism. I saw this theme when the mother and the son helped each other because they were learning as a family, but I also saw this theme played out randomly during our visits when the family had guests over. One time, we were in the middle of teaching when other people arrived. We assumed they were family because they all spoke to each other in their native tongue, and it reminded me of when Kelly told us about refugees moving to certain locations because some of their family had already relocated to those locations. Besides being present, the other members also seemed interested in our tutoring. Some of them said flashcards aloud, and even though it was more distracting to the mother and the son than helpful, their intentions seemed to be to help the mother and son out.

This positive experience definitely made me feel happy about my aspiration to become an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. Even though we only covered vocabulary, I had a lot of fun teaching through the application of games and 2-D items of the words. When I reflected on my strategies, I could see myself using them for my ELL students when I become a teacher. This experience has helped me to learn to be patient with beginner English learners, to use fun ways of learning (such as games or involvement of as many of the five common senses as possible) instead of just drill and practice of flashcards, and to relax when I am meeting new people.

            I learned that being relaxed is important because I had worried too much when I was first meeting the family, and then again when I met them without Kelly, and in the end, I realized I did not need to worry at all. I was anxious, but the family members were also as anxious. I learned that it takes time to get to know people, and everyone is nervous to some degree at first, so I should just enjoy the initial meeting and then the time afterwards where I get to know them better and become comfortable with them. If I had remained uneasy, then my nonverbal communication would have been negatively affected, and, in turn, would have probably sent off negative signals to the family and made them feel uncomfortable, which, in turn, would then make me feel even more uncomfortable. It would have been a vicious cycle. I am glad it did not turn out that way, and I am glad that it turned out the way it did. I wonder how fluent their English will become, and I wish them the best. 

Blog #4 – Nearing the End and the Last Day

             I had a hard time titling the previous post before this one, along with this post, because after the first day, the process of visiting the family became very natural to my partner and I, and we lost track of the number of visits because we had stopped counting after the second visit.  Our presence also seemed to have become natural for the family. On the first and second visits, we had to knock on the door before someone opened it for us. The visits after that, however, the mother was always there to open the door before we even start to knock.  She always welcomed us with a “Hi” along with a broad smile. As soon as we sat down, we returned to our routine and got started right away.

We used the strategies and flashcard games as previously described because we felt they were the most effective for the situation. Although we were all relaxed and sitting or even laying on the floor (as the son began to do also) comfortably, I continued to monitor my nonverbal and verbal actions. I continued to shake or nod, point and clap, and cheer when appropriate.

It was probably after the second half of the number of total visits that I brought in new materials to teach the family more common vocab words.  I brought in more because the family was improving a lot of the previous sets (their flashcards and my partner’s color flashcards), and I did not want to bore them with the same words over and over again. We continued using the previous sets, however, since the family still sometimes hesitated when identifying some words. I brought in two more sets of flashcards and some tubs of miniature items I borrowed from the curriculum library. These flashcards also had both pictures and words, but one of them had a tub of matching items. The other tubs have new items that did not have corresponding flashcard, so we had the family write the new words on more paper strips. The family was also resourceful enough to have their own notebooks and papers to write on, but the strips were more useful when we did the flashcard games.

The new flashcards and items included words such as car, cat, heart, hat, bell, bus, (basketball) ball, and house. I think the miniature items added a fun side to the new vocabs because they were amusingly cute and also they provided more visual charm and extra help to the words as the family learned them. Learning seemed more effective when the senses are involved, so we tried to appeal to the five main senses as much as possible – using things for sight, saying the words for sound, and having the objects to touch. However, we decided not to incorporate the smell or taste senses into the teaching of our words. Using the 2-D objects, we had the family match up the word strips that they had written to those objects. The family seemed to enjoy touching the items. The son and his little sister enjoyed playing with the items also. They really liked the miniature vintage-looking camera. They kept clicking on it and aiming it as if they were taking pictures; it was very cute. The mom also smiled and laughed at the items when we showed them to her.

It was interesting to see the family recognize some random words. When we came to the word ball, we showed them a basketball, and the son immediately said, “Basketball!”  When we showed them a school bus for the word bus, he recognized it and said “School bus.” Even more interestingly enough, when we showed them a banana, they both knew it and said, “Banana.” I will never know how or why they knew spider and banana, but I thought it was curious in an amusing way. They had definitely made a really steady progress in the fluency of their vocabulary. I was always delighted when they recognized words and solved the matching games quickly. It was still more difficult for them to match a picture to a flashcards that we laid out than to match words to pictures laid out, but it was all right. All they needed was repetition and frequent practice.

On the last visit, we greeted each other with the same smiles and greetings, but when we left, our smiles goodbyes were different from our previously exchanged farewells. During the last few visits, I had brought candy along for everyone, but especially for the children because I understood that they were like any other American child who liked toys and sweets. The mother did not eat any, but the son and the little daughter loved the candy. On the last visit, I also brought candy along, so I guess that did not help them realize that it was our last visit to them. My partner and I had contemplated how we were going to let them know that it was our last, but since they did not understand English sentences, we decided to use the calendar they had on their wall. For our earlier visits, we had always marked the Wednesdays on their calendar (because we visited them on Wednesdays), indicating that we were going to return that day during that week. As my partner and I were leaving, and the mother was seeing us out, we pointed to the Wednesday of the next week and attempted to convey our messages by saying “We are not coming back next week because today is our last day” while shaking our heads. The smiled on the mother’s face disappeared, and she looked confused for a short while. But eventually, she seemed to understand, and the look on her face made my heart felt a bit heavy.

             As we were leaving, she had the children also come out with her to say and wave goodbye to us. It was a very heart-warming gesture. We waved back, returning their smiles and gestures. For the last day, we had to rely heavily on nonverbal communication through the pointing at the calendar and the shaking of our heads. I learned that some nonverbal interactions are mostly universal even between different cultures, such as smiling and hugging, because the mother gave us hugs after she realized it was our last day. I also know that not all gestures are acceptable or universal in varying cultures, so I will keep those and others in mind during my future interactions with people from cultures different from the American culture. I may even use the strategies I used with my refugee family if I meet someone who does not speak English well, or at all, such as my nonverbal strategies to help the person better comprehend my verbal words and/or the messages that I try to convey in our conversations.

Blog #3 – Continuation: The Second Day and Visits After

           After the first visit, Kelly, the World Relief coordinator, was no longer going to be at the family’s home with us. Although this fact made me feel a little bit uneasy once again when we met the family for the second time, the continued friendliness emitted by the refugee family made me feel welcomed. We continued the strategies we employed on the first day – using the flashcards to teach the family basic vocabulary that are, hopefully, useful to them. Words that we taught included grass, shoe, knob, shorts, stove, clock, and rug. Although the flashcards had pictures on the opposite side of the words, we tried to also point out real-life examples as much as possible. For example, when we came to the word rug, we pointed and patted the rug that we were sitting on while saying the word so the family can make the connection that it is a rug.

            On the second day, the family was still getting used to the flashcards, so we went over them at a slow pace. I had cut strips of computer paper to bring for the family to use. We had the family guess the words while showing them the picture sides, and then we had them try to spell out the words onto the strips of paper provided to them. I recognized that the expectation that they would be able to spell the words without problem was farfetched and unrealistic, but we incorporated spelling along with the sight recognition and pronunciation of these vocab words because I had learned in my education classes (I am an education major) that writing helps ELL, English Language Learners, learn and remember vocabulary easier and more effectively (this is also an effective method for native English learners). Sometimes, the family was able to guess the first letters of the words, but they usually did not know how to spell the rest, so we would patiently spell them out for them to write onto the strips. We kept the strips to use for sessions after the second day.

            Instead of always doing the flashcard one-by-one, we tried changing it up by lining up the cards in rows and columns in front of them, the picture sides up. Then we would hand them a strip of paper that they had written a vocab word onto and ask them to find the flashcard that the vocab word called for. Sometimes, they were able to find the flashcard really quickly. Other times, it took them several guesses before they figured it out, or we gave them the answer. My partner had brought flashcards of colors and shapes (although we focused mainly on colors), so we also incorporated those into their vocab. Once again, we pointed to real-life examples, especially for the colors vocab by pointing to the colors on our clothes or objects surrounding us.

            We saw that the members had troubles with the phonological and semantic rules of language. Phonologically (dealing with speech sounds), the family continued to struggle with some vowel and consonant letters differentiation. They still sometime hesitated when saying the letters u and v or n and m because they could not tell which was which. They had this same problem when writing them, sometimes writing one instead of the other. Semantically (dealing with meaning of words), the family continued to struggle with differentiation between words that have similar spelling like plane and plant. They also had phonological problems with the pronunciation of these words. It was really difficult for the mother to hear the difference when we said it, no matter how much we seemed to emphasize the different sounds between those words. The son was younger, and he seemed to be attending school, so he had an easier time hearing the difference.

Even though our teaching was not intense, the learning was still difficult because it is a whole new language to them after all, but the family helped each other out often. They displayed a collectivistic culture aspect when they helped each other match the word strips to the flashcards, and also when they helped each other spell words or pronounced the words so the other could hear it from someone besides my partner and me. We continued to work at the problems, and even though they were persistent, some of them decreased over time. The mother learned to utilize the strategy that plant ended in a t and plane ended in an e. This rule helped her differentiate between them. She also wrote the pronunciation onto the paper strips, which really helped her both pronounce and identify the corresponding flashcard easier.

The formal atmosphere between my partner and I and the family also decreased over time. They seemed to have become more and more comfortable with our presence. I assumed this because they began to act more casually and informally around us. The first day, they sat straight up, and the son was very quiet, but on the second visit and afterwards, they began to sit comfortably, relaxing their body and slouching a bit. The son was more talkative and playful. He talked to his mother casually and sometimes became distracted by his little sister. It was understandable that he would get bored sometimes since he was still young. The mother was very serious about her learning, and sometimes she would signal for the son to come back to learning (sometimes to no avail), but she was also very easy-going.

             We found ourselves laughing (politely) more often at the phonological and semantic mistakes. We could tell she thought it was ridiculous how similar plane and plant sounded to her. The intercommunication between us was going well. The family seemed to enjoy themselves more, and it felt good that they trusted their time with us. With my specific refugee family, I learned that although they went through many experiences that I will never know, they are also very normal people who just want to live safe and normal lives. When and if I meet more refugees or refugee families, I will be respectful, of course, but I will also treat them like I treat everyone else, with politeness and patience.

Blog #2 – The First Day

            Driving up to the refugee family’s parking space (after being lost for a little while), my partner and I were greeted by Kelly, the coordinator. I was glad that she was there, since she had brought some materials for us to use. We were then greeted by the family, the mom, son, and youngest daughter. They were very friendly and smiley, which helped me relaxed a little.

It was when we started introducing ourselves that I realized that the members present barely speak English. They were able to say “Hi” and “Thank you,” but other than that, they spoke to us and each other in their native language (which I did not know what it was; Kelly seemed to also not know what their ethnicity was). After learning each other's names, we started using the materials Kelly brought. We began with a children’s alphabet book full of pictures of real objects and large-font words. 

I pointed to individual pictures in the book, first pausing and asking if they knew what the words were, and then saying the words clearly so they could repeat after me. The mother and the son were able to say the individual alphabet letters, which is a great skill to have already developed because it is usually the first steps young native English learners take in order to learn to spell and read/recognize words. Although sometimes they would confuse b and d and u and v and other similar letters, it was still pretty cool to see that they have knowledge of them. Kelly even said that she has never seen any refugee family done that before – to spell individual letters of a word even though they cannot say the word as a whole without help.

After the alphabet book, we moved onto flashcards that the family has. There were many words that I felt were not as important as others, such as the words whale and shark, so I ignored those and focused on helping the family learn the more common and useful words, such as oven and door. I followed the same method I used with the alphabet book where I point to the picture instead of the word because I felt it would be easier for them to remember the words when they can associate visual images with them. It was very intriguing when we came to a flashcard that had a spider on it, and I pointed to it, thinking that they would not know it, but they did! Together, the mother and son both loudly said “Spider!”, surprising Kelly, my partner, and me. We went over the same many words again and again to help strengthen their memories and reinforce their learning. I also had them write down the words because it is more effective in helping them recognize the words when they appear again.

The first day went by slowly, but it was fun. I felt like we got off of a really good start, both relationship- and learning-wise. Intercommunication was already difficult since we were not able to communicate in English, so intercultural communication was also definitely lacking. But we were still able to interact through nonverbal communication, which is a concept that had shown up on the first day, and will continue to appear throughout my time with them. Since nonverbal was so important, I made sure to watch my tone, body language, and eye contact. Pointing was the easiest way to convey that I wanted their attention on a specific word, but I also asked them “What is this word?” or “Do you know what this is?” so they can get used to hearing it and associate it with the meaning that I am asking them what the word is. Instead of immediately saying what the words are, I try to give them hints by sounding the first letters out or the phonemes and then blending them together (this is where the concept of phonetics we have covered in class also appears). The second method of sounding out the phonemes did not work out so well because the family mistook a word’s combination of individual phonemes as its actual sound.

English is a difficult language to learn, but the mother and son were very patient. When they made mistakes, they laughed it off instead of getting frustrated. I really appreciated their positive behaviors because they made me feel more positive and at ease when communication struggles arose. Along with nonverbal communication, I also made sure to keep my voice patient and calm, and I always encouraged and cheered for them whenever they did well or remembered a word. I thought most of the strategies we used on the first day were effective and useful, such as utilizing flashcards with no abstract concepts, so I planned on using them for the next visits.

Blog #1 - Pre-service Reflection

1.  What are your hopes for the service-learning project? 
My hopes are that I will be to give the refugee family I am working with a positive experience by the time my project ends, and that I will gain positive memories and experiences from working with them. Since my service mostly involves me tutoring them with their English, I hope to be effective and helpful enough to help make a difference in their English fluency. I hope to learn from them and their cultures, and I learn to further develop my intercultural skills and competency.
 

2.  What are your assumptions about your service-learning site?

Since I am working with the family directly in their home, I do not really have any assumptions about my service-learning site. It may have a warm and “homely” feeling that many homes have, or it may not. It may be crowded with furniture and decorations, or it may be spacious and simplistic. I don’t really know what to expect, so I am not going to make any assumptions. I am keeping my mind open and my assumptions/expectations to a minimum. English fluency varies among refugees. I do not know how well the refugee family members can speak/read/write in English, but I am hoping that they will be able to communicate with us in English to some degree, since otherwise, I would not be able to understand them and talk to them.

3.  What do you already know/or assume about the work they do?

I am working with the refugee family through the World Relief organization. I have learned from the volunteer director that the agency performs many services for immigrants and refugees. The main division I am working with helps refugees escape from discrimination in their home countries and provide homes for them in the US.

  

4.  What do you know/or assume about the population they serve?

The population World Relief mainly serves includes immigrants and refugees. The refugees seek protection and new homes in different countries in order to escape various types of discrimination, punishment, and even death, in their home countries. The refugees come from different countries and a wide variety of backgrounds. Some were doctors or engineers in their countries, some received many years of formal education, and some received little to no formal education. Some come to the US by themselves, and some came with their families. The refugees are not a homogenous group of people; they all have their own pasts and personalities, and they have different new plans for their changed paths in life.

  

5.  What connections/interests/passions do you have for this site or the population it serves?

 I am interested in learning about the refugee family’s unique culture, history, and experiences (if they choose to share them with me), and I am also interested in the process of tutoring English to non-native English learners because I hope to become an ESL/ELL teacher.

How Service Relates to Learning

Community service exposes the volunteers to environments different from their own and people different from themselves. Gaining valuable life experiences as they communicate and work with new people allows them to learn more about others within their community and even learn more about their own selves. Working with those who are on different social economic classes teaches the volunteers to see from different perspectives and provides insights into the lives of people who live different lifestyles and face different and/or similar difficulties in their lives. As they do their service, the volunteers develop and sharpen their communication skills and work ethic by learning about and from the people they work with - the people the service is for, the workers of the charity/service corporations, and other volunteers, from both new and experienced. Everyone involved in effective service benefits from the process by learning new things and gaining irreplaceable, perhaps even life-changing, experiences.