1)
We finally were able to make it back to their
house after 3 attempts prior to this. The last time we had tried to visit our
family we had found out that they moved to another house. The two times before
this they weren’t home or weren’t able to do it due to prior arrangements we
weren’t informed about before we had shown up. Thankfully, this time we were
able to finally get back into things and meet with them for the second time.
When Taylor and I showed up the mom Tahgreed was asleep and so was the little boy
Mustafa. The father was at work, so the only one we worked with for about the
first hour was the little girl Baneen. We had to re-introduce so that she had
our names down and then we did a bit of an icebreaker and just colored in
coloring books for about a half hour. While we colored we had Baneen name each
color she was using so that she had her colors down. Mustafa and Tahgreed
finally got up and joined us so we started to teach them the alphabet and how
to write it. Baneen pretty much had it down except for a few letters along with
Mustafa. However, the mom was the one that struggled with it the most. I found
it very interesting how determined she was to learn the alphabet and how to
write it properly also. After that we ended with them learning our coin system,
like how much each coin was worth and what it was called. Both Taylor and I
felt that it was a very productive 2 hours and we left feeling as though each
of them had learned something new.
2)
Connecting this past encounter with what we have
been learning in class, I noticed how the mother Tahgreed used concepts from
the basics of intercultural competence. I was able to see that she had
tolerance for ambiguity. Putting her in this new situation and showing her all
these new words and concepts did cause some frustration, however she kept an
open mind for learning how to write our language. For myself, I also realized
that I used the basics of intercultural competence. The last concept,
interaction posture, came into play during this meeting because I had to be
understanding and not judgmental whatsoever towards the fact that most of them
didn’t even know how to write the ABC’s. Looking at this basic skill, it amazed
me just how much of a change it must have been for them to move from their
culture and come over here to this brand new environment. The other concept
that I’ve noticed with our family is that they are along the lines of
acculturation in the adaptation process. They still have their own culture, yet
they are accepting and want to learn more about the American culture. I think
this is a great skill to have because it allows them to have a better
adaptation process.
3)
Since Taylor and I both felt that the PowerPoint
of the alphabet was very successful, we will most likely do that again, but
instead of teaching them animals, we will do another category such as fruits
and vegetables, or activities. We will continue to work on our coin system with
them because it is important for them to know how our money system works here. Tahgreed
needs to continue to learn the alphabet so that will be our main focus with
her. Baneen and Mustafa need to learn new words and how to write them and say them
and that will be what we work on with them for our next few encounters. After
having such a successful meeting this past time, I am really looking forward to
working with them again and see just how much they will learn and grow from
each encounter here on out.
