My Service Learning Experience
I chose two places two locations to work at for my service learning. The first was the Hospice of the Central Coast in Monterey and the other was the Cesar Chavez Library in Salinas. Both locations are very important to the community, but I am going to talk more about the Cesar Chavez Library because I learned much more there than in the hospice center. However I will speak briefly about the hospice service. The hospital is located in Monterey, about 15-20 minutes away from CSUMB. I was there at least once a week to help in the hospice section. There is a small office and library focused on helping the people who are experiencing a terminal illness. I did a lot of paperwork there. I also scheduled appointments and rides for the patients. At first I thought that I would be working with the patients more one on one, but I only had contact with them by phone in the office. I did not take a lot of this experience, but I did learn about everything that goes into hospice so that patients can be as comfortable as possible during very difficult times. I am happy that I volunteered at the hospice center, but I do not recommend it. I did not get a feeling of satisfaction and did not get to work with many people.
This library is in Salinas and this around 15-20 minutes from here, depending on the traffic. This library is not only a place to check out books, but a source of resources and assistance to the community. The mission statement for the library mentioned that the main goal of the library was to help the community. One of my goals was to learn more about the Latino community. I did not have much experience working with the Latino community, but I would like to work with this community in the future so it was very important for me to have this experience. Another goal was to improve my Spanish and have a more intercultural understanding while working in a bilingual environment.
There were many volunteers there at all times. There were tables there so that one was able to sit and help children. I went to the library every Tuesday and Thursday in the afternoon for an hour. Then I went for two hours on Saturday mornings. During the week I helped tutor a 6 year old child. Saturdays I worked with a class of adults who were learning about computer literacy.
With the child, we sat at a table and usually start with an easy book. We read books in English and Spanish. We would then work on his homework. Help with your pronunciation in English when we are reading. Also help with your spelling and that was something interesting because I saw the problems with the "i" and "e". Another of my responsibilities was to help with the class of adults with computers. I was always looking and paying attention to be ready if needed help. Another responsibility was to know the steps to help people with computers. I had to memorize the passwords and know where they had to go in the web pages.
One of my achievements was to form a good relationship with the people who was helping. First, with the child and also with the people in the computer class. I was nervous at the beginning, but after I was able to have good relations with everyone. Another of my achievements was to speak more in Spanish than in English. I was able to do it easily. Each time that I spoke with a new person in Spanish, I hear a different voice, a different accent and different vocabulary. This helped me a lot. Another achievement was to learn about the people who were receiving assistance from the library. Talking with them was a pleasure and I learned about new cultures and their experiences in this society, but from very different points of view.
One of my challenges was the schedule. It was difficult to go twice during the week with everything that I had to do for other classes. It was a little too far and usually arrived around 5 or 5:30, when there was a lot of traffic. Another challenge was the child's behavior. He was very good, but had lots of energy and it was difficult at times to maintain the concentration. Normally his behavior was better when he was unable to see his parents or his brother. A final challenge in the computer class was being patient. As I can use computers well, I wanted to help people use their own, but when they had problems finding a letter or something I wanted to do it for them. I, instead, had to wait for them to find it.
One of the things that was particularly special was helping with the computer literacy classes with the people there. They were all adults and they are all wanting to improve their computer and English skills. They did not have to be there like the children did. They wanted to learn and they were taking time away from their families to do so. Something that I find amazing is that my path would not have crossed with people if I hadn't done my volunteer work here.
I chose two places two locations to work at for my service learning. The first was the Hospice of the Central Coast in Monterey and the other was the Cesar Chavez Library in Salinas. Both locations are very important to the community, but I am going to talk more about the Cesar Chavez Library because I learned much more there than in the hospice center. However I will speak briefly about the hospice service. The hospital is located in Monterey, about 15-20 minutes away from CSUMB. I was there at least once a week to help in the hospice section. There is a small office and library focused on helping the people who are experiencing a terminal illness. I did a lot of paperwork there. I also scheduled appointments and rides for the patients. At first I thought that I would be working with the patients more one on one, but I only had contact with them by phone in the office. I did not take a lot of this experience, but I did learn about everything that goes into hospice so that patients can be as comfortable as possible during very difficult times. I am happy that I volunteered at the hospice center, but I do not recommend it. I did not get a feeling of satisfaction and did not get to work with many people.
This library is in Salinas and this around 15-20 minutes from here, depending on the traffic. This library is not only a place to check out books, but a source of resources and assistance to the community. The mission statement for the library mentioned that the main goal of the library was to help the community. One of my goals was to learn more about the Latino community. I did not have much experience working with the Latino community, but I would like to work with this community in the future so it was very important for me to have this experience. Another goal was to improve my Spanish and have a more intercultural understanding while working in a bilingual environment.
There were many volunteers there at all times. There were tables there so that one was able to sit and help children. I went to the library every Tuesday and Thursday in the afternoon for an hour. Then I went for two hours on Saturday mornings. During the week I helped tutor a 6 year old child. Saturdays I worked with a class of adults who were learning about computer literacy.
With the child, we sat at a table and usually start with an easy book. We read books in English and Spanish. We would then work on his homework. Help with your pronunciation in English when we are reading. Also help with your spelling and that was something interesting because I saw the problems with the "i" and "e". Another of my responsibilities was to help with the class of adults with computers. I was always looking and paying attention to be ready if needed help. Another responsibility was to know the steps to help people with computers. I had to memorize the passwords and know where they had to go in the web pages.
One of my achievements was to form a good relationship with the people who was helping. First, with the child and also with the people in the computer class. I was nervous at the beginning, but after I was able to have good relations with everyone. Another of my achievements was to speak more in Spanish than in English. I was able to do it easily. Each time that I spoke with a new person in Spanish, I hear a different voice, a different accent and different vocabulary. This helped me a lot. Another achievement was to learn about the people who were receiving assistance from the library. Talking with them was a pleasure and I learned about new cultures and their experiences in this society, but from very different points of view.
One of my challenges was the schedule. It was difficult to go twice during the week with everything that I had to do for other classes. It was a little too far and usually arrived around 5 or 5:30, when there was a lot of traffic. Another challenge was the child's behavior. He was very good, but had lots of energy and it was difficult at times to maintain the concentration. Normally his behavior was better when he was unable to see his parents or his brother. A final challenge in the computer class was being patient. As I can use computers well, I wanted to help people use their own, but when they had problems finding a letter or something I wanted to do it for them. I, instead, had to wait for them to find it.
One of the things that was particularly special was helping with the computer literacy classes with the people there. They were all adults and they are all wanting to improve their computer and English skills. They did not have to be there like the children did. They wanted to learn and they were taking time away from their families to do so. Something that I find amazing is that my path would not have crossed with people if I hadn't done my volunteer work here.
servicelearning.docx | |
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