Reflection Number 5

As I come closer and closer to the end of my time volunteering through my service learning organization, I appreciate it more and more. For my argument essay, I talked about how minority kids from immigrant families struggle in life because of the language barrier that they face in the United States. Like anything else in life, something becomes more meaningful to you if you know more about the situation and are more deeply involved. Researching the struggles that the language barrier causes for these children has really helped me connect with them on a deeper level because I understand a little more of what they go through, along with their parents, on a daily basis. Through my research, I found out that the number of kids in the United States who are part of immigrant families is extremely large, and this is something that really needs to be considered in school systems today. 

The kids I have helped are obviously intelligent and capable of learning like any other child, regardless of ethnicity. But, due to the fact that some of them hear one language at home and a different one at school, learning can often be very unnecessarily complicated for these kids, and that’s why it honestly is so awesome for me to be able to help them. The help I give them is not extremely significant, but it makes me feel like I’m really making a difference, especially now that I am more aware of their various language-based challenges in school. 

Sometimes the parents are there with the child for a period of time, and while they’re there, sometimes I see the kids go over to their parents and speak fluent, conversational Spanish, and then come back over to me where I’m helping them with homework or reading, and speak perfect English. I am constantly reminded of the huge capacity of learning that little kids have, and am continually amazed at how they can grasp concepts that aren’t even taught in their first language. When you’re little, learning how to tell time or how to do long division is hard enough, and now just imagine tacking on the challenge of being taught how to do these things in a language that isn’t your first language. The kids amaze me every day that I’m there!

Here is a link to a website to read a little more about how students are affected by this difference in language.