I chose to do my service learning hours at the Dual Language Academy in Seaside. I had to complete some requirements before starting my hours. First, I had to attend a meeting that took place at the Service Learning building. The purpose of the meeting was to give me more information about other places available to do my service learning hours. I was also informed about all the extra requirements I needed to complete. After the meeting, I knew that I needed to meet with the site’s coordinator.
A few days after the meeting, I met with the site’s coordinator. During this meeting, I had to read about the Dual Language Academy’s purpose and rules. After reading it, I had to take a little quiz to prove that I understood all the rules. This exercise also helped me to learn that the purpose of this academy is to “offer a unique immersion opportunity for students to become fluently bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish” (Dual Language Academy Webpage). I was excited to be part of this site after knowing its main purpose. The last step was to provide the coordinator my schedule to arrange the days I was going to be attending the academy. After this step, I was finally ready to start my hours.
I had three main responsibilities. My first responsibility was to tutor students one-on-one or in small groups. My second responsibility was to participate in classroom activities. My last responsibility was to act as a role model who encourage appropriate behavior. My responsibilities were not difficult to do, I felt that I was qualified enough to do them all.
The first day I went to the Dual Language Academy, I was super nervous. I could not find the classroom I was assigned to. When I found the classroom, the teacher and students were not there because they were at the computer lab. After looking for a while, I found the teacher. He gave me a few instructions and I started to work. My first assignment was to read in Spanish with one student at a time. It was interesting to do this assignment because every student had his/her own set of books; they were all in different reading levels. I also had to ask them questions about the story they read. The difficult part of this assignment was that I had to come up with different questions for all the reading levels. Sometimes, I had to rephrase it because they did not understand a word or words.
My next assignment was to evaluate the students’ reading level. They had to read again and answer questions. This time I could not help them with pronunciation, I was only there to listen. This assignment was complicated to do because I did not want to fail any of the students. I had to forget about my feelings to successfully complete this assignment. It was also complicated because some students knew how to read, but they could not answer the questions. There were also students who had trouble reading, but they answered all the questions right. Some other students also knew how to read, but they answered the questions in English. Few students did not know how to read and answer the questions. I had to ask the teacher for help because I did not if the student was passing to the next level or not. The second time I did this assignment, I did not have any trouble; I knew exactly what to do.
The next days, I repeated the same assignments. It was all about reading with students, asking them questions, and evaluating them. The last day I went, I was given a different assignment. I loved this last assignment because I had the opportunity to be the teacher. I was nervous, but the teacher told me to calm down. It was not difficult because the students paid attention and did the work they had to. I am happy that I was given this great opportunity. I did not want to stop going, but I have to complete many final projects.
This whole experience helped me develop a greater understanding of how society works. We still face discrimination, we have not learned anything from the past. What I mean by that is that we keep repeating the same mistakes that people from the past did. One day when I was doing my service hours, a kid came to me and told me that he was Mexican because he had a dark skin. I did not tell him anything because I did not know what to say. It made me kind of sad because I realized that we are teaching children wrong ideas of identifying ourselves. It seems that we do not have any hope for the future if we keep saying and behaving the way we do.
Doing my service hours at the Dual Language Academy also helped me realize that there is a factor that affects these students in learning Spanish. I noticed that most of the students have trouble with their Spanish speaking skills. It is interesting because they took Spanish and English since they were in kindergarten, but they can only communicate in one language. I am pretty sure they all have something in common that is affecting them because only a few students were able to communicate with me in Spanish. I wanted to do a survey to discover the reason why this is, but I did not have time to do it. I only spoke to the teacher and he told me that he has also noticed this issue among his students. He said to me that he does not know the reason why they dominate only one language.
In terms of my language skills, I feel that I have not improved anything. I need to improve my writing skills and there was not a way that I was going to improve with second grade students. I only had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with the conversations I had with their teacher.
Overall, it was a great experience. I loved working with the kids and the teacher. I was able to create a good relationship with the teacher and he is expecting me to go back in the future. My class, Span 301s was helpful and interesting. All the articles we read were full of important information that will help us in the future. I am glad I took this class; I definitely recommend it.
seaside.pdf
span_301s_pre_final.pdf
A few days after the meeting, I met with the site’s coordinator. During this meeting, I had to read about the Dual Language Academy’s purpose and rules. After reading it, I had to take a little quiz to prove that I understood all the rules. This exercise also helped me to learn that the purpose of this academy is to “offer a unique immersion opportunity for students to become fluently bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish” (Dual Language Academy Webpage). I was excited to be part of this site after knowing its main purpose. The last step was to provide the coordinator my schedule to arrange the days I was going to be attending the academy. After this step, I was finally ready to start my hours.
I had three main responsibilities. My first responsibility was to tutor students one-on-one or in small groups. My second responsibility was to participate in classroom activities. My last responsibility was to act as a role model who encourage appropriate behavior. My responsibilities were not difficult to do, I felt that I was qualified enough to do them all.
The first day I went to the Dual Language Academy, I was super nervous. I could not find the classroom I was assigned to. When I found the classroom, the teacher and students were not there because they were at the computer lab. After looking for a while, I found the teacher. He gave me a few instructions and I started to work. My first assignment was to read in Spanish with one student at a time. It was interesting to do this assignment because every student had his/her own set of books; they were all in different reading levels. I also had to ask them questions about the story they read. The difficult part of this assignment was that I had to come up with different questions for all the reading levels. Sometimes, I had to rephrase it because they did not understand a word or words.
My next assignment was to evaluate the students’ reading level. They had to read again and answer questions. This time I could not help them with pronunciation, I was only there to listen. This assignment was complicated to do because I did not want to fail any of the students. I had to forget about my feelings to successfully complete this assignment. It was also complicated because some students knew how to read, but they could not answer the questions. There were also students who had trouble reading, but they answered all the questions right. Some other students also knew how to read, but they answered the questions in English. Few students did not know how to read and answer the questions. I had to ask the teacher for help because I did not if the student was passing to the next level or not. The second time I did this assignment, I did not have any trouble; I knew exactly what to do.
The next days, I repeated the same assignments. It was all about reading with students, asking them questions, and evaluating them. The last day I went, I was given a different assignment. I loved this last assignment because I had the opportunity to be the teacher. I was nervous, but the teacher told me to calm down. It was not difficult because the students paid attention and did the work they had to. I am happy that I was given this great opportunity. I did not want to stop going, but I have to complete many final projects.
This whole experience helped me develop a greater understanding of how society works. We still face discrimination, we have not learned anything from the past. What I mean by that is that we keep repeating the same mistakes that people from the past did. One day when I was doing my service hours, a kid came to me and told me that he was Mexican because he had a dark skin. I did not tell him anything because I did not know what to say. It made me kind of sad because I realized that we are teaching children wrong ideas of identifying ourselves. It seems that we do not have any hope for the future if we keep saying and behaving the way we do.
Doing my service hours at the Dual Language Academy also helped me realize that there is a factor that affects these students in learning Spanish. I noticed that most of the students have trouble with their Spanish speaking skills. It is interesting because they took Spanish and English since they were in kindergarten, but they can only communicate in one language. I am pretty sure they all have something in common that is affecting them because only a few students were able to communicate with me in Spanish. I wanted to do a survey to discover the reason why this is, but I did not have time to do it. I only spoke to the teacher and he told me that he has also noticed this issue among his students. He said to me that he does not know the reason why they dominate only one language.
In terms of my language skills, I feel that I have not improved anything. I need to improve my writing skills and there was not a way that I was going to improve with second grade students. I only had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with the conversations I had with their teacher.
Overall, it was a great experience. I loved working with the kids and the teacher. I was able to create a good relationship with the teacher and he is expecting me to go back in the future. My class, Span 301s was helpful and interesting. All the articles we read were full of important information that will help us in the future. I am glad I took this class; I definitely recommend it.
seaside.pdf
span_301s_pre_final.pdf