Student Reflection

by Marlee Stein



Hi again everyone!  As I said before I am volunteering at Booker T. Washington in a third grade classroom.  I really enjoy the kids and the teacher and getting to know them.  I have gotten to use a little bit of Spanish in the class because of my own initiative.  I usually work on reading with them, and in order to learn Spanish I ask them comprehension questions.  A lot of times they are able to read the English, but have no idea what things mean.  I explain the words in Spanish so that they are able to understand the significance of what they are reading.  Although I love my assignment, I am not using as much Spanish as I would have liked.  This week and next week there was no school on Monday due to ISAT testing and President’s Day.  In order to make up my hours I volunteered at SOAR on Thursday in a 1st grade classroom.  Luckily all the children spoke in complete Spanish.  I got to work one on one with a little girl and help her read English and Spanish books, solve math problems and write sentences.  It was truly one of the best experiences.  I plan to try and do at least half of my hours at SOAR because I feel like I am learning so much!  The two of us took a trip to the library, and as we were searching for an English book for her to read, we came across the book Ferdinand.  When I was in middle school and I was first learning Spanish I remember reading that book.  I actually read it multiple times over the years in my Spanish classes.  It was really interesting to see her using the very same book to learn English.  It gave us a great common ground to start with and sparked a number of great conversations.  I can not wait to go back next week!

-Marlee

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