Post Service Reflection

The main theme I noticed across all five of our visits was that simplicity was our friend. When explaining things that are perfectly ordinary to the average American, it was easy to get carried away and start babbling, which always resulted in confused looks and nodding along - though really having no idea what we were saying. Their English was so limited that the best thing to do was to revert to 1-3 word phrases, such as "apple is red," instead of explaining that the apple is a fruit that is varied in color and is very good with caramel or peanut butter and can be eaten as a solid, a sauce, or a juice. Sometimes a person in our group would forget simplicity, and another one of us would simplify it to a couple words that they were familiar with, and they would often react with "ooooohh, okay okay!" and possibly add something to the idea.
I think this experience will help me a great deal as I pursue my career in nursing. I will be caring for people from all walks of life, and not all of them will understand English, let alone complicated medical terms. Nonverbal communication methods, such as pointing and demonstrating an idea with my body such as walking, along with simplicity, will probably be my best friends when I am caring for someone who doesn't speak English, and this experience has really honed those skills.

Visit #5

Our final visit was probably our most successful and rewarding visit so far; it was rather bittersweet to have made such progress and then have to say goodbye for the last time. When we came in for the first time, our family spoke very, very small amounts of English, not nearly enough that is needed to have a decent conversation. By our final visit, we had taught them enough to ask them things about themselves and their home country, Malaysia. It was clear that they were very willing to share this information, and I'm very glad we've given them the ability to begin to disclose everything they wish to disclose. For instance, we asked what the weather was like in Malaysia; hot or cold, sunny or rainy. They told us that it is very hot all year round, and rains quite a bit. We also asked what kinds of food they ate over there, and they were able to tell us that they had all sorts of vegetables and fruits, as well as fish, chicken, and rice. When asked what food they liked from here in America, they said all of it was good. I asked if they had any favorites like pizza or soda, and they said that they enjoyed pizza. The husband, Twan Son, got up and got some soda native to his part of the world for us, which was very touching.
I am thrilled that we were able to help our family learn English; it helped so much with how much they were able to disclose about themselves, as well as reducing any uncertainties that they had, such as asking if two shades of purple could both be considered purple. We know from what we've seen that they are adjusting to America well, and they were able to tell us during this visit that they feel the same. They think that America is a good place to live, though they do miss their home country. They have friends over here as well; some are from Malaysia and some are new friends who speak the same language. They still have a long road ahead of them as far as adjustment goes, but I know that they will be okay.

Visit #4

Our fourth visit ended up being a big miscommunication. We've had a lot of coordination issues between our family, as well as between the four of us. Normally, we spend time with our family on Sunday nights, but we couldn't one night and rescheduled to Friday April 11. When we arrived, we found that a member of our family (the husband) was missing. Since they speak very little English to begin with, it was difficult for his wife, Hoy Lin Par, to explain that he was not there. Because not everybody was present and because she was so clearly uncomfortable with us being there without her husband, we decided to leave and ease her worries.
I wish that our family was able to understand more English; it would help a lot with how much they disclose about themselves and the degree to which they reduce uncertainty. Instead of telling us that her husband was out and that she was uncomfortable with us being there without him, Hoy Lin Par had to rely on the nonverbal part of communication to relay to us that she was not comfortable and her husband was not there.
We learned a bit about interpreting nonverbal communication in this visit; we stayed for about five minutes, and that was all it took for each of us to realize that our presence was not exactly desirable at the moment. The door to their apartment was locked and Hoy Lin Par asked who was there before opening the door, and then was clearly uncomfortable with us being there without her husband present. Her figure was hunched, her eyes were averted, and she was extremely quiet. When we said we were leaving, her relief was evident through her smile and opening the door for us. This was not insulting at all; Hoy Lin Par is much more introverted and less talkative than her husband, and we completely understood.

Visit #3

For our second visit, the theme was different foods commonly found in this country. We organized the booklet into sections: fruit, vegetables, dairy, a few grains, and an other category for things like cheeseburgers, pizza, and cake. We found last week that the booklet was very successful, because when we went to review the vocabulary in the booklet from visit #2, they were quick to answer and were always correct. I think it was so successful because we left the booklet with them to look at and practice by themselves, instead of needing to take it back with us. Because we did a food theme this weekend, we decided it would be fun to teach our family how to make chocolate chip cookies. I will admit that we did not make the dough from scratch, we just bought some Nestle cookie dough to save a little time. :)
While preparing the dough, our family seemed to be demonstrating a lot of uncertainty. Since they understand little English, it was difficult to help them understand what exactly we were doing, and what they could do to help. We remembered that simplicity was our friend last time, so we stuck to numbers and simple words. I laid out one row of dough vertically and horizontally, four by four. Then I handed the dough to members of the family, pointed to the spots the cookies should be placed in while counting to four, and they understood completely. All that was left to do was put the pan in the oven, so we told them what temperature it needed to be set at and how long the cookies should bake for, and they didn't seem very uncertain anymore.
Since our family is just starting to learn English, we know that simplicity is key and we will need to keep that in mind for our future visits. They are truly beginners, so talking a mile a minute will only result in confusion and uncertainty.

Visit #2

During our second visit, we decided to do a sort of theme on what we were going to focus on: around the house. I compiled a small booklet full of words and pictures of things and rooms commonly found in just about any home, such as kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom, closet, spoon, fork, pillow, remote, and so on. The objects were the easiest to learn, but I found that the rooms were the most challenging to teach. I decided that the best thing to do would be to physically go to the kitchen, living room, and bathroom to help our family understand us better.
By bringing those pictures to life and make them more of a first order reality - something to be seen, touched, and for our family, named. By doing that, I felt that attaching meaning to these words we were trying to teach became much easier for our family.
I plan to compile similar booklets for future visits, so I will remember what I did this time to help our family have an easier time understanding.

Visit #1

On Sunday February 23, my group and I made our first visit to our refugee family.

What are your hopes for the service-learning project?
- I hope to gain a new insight on what it is really like to come to America and face all the challenges of starting a new life; the language, the fast paced life, and homesickness. I also want to make a lasting impact on my refugee family – I don’t just want to teach them a few words that they’ll soon forget for my grade, I want to find ways to help them learn and retain information in an interesting way.

What are your assumptions about your service-learning site?

- I don’t really have any assumptions about this project, I kind of feel like I am going in blind to be honest.

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

- I know that they are fleeing their country for a number of reasons, political and religious being the most common.

What connections/interests/passions can you make to this project/population it serves?

- I have always enjoyed being able to help others, and I also enjoy sharing things I have. 

- Kelly asked us to teach our refugee family how to play Uno, and some confusion followed before they got the hang of it.

- Our refugee family went in to this game with no knowledge of how to play. We did not share the same knowledge, so we needed to figure out a way to explain the game to them based on the English they already knew. I found that the most successful method was using nothing but words and numbers that they had been practicing with us before the game begun. I didn’t babble on and on about every rule, I started very simple and built up from there. First I did colors, then added Wild Cards, then same numbers changing the color, and finally things like skip, reverse, and draw 2/4. 

- I learned that teaching new things should be as simplified as possible, and should build off of what they already know or confusion will ensue.

How Does Service Relate to Learning?

To me, service strongly relates to learning because you are doing real, hands-on work, which coincidentally is how I learn best. Whether you are interested in service or not, you cannot come away from service work without having learned something.