Student Reflection

by Marlee Stein

As the semester is coming to an end, I definitely feel as if it was a wonderful and rewarding experience.  Although my placements started out a bit rocky, I learned a lot because I was able to work with a number of different students.  

The last 5 weeks or so I worked consistently tutoring with one girl, and really created a bond.  She was a very intelligent girl and helped me learn a lot of Spanish, despite her knowing very little English.  

I got to work in classrooms for both 3rd, and 4th grade students, but didn’t use very much Spanish.  Nonetheless I gained insight into how best to help the students with homework and learning English.  

By subbing at SOAR I worked with girls of all ages and of all abilities.  I even had to teach a girl who knew absolutely no English how to add fractions.  It really forced me to use everything I knew in the Spanish language to explain the difficult concept clearly and properly.  

This past Thursday I was subbing for some tutors that went home for the holiday and the girl I regularly tutor on Tuesday ran up to me and gave me a hug and begged that I get to work with her that day.  I was shocked at the impact I had made on her.  It was the first time I realized the opportunities that Spanish could provide. 

I have always known I wanted to study Spanish, but until now never really knew what could be done with it other than use it to travel.  Working at SOAR and Booker T. Washington not only told me an option I had but allowed me to experience it to see if that was possibly the career path I was interested in.  

Up until now I felt like my Spanish classes had fallen into a lull in which it was only repetition of grammar rules learned in high school.  In this class I learned more than I did in any of my other classes.  Also I was finally able to apply the grammar rules that I learned in previous classes.  I hope to continue and volunteer with SOAR next year, since it will be great preparation for going abroad and I think it is a wonderful program.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vocabulary for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Image
I'm very happy that so many students responded to our community partner's need for help. Our students' language skills will help Central High School's Latino parents better communicate with the teachers during the parent-teacher conferences next week. Central's secretary will contact the students directly to schedule times with them. Here is some vocabulary help for students. Materias. School subjects are "materias" NOT "sujetos." You should remember subjects from your intro Spanish courses, but here are some reminders: historia, matemáticas, inglés, física, química, biología, educación física, etc. General vocabulary. Notas = grades; aprobar = to pass; suspender = to fail; conducta, comportamiento = behavior. Topics. Ms. Citraro offers the following advice: "The topics and vocabulary that would come up are about the subjects at school. For example: no ha entregado las tareas tiene que tomar el examen otra vez habla mucho en clase falta muc...
Read more

How to Correctly File Hispanic Names

Image
I know that community-based learning students don't like it when they are asked to file during their time in the community. However, their learning goals are to improve their Spanish and knowledge of Latino cultures. Filing information on clients with Hispanic names helps them with both. And imagine the impact of mis-filing for the organizations where our students work and and their clients. That's why I was unhappy to learn that many SPAN 232 students did not do well on their exam section asking them to put some Hispanic names in alphabetical order. I can imagine that some students feel that putting names into alphabetical order isn't important. It is! It is especially important in the organizations where they work because they are dealing with clients who may not have "accommodated" to the American system of using only one last name. And it is especially important for clients whose papers are so important for their legal status, medical information and oth...
Read more

Interview with Jessica Horn of ACCIÓN Chicago

Image
By Carolyn Kloecker , Span 232 student This past week I completed an assignment for my Business Communications class (SPCM 211) which was to interview someone in a field that I am interested in working for in the future. I asked her many questions about the organization, and lots of information can be found on their website www.accionchicago.org . This organization is a Community Partner with Spanish & Illinois, and has an extensive connection with the Spanish-speaking community in the Chicagoland area. Here are a few of the questions and answers from Jessica: Is ACCIÓN a fairly new organization? How did it begin? ACCIÓN Chicago started in 1994, but the parent organization, ACCIÓN was started in 1961. It is the largest micro-lending organization, and it began in Venezuela, and took root in the U.S. in 1991. How do loan officers communicate with clients? Mostly by phone, as people call in to the office to get a loan for their small business. The website is also a main form o...
Read more