The last couple weeks the high school students have been coming to the time I volunteer with the middle school students. Once I was helping one of the high school students write a research paper. I was getting so incredibly frustrated because he was not focusing and did not do any research before hand. I felt like he expected me to write the entire thing for him, and I was not about to do that. But after being frustrated for a while I realized maybe he is just insecure about his lack of knowledge of how to write and organize a research paper. So he is being stubborn because he feels embarrassed. And this made me so incredibly sad that he felt that way. It reminded me about what we learned in ling 1000 about linguistic insecurity. About how maybe he felt his language was beneath the "standard language" and felt insecure about it. After that moment I was no longer frustrated but focused more on giving him the skills to write this research paper and more in the future.

This was the first experience I've had at family learning center where I was very frustrated with a student but it ended up working out and we finished his outline for the research paper. YAY!

The last couple weeks not many kids have been coming the day I volunteer, which is a Thursday. Even though not many kids have been there, I have still been able to help out the kids that are there. Sometimes another volunteer and me have to double team a kid, but every kid gets checked on and helped. I love to help the kids with their homework but sometimes the free time after homework is the best. This is when we really get to know the kids. We can sit down with them and talk about their lives and get to know what they like and what they don’t. A couple weeks ago, me and the other volunteers, Meghan and Sarah, were talking to two girls toward the end of the program time. We were telling each other jokes and stories and it was great! But of course we made sure they finished their homework before this :]. The best part was when one of the girls, I would write her name but I have no idea how to spell it, told us we were her favorite volunteers because we always stayed after and talked to them. I think this was so important because I believe we should get to know the kids and not just be there to tell them what to do. And when they actually know us then they will respect us more. This experience really related to linguistics in a sense we are creating a group identity through our discourse. By talking to the kids and each other the volunteers create an identity and a group identity with the kids.

At Family Learning center I don’t have a specific reading buddy, I mostly go around and help all the kids. I had one really awesome time on October 4th. I was helping a middle school boy named Benny to do his Algebra homework, and he at first was really turned off of having me helping him. But once I began to help him it was great working through his homework and seeing him understand! I would walk him through one problem and then have him do the next one and help him if he got stuck. Also we completely finished the worksheet even though he was not assigned the back of the sheet yet, but we finished it so he could be ahead for next week! He was really open by the end of the two hours and really understood the material, which was great! I feel like all the kids are more welcoming to me now that it is my third week. Also they are coming up to me for help instead of me having to go up to them and ask them if they need help. Since I have started family learning center I have really been exposed to a group of kids I was never exposed to when I was there age. I grew up in a really non-diverse county and growing up I always had everything I needed and was provided an outstanding education. To see these kids not having the same privileges I had growing up is very upsetting but I am happy I am able to help them grow and develop in the academic world! Also it has been cool seeing the kid’s switch from English to Spanish like it was no problem. It has shown me how their Spanish really is part of their identity, they will talk about things like "its a Mexican thing" or "its a Mexican drink". I have really enjoyed my experience and can’t wait to continue volunteering!