Student Reflection

by Marlee Stein

It has been awhile since I have posted, since once again I was shuffled around in the SOAR/Booker T. Washington.  I wrote last time about what a wonderful experience I was having working one on one with a first grade student in the SOAR program.  Unfortunately the girl who I had been working with, her tutor returned and I spent an hour just sitting.  I was extremely upset, but luckily the coordinator was able to find me another time and girl I could work with.  I now volunteer on Tuesdays (and in my original Booker T. Washington assignment to finish my hours) with a different first grade girl.  I really get to use a lot of my Spanish now, and I am so happy.  I guess it just takes awhile of pursuing what you want and taking initiative in order to get the most possible out of the class and the volunteer opportunities.  She is extremely rambunctious and never wants to do her homework, she would prefer to play games and read fun books.  Thus it was a challenge to get her to concentrate, so I had to be very energetic and try to make what she was working on fun, interesting, and relatable to her life.  I talked about it in my most recent reflection, but every time my student would get super excited about something she would begin to talk extremely fast and with a heavy accent, and it was challenging to understand her.  I enjoyed the challenge since in class the professors typically speak slowly for the students to understand.  In the real world and whatever my future profession with Spanish is they will speak fast and with native accents like my student does.

In class this past Tuesday we worked on teaching them about the new nutrition pyramid.  Since they are so young they probably never knew there was an old one.  We taught them all the food groups and then had them make their own copy of the pyramid.  It was a good review for me because I had to remember examples of food.  I hadn’t used a lot of food vocabulary since elementary school when I first learned it.  It was a good review and helpful because when I study abroad it will be very important I know which foods are which so I do not accidently eat something I am not fond of.  My student really enjoyed trying to guess foods in each food group.  Overall I had a wonderful time this past Tuesday, and am looking forward to learning countless more vocabulary with my new student pairing.