Spanish Community Service Learning Anecdote 2

by Ann Abbott

This student has beautifully narrated an important moment. It shows the child's learning. And hers.

José and I had been working on a reading assignment for a solid twenty minutes. The objective was to find vocabulary words the student did not understand, write them down, and define what they meant. José struggled the most with the spelling—it was hard for him to get the letters in the right order. José however was determined to make a strong finish. Finally he selected his last vocabulary word: magical. Hurriedly he told me to cover up the word in the book to see if he could spell it on the first try. With a dramatic sweep of the hands, I concealed the word on the page. José looked thoughtful as he formed the letters, keeping the results hidden from me until he completed the task. Then, he tentatively put his pencil down and revealed the “magical” word. Success! With bright eyes and a happy heart, he gave me one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. Nothing can compare to seeing the look on a child’s face after he’s overcome a personal challenge.

This semester I have had the wonderful opportunity to tutor a student at Booker T. Washington Elementary School’s after school program, S.O.A.R. S.O.A.R. stands for “Student Opportunities for After-school Resources.” This program pairs a tutor with a specific student who is currently struggling with their school work and needs extra attention. Every Tuesday through Thursday, the students, many of whom are from Spanish-speaking families, stay after school until 5:00 pm to work with a tutor on everything from math to reading. Often, these children do not have the opportunity to speak English with their parents at home and need extra help to understand their homework. Therefore, it is critical that this program has enough volunteers to give these students a chance at success. The children in the S.O.A.R. program work very hard and benefit greatly from the help of university students, like you, who selflessly donate their time to give guidance to Booker T Washington students.

Comments

  1. DOS CORAZONES EN UNOApril 2, 2009 at 2:43 PM

    Felicidades¡¡¡ excelente manera de entender que las relaciones culturales entre EEUU y Epaña, son prioritarias en este mundo globalizado, con vuestro permiso os incluyo en mi blog para que mis lectores os conozcan. Por otra parte, me pongo a vuestra entera disposición para ayudaros desde aquí sobre cualquier tema que surja o debatir y aclarar dudas.

    Cordiales saludos.

    ReplyDelete

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