Service Learning Reflection, Part 2

Consideration of Material

Albert Einstein once wisely said, “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” The adult literacy center was constantly striving to provide an environment and conditions that were best suited to their student’s learning. They take the short amount of resources that they have and try to utilize them to the best of their ability. At the adult literacy center there was no shortage of material that could be used to help these students better grasp the concepts being presented. Books, dictionaries, thesauruses, maps and bookmarks lined the walls. However, the greatest tools in that old school building were those that inspired and evoked conversation, not those tools that taught phonetics. While those were important aspects to the learning process, they were not tools that inspired the, “Eureka!” moments.

All of the students I was responsible for tutoring were very good readers. It actually said in their introductory packet, not to let them read because that wasn’t enough of a challenge. They had great vocabulary, they were the ones that taught me things. Two of my students, a husband and wife pair, were biomedical researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They did not need me to teach them vocabulary. They needed me to talk to them, to converse, to teach basic social skills that are so under appreciated. The husband told me that he wanted to learn to be a better speaker of English because he wanted to be able to present his papers at conferences and to be taken seriously. He blew through the assignments that were given in less than 15 minutes and we spent much of the rest of the time talking. He was fascinated that I was majoring in political science (I guess they do not get a lot of say in the way government is conducted in China). However, the most fascinating conversation was about the map that was posted at our station. I got to point out where I was from and he was telling me about the places he loved to visit and vacation in China. Even though we had such a slight language barrier, we were able to unite and communicate by pointing out places we had visited. This map built bridges that united two very different cultures. This is why teaching materials are so necessary to the tutoring process. They open the doors to conversation, mutual respect and appreciation.