My Journey at its End

I am currently finished with volunteering at the World Relief and to some surprise, it was actually more fun than I had imagined. Don't get me wrong, it was very tough at times trying to figure out ways to communicate with them, especially because the only words they really knew to begin with were: "hi" and "bye". There were moments where my patience was tested, but I knew that I had to stay calm, continue to be understanding, help as much as I possibly could, and maintain my positivity. After all, I needed to be a good role model to them and a great representative of the American culture. 

Over time, the refugee family did improve with their semantic language because their vocabulary skills were gradually getting better; I could see improvements when they would match certain words to their meanings. Also, a pattern that I noticed was they would all work together to try and understand us and answer our questions: this is an example of collectivism. 

Now that I look back and reflect, I realize that the family was beginning to develop a bond with us and start to trust us, instead of us being weird strangers that were coming into their home, we were now known as friends that they could at least trust more. I could especially tell that the little boy was forming a friendship with me because he was always seated right by my side and enjoyed learning all we had to offer. On the last day, as we were leaving, I had to figure out how to break the news to them that my partner and I were no longer coming back- this was our final time. They seemed really sad, as was I, as they gave me a final hug good-bye. They thanked us multiple times and seemed to be so appreciative of the help we gave them over the 12 hours that we spent together. I was touched when I noticed how much I had positively impacted them. This was a job well-done in the life of Laura Bush!

As I have mentioned before, this experience has taught me to have much patience with people, especially with people that are non-English speaking. It has taught me numerous ways to communicate both verbally and non-verbally with people from across the country.  

Nearing the End of This Journey

During some of my last visits to the refugee home, a sort of sadness began to creep over me because of the bonds that I have created and the realization that I will probably not see these people again. I started noticing more and more improvements being made to their knowledge on the English language; this made me extremely excited to be seeing how I was helping them learn and the positive impact that I was bringing to the family. Their vocabulary had improved and they were excellent at telling me the names of each letter in the alphabet, however, they still were having troubles with pronouncing the certain words, or their phonological interpretations. The family still needs a lot of practice in developing their syntactic language, meaning their sentence structures, because all they know is some vocabulary.  Therefore, their semantic language was coming along quite beautifully, in the sense of they were getting better at matching words to functions. Also, sometimes our pragmatic communication would get jumbled because perhaps the way we were trying to communicate with them, they might interpret it or perceive it in a different way, causing a miscommunication between us. We then had to find other ways to communicate with them in order to get them to understand what we were talking about or asking. One of our strategies was to set out several rows of vocabulary terms and then we would ask them to find one of the several vocabulary words that were in front of them.  Towards the end, my partner and I noticed drastic improvements regarding matching these terms to the correct word being said.

Next time I need to communicate with non-English speaking individuals, I know that I need to approach it in a different way.  For example, should I one day meet someone that cannot speak English well, I will try and apply the skills I have learned towards that situation. I will try to be more specific and not vague with my language choices and even use precise non-verbal language as well.

Day Two of My Adventure

I arrive at the same people's home that I am volunteering at to start day two of my volunteer work.  Today we managed to get through quite a bit of learning in the time I was allotted.  Before we went there, my partner and I had cut pieces of computer paper to make flashcards out of.  We gave each member of the family a piece of paper, we pointed to a picture of an object on the flashcards that they already had there, and would see if they could spell the certain word.  We told them what the name of each object was and then sounded out each word; slowly and fluently.  The family members tried to spell out each letter that belonged in the word and if they told me the wrong letter or just had no idea, I would then tell them the letter that was next.  If they were still unsure of what that letter looked like, I would point to it in a book that we had and suddenly they would realize why that made sense.  I paired each object to their correct words at first, but eventually I would start to quiz them later.  I sounded out each word when I paired them and they recited it back; sometimes not quite correctly, so I would say it a few times until they got it right.  They just laughed at themselves and eventually got the pronunciation correct and they said it a few more times just to be sure.  I did that process for about a handful of words and quizzed them by asking where a certain object was and saw if they could find the correct word that they had written themselves, that were laying out in front of them.  If they had no clue, I wouldn't necessarily give them the whole answer, but gave them hints to give them another try at it; by sounding the word out or maybe telling them what letter it started with seemed to really help.  Then they would point to a certain word, since they're great at figuring out which letter is which and would start to spell it.  A smile immediately crept onto my face as I would nod and show approval.  I pronounced the word, as they would say, "oh!" as if they suddenly remembered.  The family members, especially the mom, would then repeat the word back to me, looking at me as she said it for a sign of approval.  We did this for each group of words, adding a few more to the pile at a time, just to make sure they were retaining it at least a little bit.  

When performing this process, I learned that my partner and I need to keep up with teaching them vocabulary because it can be tough, especially with words that have silent letters in them, such as: knob, sign, and know.  With words like those, there really is no reason that those random silent letters need to be there; I mean when I was learning the English language, I'm sure that I was probably really confused as well- it's a tough language to learn.  Therefore, we will probably keep up with them spelling out the words, sounding them out, and comparing them to pictures that we have.  This has seemed to mostly work so far.              

And the Journey Begins

The first day, I drive up to the apartment where I am to meet the refugee family that I am supposed to teach and am welcomed with huge smiles and can just feel the excitement in the room.  This is a Filipino family that I am about to teach the English language to.  First, we meet the family by trying to pronounce each others' names, which was actually kind of funny because of the level of difficulty each others' name was.  Due to our awful pronunciations, laughter soon filled the room- it was definitely a great icebreaker. 

We then proceeded to jump right into the material.  We started off with a children's alphabet book that contained pictures for each word.  I would point to a certain picture and they would try spelling out each letter from the word that was written below.  They were actually really good at reciting off the different letters, which was exciting because I didn't think they knew any English at all and I could tell they studied!  After going through each letter contained in each word written, I would say the word and wait for them to say it back.  If they said it correctly, I would right away smile and give positive feedback.  However, if they didn't say the word completely correct, I would say it a couple times more and wait for them to say it correctly before giving my positive feedback.  I would also point to the object that is related to the word being said just to make sure they knew which object I was talking about.  Later on, I would quiz the family on the objects that we just went over in order to keep it fresh in their minds.  The family also had flashcards there in their home, so I would go through the same process I did with the book and then try and quiz them on those as well, gradually adding in a few more as we went on.  We briefly went over some colors just to mix it up a bit and also so they wouldn't be bored or frustrated.  As the two hour period came to an end, I made sure to place my name and our next meeting time on her calendar, so she wouldn't forget.  I briefly tried to explain the day of the week that we were meeting, month, and time just to make sure she understood that I would be back the same exact time the following week.  

At times it was extremely difficult trying to communicate with them, which really tested my patience, but at the same time, I knew they were going through frustrating times as well and more so than me.  The English language is not an easy language to learn, especially because of all the exceptions to the wording, such as synonyms.  Really, learning any language is difficult, especially under such stress.  Through this, I realized no matter what, I had to try to help out in any way that I could think of that would be the most impactful.  Also, I needed to try and have even more patience with them and be a positive and encouraging role model.  Maybe over time I could try and learn some of their language in order to relate back to them and show that I care about them and their language. 

 

In the Beginning... (Pre-Service)

1. What are your hopes for the service-learning project?

When I volunteer through World Relief, I hope to be someone that provides a lot of assistance to the refugees in need.  My classmate and I will be teaching a refugee family about life in the United States and the English language.  Every Wednesday I will be driving my classmate and I to the family's home.  While teaching them the English language, I hope to be a positive influence to this family in need because I realize how difficult it is to learn a foreign language and I want to provide as much support as I can.  I also would like to expand my communication skills by figuring out ways to speak with them and learning how to better associate with people I don't really know. 

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

I assume that the people who work at World Relief are caring, generous, and kind people that are also very compassionate especially towards the refugees that they are trying to provide a home to, teach them the ways of the U.S., and successfully teach them the English language. With that, I imagine the service-leaning sight to be a very positive environment that is welcoming to people all over the world.

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

The World Relief is a non-profit agency designed to help refugees find a home, teach them about the American lifestyle, and how to fit into the American lifestyle, while also teaching them the English language.  I assume World Relief is rather a "safe place" for the refugees to call their home since they cannot go back to their homes in the third-world countries.  The refugees' homes are deemed as unlivable due to the unsafe environments around them, so they are forced into the U.S. basically for safety and because their countries don't want them there any longer.  World Relief then takes those refugees that are forced out of their home countries and provides them with any help they can to basically get them up on their feet again. 

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

World Relief serves refugees that are forced out of their countries and are unable to go back, so they acclimate them to the U.S. for this is quite the new atmosphere that they are just not used to at all.  Henceforth, they assist them with anything they need such as getting them to doctor's appointments, helping them with something we deem as simple, but important like filling out medical forms, driving them and helping them pick up groceries, and other issues that are even larger such as placing them into homes. 

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

I am very excited to start teaching people the English language and helping them with any questions that I can answer about the U.S. and how to basically live in it.  I am extremely compassionate and love helping people, and I hope that I can provide any information that will be of use to them.  I also want to learn how to communicate and connect with people and I believe that this will be a great opportunity to do so.  It may be tough at first because I tend to be a little shy around people I just meet and I think since they speak another language that I am not familiar with, it may also provide difficulties, but I am up for the challenge! I cannot wait to get started. 

   

How does service relate to learning?

If people get involved in service learning projects, they are getting a hands on experience with other people that they have never met before. They are essentially learning from other people's past experiences. When getting involved in something like this, you are able to imagine how others have lived and you're not just helping them, but they are helping you grow as well by understanding where they are coming from.

Chapter 2. Effects of Communication