Service Learning #1

After two times of working with world relief, I can say that this is a cool experience to be a part of.  I have met with two different groups, one is a family from Nepal, and the other group is three guys from Burma.   With both groups, we used flash cards to see if they could read a word or recognize a picture, if they could read, we would try and have them read a small book.  If that went well we worked on math and or body parts.  After meeting with both groups, I can honestly say there is a big difference.  The family from Nepal is anxious to learn and they constantly are trying to do their best, they even study when we are not there.  On the other hand the guys from Burma do not seem as motivated to learn English, or even have us help them.  We went there for the first time and they were sleeping and we had to wake them up.  The family from Nepal is open to change, thus showing they have an low uncertainty avoidance.  This is why they are so open to cultural change, also explains why they are very motivated to be a good fit in the culture.  The guys from Burma are all different, they all act like they could care less about adapting to the new culture, but one of them fully participates in learning when we do the activities.  For example, the guy I worked with refused to try reading the book even though he is fairly good at reading English.  After seeing the different reactions to us teaching them, I have an idea of how to go about helping in future visits.  First of, the family from Nepal, they are very easy to teach because of their motivation, all I need to do is pick one of them and work on their reading abilities and comprehension, which has already improved during the visit.  The tricky part is working with the guys from Burma.  I do not think I will be visiting this group again due to scheduling conflicts, but if I do I need a new approach.  I need to give them more motivation to want to learn to help fuel the learning experience.  Maybe more motivation would help encourage them to learn the new language to help them fit better here in the new culture.  Maybe they are in culture shock and are nervous about many things, but other than that I think more motivation would help them with the cultural adaptation that’s taking place.