Global

Esperanza Center:

I volunteered in at the Esperanza center my first semester in college. It met the overall expectations for a Grand Challenge because, I was working to address pressing issues in the Baltimore community. I was also exposed to diverse cultures, languages, and identities. I received a notation on my transcript for this experience through Practicum 096.

I volunteered at the Esperanza center for the semester of Fall 2016, two-hours per week. I volunteered for a total of around 24 hours. I also had to reflect on the experience to receive credit through Practicum 096, which allowed me to fully absorb what I was learning and what I was teaching.

Brief Reflection:

This was one of the hardest service projects have done. I speak no Spanish and the students at the Esperanza center spoke very little English, so it was very difficult to work with them and teach them English. I think that I wended up learned a lot more about patience and teaching than the students learned about English. It was also an interesting experience, because this program was run though Catholic Charities, so I got to see a good bit of how Catholic Charities did their work. (I am pleased to report that I encountered no attempts at proselytizing while I was there. Charity should not be predicated on one's willingness to listen to religious dogma.)

Applications:

I believe this experience is somewhat connected to my grand challenge as I was a tutor for ESOL students and working with them one on one, so my lessons were as personalized as I could make them. Thus, I learned more about teaching, learning, and personalization, which are all part of my grand challenge.

Learning Objectives:

Program Wide

This experience will most contribute to the objective of perspectivism. This is because, I was able to talk with people from many diverse cultures and backgrounds and was able to better understand these cultures and gain more insight and perspective into them. I hope that my own perspective has broadened because of this experience.

Experience Specific
- Working with Diverse Teams. I was tutoring recent immigrants in ESOL and working with them to help with life skills.
- Global Citizenship. I helped immigrants adjust to life in the United States, even though it was uncertain that they had legal status in the United States.
- Cultural Awareness. I learned more about the students’ culture, background, and countries by talking with them.
- Openness to Difference. I learned more about diverse perspectives, and understanding is an important part of openness.
Personal
- Being a team member- I worked with several other tutors over the course of this experience I also worked with the students and staff to help ensure that learning happened.
- Persistence- It was often very hard to teach English to the student and patience and persistence was a very important skill that I had the opportunity to practice.

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