For the second field work experience I returned to the Crescent Hill Baptist Church after school tutoring program for young adults of the Karen ethnicity. The majority of the students were high schoolers, and from the same town in Thailand and knew each other from their hometown. A lot of the same students from my previous trip were at the after-school program, but many students attended. They all wore very similar clothing to the traditional American dress; jean, t-shirts tennis shoes. They all spoke clear and fluent English. Age and gender did not seem to be an issue within the group. All the students communicated with me and other students freely, and seemed to have a strong bond. Many of the students who were their previously remembered me, and came up to say hello. I was the only volunteer that day, and they demanded a lot of my attention. It was less awkward than the first time because there was no introduction process, and they were more open to conversation. They introduced me to the new students who came to the after-school program, and like before they were a little shy and standoffish. The girl who I helped write a memoire, showed me her paper that she got an A on, and read her final piece to me. I was still uncomfortable with the idea of …show more content…
I was more conscious of my hands when talking. They Karen culture doesn’t seem to use a lot of body language when speaking, and I even read that heavy hand motions can be offensive. I also worked on engaging more conversation with the students rather than having them approach me. The students seemed to be excited that I had returned, and had mentioned that a lot of people only come for one time, or are required to come for school, and don’t come back after the requirement. The communication barrier was kept to a minimum because of the comfort of familiarity with the students are their ability to speak clear
It was a hot, Thursday afternoon. So hot you could burn your hand by touching a window. So hot, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Three weeks from now was the best day in 2th grade, field day. Today we were picking relay teams
Park, Clara C., and Marilyn Mei-Ying Chi, eds. Asian-American Education. Westport: Bergin and Garvey, 1999.
Looking back in time, I realize that God set the stage for me working with multi-ethnic ministry by ordering each step and influencing every endeavor. For over thirty years, I educated a broad sector of Illinois public school children representative of different economic, racial, cultural and environmental backgrounds.
Duane Elmer is the author of “Cross Cultural Servanthood” as well as a notable writer with articles published in various journals who holds a Ph.D., from Michigan State University and he is also over the Ph.D. educational studies program where he holds the title director, in addition, he is the G.W. Aldeen Chair of International Studies in Deerfield, Illinois at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Mr. Elmer travels extensively teaching; thus far he has been in over 75 countries.
Along with creating steps which will lead me towards my ultimate career goal, the creation of a specific five-year plan for myself was key. In five years I will be in school, hopefully in my final year of my Masters degree; a plan which seems so simple to achieve, however requires an extensive amount of hard work and dedication. Being so far in my academic career already, I will hopefully have worked in summer internships or been employed during the year by a speech-language pathologist or various health institutions to gain experience in the profession and potentially become full time employed by one of these institutions post-graduation. Within the five years, I will have as well established networks and built relationships with multiple
Some people like to stay in control of their life and avoid any amount of extraordinary risk to protect their self-disclosure. Other people don’t shy away from challenges as they are confident that certain obstacles are nothing more than just another thing standing in their way from living life to the fullest extent. Through personal experience, I’ve realized that personal comfort is nothing more than a variety of fears that limit me from challenging myself.
The time set for practice was at 7PM but because they are teenagers, everyone came later than the expected time. One by one people started to come. For those that knew me, greeted me with smiles and hugs. I also saw new faces that only greeted me with a smile and a confused face. When everyone had arrived, one of the youth members introduced me and told them about my assignment.
I could feel the awkward tension in the air because of the social issues that were discussed. I felt uncomfortable at times, but I’m grateful that our school gives students the opportunity to participate
For three years, I have been working in the Merritt College as a tutor in the Learning center. I have worked with many people who have different cultural identities, religious beliefs and sexual orientation. Since then, I became more understanding and appreciative with another individual’s differences. Working as a tutor, I notice that some people react differently with how I communicate with them but I acknowledge that people have different ways of interacting with others. I had learned to be more patient with other people and use good communication skills to make them feel comfortable and be able to interact with them.
When I married Winslow, I was still working at Kenworth’s Seattle plant. Rising to my seniority and my salary increasing, I moved to the new Renton plant that opened in 1993. The warehouse is 270,000 square feet. It is bright yellow, and red on the inside. Inside the plant 200 other works and I panted an average of a dozen cabs a day. I was a truck painter, and I was especially good at it. This job requires a steady hand, high attention to detail, and the ability to transfer the intricacies of a blueprint onto a piece of fiberglass. I’d have to mirror each side of the truck with a complex painting. It took a lot of patience. My partner Martha Parkhill would spray paint the truck while I prepared the masking tape inside the cab. One job could
The summer of 2014 was very exciting. I just landed my first job working on a farm. As I drove my moped down the road the very next day I had chills running down my back thinking to myself, “What is the worst possible outcome?” As I pulled into the driveway I heard all of the cows out on their pasture fields, heavy machinery humming, and the grain bins spinning. I went up to my boss and he gave me some duties that had to be fulfilled. After completing those tasks he told me to hop into their skid loader. He showed me how to operate the machine. I was nervous, excited, but at the same time stressed out because I have never operated any heavy machinery once in my life. My boss said, “Don’t worry it’s really easy to use.” After I was comfortable
Talking to old professors whom I hadn’t really established a relationship with in the past was sort of uncomforting, but I was definitely subconsciously intrigued and ready for the challenge of the assignment. The opportunity to come back as a ‘person’ to share thoughts and values was sort of eye opening. Reminded me of the time when I first learned teachers had lives outside of school (this definitely happened before third
I felt that I had a lot to improve on for non-verbal communication. Eye contact was sufficient in general, but could have been more focused to bring across the points stronger. I felt that my hand gestures were not quite appropriate at times (excessive pointing at students). My standing posture was also rather stiff. I believe I should work on and improve my non-verbal communication with more practice.
It was great to see those smiling, cute faces as they walked into the classroom on the first day. Parents were there with cameras! It was neat to see this experience from the other side of the spectrum. One parent came up to me, since we met yesterday and told me that when he was in elementary school, he had a student teacher in his classroom and that it is never too early to make an impact on students. Another parent corrected his son, when he tried to hand me his school supplies and led his son to my cooperating teacher. So, I was able to experience different perspectives in regards to the parents. Another parent asked me to fill out a “My Favorite Things” worksheet so that she could get to know me. After the first day of school, I sent home with each student my welcome letter. I received a good response from my letter also. I feel very comfortable and accepted by all of the students and their parents.
Ever since I was young, I have always tried to be friendly and sympathetic- to bring someone to smile an extra time in their day. Throughout my junior and senior year, I was captain of my high school's tennis team. For four weekends, one every month, our team held a tryout tournament. I worked the tournament desk, and greeted the incoming freshman, along with their parents, both with worried looks on their faces. Sitting there at the desk, I reminisced on the nerves I felt that dreaded day of tryouts, so every child that came to the desk to check in, I introduced myself, and welcomed them to the tournament. It was clear to see that I eased their nerves. Even if it lasted only for a second, I knew that my welcoming them helped them feel more at home at seemingly nerve racking event.