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    This Impact is private

    Spring20-SPA-280-001

    This week I rotated to work with a different group of students. I read them the same book that I had read the previous group, as well as completed the same group game as I had. As soon as I showed the students the book that I would be reading them, one of the girls in the group stated that one of the Spanish teachers from last fall had read them the same book. Once she said this, all of the students in the group agreed and lost interest in what we would be reading about. I was able to bring their attention back to the me and the book, however they talked about "non-book" related things that were happening in the classroom much more frequently while I was reading than my previous group had. From what I could tell, because they had seen the book before their attention spans were even shorter than usual and each student, other than one little boy, had to be reminded multiple times to keep their eyes on me. As I have only one more group to work with in our rotation, I will be keeping the book I have as it is a great way to encourage the students to remember their numbers, colors, and animals.

    Should a similar situation happen next week, I plan on having the students read some of the words with me as I believe this may help to keep their attention on the book and what is being read. My timing of the book to the game was much better this week as I seemed to finish my book about the same time as the other groups before moving on to our game.

    Gave 1.00 hour on 03/05/2020 with Gustavus Adolphus College
    Spring20-SPA-280-001

    1. WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
    This week I got to work with a small group of students on two different activities, reading and counting. For the reading portion, I read the book (which was in Spanish) to the group and had them participate on occasion. During these times I asked the students if they remembered what the English translation of a Spanish animal was, such as "elefante" to which they responded "elephant". We also focused on the colors of some of the animals in order to refresh their memories on colors. Finally, I asked them to count the number of animals they saw on the book page, which tied in nicely with the activity we did. The activity involved small paper cut outs of various animals which they then had to count for the group and say the Spanish name of the animal after each number (ie. un elefante, dos elefantes, tres elefantes). The only concern I have after this session is trying to come up with more ways in which to keep their focus on the task we are working on. I had very little trouble with this, however there were instances where I had to ask the kids multiple times to bring their focus back to what the group was doing before they were able to do so.
    2. QUALITY OF SERVICE AND PROFESSIONALISM:
    I think it will be important for our group to work off of one another during the presentation at the beginning and the end of the lesson. I believe that this will keep the attention of the students better. As for my personal growth, I need to get through my group's book a little faster in order to keep up with my other group members. To do this, next week I will try to only ask the kids to interact with the book every other page, rather than each page. As I mentioned before, I also need to find another way in which to keep the attention of the students, specifically to bring their attention back to the task the group is working on.
    3. CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY/EMPOWERING OTHERS:
    My focus for this week will be on the benefit that exposing the students to the Spanish language brings. I believe this is a very important thing for young students to be used to as this helps to bring the community together rather than having a difference in language cause individuals to feel uncomfortable and distance themselves. There was one student in my group who speaks Spanish at home and when one of his friends asked him if he normally spoke Spanish when he wasn't at school, the first student said yes and the second was really happy and told him "that's really cool!"
    4. ABOUT ME:
    This experience is allowing me to take knowledge that I have mastered and format it or deliver it in a way that others who are not quite as familiar with the material can understand. I am making the information more accessible and understandable for them.

    Gave 1.00 hour on 02/27/2020 with Gustavus Adolphus College
    Spring20-SPA-280-001

    ➢ What are your expectations regarding the service-learning component for this class?
    I am very excited about what the service-learning opportunities will hold for me working with Mrs. Sizer's kindergarten class at South Elementary. I expect that I will be able to improve the way in which I teach a class, as well as how I am able to maintain the "squirrel-like" attention kindergarteners seem to be known for, by making the lessons more fun and interactive for them. I expect to make connected relationships with some of the kids as well as those I will be working with in my group. I hope that as a group of four, we will be able to learn how to build off each others ideas better and know when to jump in to provide help when we see another member is struggling with something.
    ➢ What (skills, talents, service) can you offer the community of St. Peter this semester?
    This semester I will be using my knowledge of Spanish to teach a kindergarten class a Spanish lesson each Thursday. I also love working with little kids and want to learn what teaching kindergarteners is like as well as the ways in which information needs to be mended to accommodate for them.
    ➢ Name 2-3 concrete benefits you could receive through the community component in this course.
    1. I will be able to improve my knowledge of Spanish by teaching it to others.
    2. I will learn to manipulate information I already know and make it more accessible and understandable.
    ➢ What does intercultural competence mean? Use your own definition and then, offer an example of it through a personal or academic experience.
    Intercultural competence is the active learning and understanding of other cultures and their languages by a given individual. This allows for a better idea of the beliefs, values and thoughts of those from other cultures, which brings society together in a healthy way. An example of this from my life is an experience I had with a Spanish-speaking friend who did not know a lot of English so I was able to facilitate a conversation between her and her English-speaking friend which allowed for them to learn more about one another past what they were only able to scratch the surface on before.

    Gave 0.50 hour on 02/24/2020 with Gustavus Adolphus College

    This Impact is private

    This Impact is private

    This Impact is private

    This Impact is private

    This Impact is private

    This Impact is private