March 2, 2015 - 23:04
In my field placement I work with 10 or so bilingual 3rd and 4th graders. My most interesting interaction from my first day was with a 9 year old girl, Sofia. Sofia was working one on one in Spanish with a Columbian volunteer, Mariela. Mariela was talking her through her math homework in Spanish because Sofia felt more comfortable in Spanish than in English. When Sofia was done, she asked me if I would play guess who with her. We played like 10 rounds of Guess Who and I was so sick of it by the end, but I think she would have continued to play forever if I hadn’t had to use the restroom. It's kind of crazy how much energy she had! Sofia showed me where the restroom was, all the way in the basement, through the cafeteria, definitely not somewhere you could get to in an emergency. When we were walking downstairs she told me about her family. She is one of five kids, the oldest of whom is 17 and the youngest is just three months old! I told her that I was 17 when my younger sister was born and she was kind of fascinated with the idea that I was older than her oldest sibling. Unimaginable! When we got back upstairs, I asked her which language she preferred. I had noticed Mariela working with her in Spanish so I assumed that was her preferred language, but in fact, Sofia felt like she had a different preferred language for different situations. Mariela’s first language is Spanish so she felt more comfortable helping Sofia in Spanish than in English. I realized then that I would have to pay closer attention to what was really happening rather than assuming things about the students based on superficial observations.