Spring 2017, 3rd place prize winner
Blog Post 1
I volunteer at University Hill Elementary and I work with a class of 18 students after school. The class consists of homework help, reading, and games. My favorite part of this experience is building relationships with all of the students. At first, I had a tough time being an authoritative figure and getting their attention, but after a couple of weeks of trial and error I finally found some strategies that help me attain their attention and keep them focused.
University Hill is a bilingual school and because of this there are a lot of interesting aspects to the vernacular. The kids code-switch between English and Spanish. There are times when they are more comfortable speaking Spanish and other times they find it more fitting to speak English. For example, they speak English with me even though I have mentioned multiple times that I would love for them to speak Spanish with me so I can improve. When they work on homework, they usually converse in English. When they are talking about everyday life and experiences and telling stories they tend to switch to Spanish. I have a couple pairs of siblings in my class and they speak Spanish within themselves and speak English with everyone else. I found this particularly interesting because it seems like Spanish is something that brings them together and helps them bond in a special way.
Volunteering for the elementary school has also helped me realize the importance of practicing Dari. My parents moved here from Afghanistan about 25 years ago. I grew up in a household that only spoke Dari. As I started going to school, I started to focus more on English. Now my Dari is not as fluent as I would like it to be and this program has encouraged me to take advantage of the fact that my parents speak fluent Dari and English. I try to speak Dari with my family as much as possible and I continue to improve everyday. This volunteering experience has been rewarding in so many ways and the relationships I have made have impacted my life in the most positive way. I have really enjoyed watching the kids grow and I can't wait to continue volunteering there for the rest of the semester!
Blog post 2
My time at University Hill Elementary has been amazing! Since the last time I posted there have been an addition of four other volunteers. Having other volunteers is so great because the kids get more one on one help. Most week the kids tell me that they don't have any homework so I have made it a requirement to read for at least thirty minutes. It can be hard to motivate the students and keep them focused but I have found that the best way to keep them focused is to have them read to me.
In class we talked about how children acquire language instead of learning a language. They have "switches" that they turn on and off in the process of acquiring a new language and when the kids know more than one language the "switches" can merge, making it a little difficult to separate rules and sounds for different languages. It's interesting to listen to some of the Spanish speaking kids read english because I can tell which "switches" they have on in Spanish that don't exist in English.
My research paper for LING 1000 has to do with bilingual education and how it can benefit students now and later in life. I plan to interview some of my older kids to get their perspective and hopefully i an use their experiences to strengthen my paper. We don't meet up this week because its the week before spring break and everyone is usually checked out, but I look forward to continuing the homework club after spring break!
Blog Post 3
Volunteering this semester at University Hill has been an awesome experience. I have learned so much from the kids and i am considering doing this next semester! In my last post I had mentioned that I am writing my paper on bilingual education and i asked some of the kids questions about their experience at a bilingual school. It was really cool to hear that most of the kids believed that being in a bilingual school has really helped them learn English or Spanish in a very welcoming community. I learned that dual immersion school really bring the community together and help integrate immigrants into the American society in a way that doesn't cause shame or or embarrassment from being different.
Half way through the semester we cut down on the number of kids in the group so we can focus in more individual attention. I was nice to get to know each kid and how to work with different personalities. I learned a lot about how to be an authoritative figure and even though i was in charge of little elementary kids i think this experience really helped my leadership skills. I met really great people through this program and I enjoyed the opportunity!