Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Blog #3: March 17, 2014

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.

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