Pay it forward. Some of you might have heard this phrase while others have no idea what it means. Paying it forward means doing something good for someone because something good was done to you. This idea or phrase came from a movie in 2000 called Pay It Forward, which shows how one person (a young boy) set a chain reaction of good deeds. You might be wondering how this relates to my community service; well it has everything to do with it. I can honestly say that I have been very blessed for everything and everyone in my life; for having good parents, going to a top school, having great friends and living a life some people can only dream of. A lot of good has been done to me in my life whether it’s from my friends, teachers, family members or even strangers, as a result, I always try to pay it forward to the poor, to the people that have done good to me or just people who need it. I think that joining service learning this year was the best thing I’ve ever done. I was involved in many projects at first; however, I was encouraged to focus on one project and to really make an effort to make a difference. Later on I started prioritizing where I would spend my service hours and what I was going to do. I decided to devote my service hours to teach the younger children because they are the next generation, they are the ones that will “take over” years from now. My main project was spent in Mama Lou Lou’s nursery. Everyday she would have about 15-18 kids present. These kids ranged from 4-6years old and there was an exception of two girls who were 8 and 9 years old. Coming to the nursery I didn’t really know what to expect; I didn’t know what it would be like or what the kids would look like so I was a bit nervous to begin with. When I walked in the nursery it wasn’t that big; it was a small apartment and it was divided into different small sections. There was a room for eating, there was a kitchen, bathroom, small porch, and there was another small room where the kids spent most of their day. When I entered the room where I was supposed to teach I was kind of surprised, there were no blackboards or whiteboards, there were only three tables and a couple of chairs where the students can sit. The authority figures present in the classrooms were always shouting and half the time they were so frustrated from the children that they didn’t even care or pay attention to them anymore. The kids were noisy, loud, and demanding. The first day I went to the nursery the kids didn’t really know who I was, so they were kind of shy in the beginning. In addition they got bored 15minutes into the session. I decided to let go of the teaching for now until they got to know me a bit better and were more comfortable around me. In order to do so, I talked to them for a while asking them all sorts of questions (this was in Arabic) like how old are you? Do you have any siblings? I also taught them some games like tic tac toe or Simon says. The more time I spent with the children the more comfortable they were around me. From then on I spent all of my service time teaching the kids all sorts of things like the alphabet from A-Z, numbers from 1-10, words that correspond to letters in the alphabet like apple, bus, car etc, and I also got to teaching them some art skills. Of course in order to teach them these things I had to start by telling them in Arabic first and then saying it in English so they can understand. This took a lot of repetition and activities in order for the kids to remember everything, but of course many errors were made at first. Gradually, the kids began grasping the concepts and improving greatly until there was a minimum amount of errors. The main problem I witnessed was the pronunciation. Many kids made a lot of mistakes. For example they said abble instead of apple, or free/tree instead of saying three. They also had a problem with writing the letters and numbers because they were so different from Arabic – that took a while for them to learn. In the end they were able to write and their handwriting improved immensely. This teaching process was very difficult for me because first of all these kids didn’t know anything about the English language. All they knew was Arabic, which is, and will always be their mother tongue. In addition to that, I had to get over my presentation frights in front of crowds, even though, they were only kids. I was nervous at first but as I got to know each and every one of the students, I got better and better at it. Moreover, I was also an inexperienced teacher; I had no idea how to teach these kids at first and how to make them learn all the letters and numbers. Overtime, I developed different methods of teaching because some kids understood with me repeating everything over and over, other kids learnt better by seeing the letter and writing it many times and some liked more visual things like pictures. As I spent more and more hours with the kids at the nursery, the more they learnt regarding the letters, numbers and art skills. Step by step they were able to write all the letters and the numbers in the correct way, however, they still had difficulty with the pronunciation. In order to test their knowledge of what they learnt I would set up small quizzical games. I would ask questions like “what is the first letter of the alphabet?” or “what word corresponds to the letter B for example?” If they answered correctly I would reward them with a small piece of candy like chocolate, mint, gum etc. If they got the answer wrong I would give them an easier question, hoping, they would get it right. If they did, they also got a reward. This helped me see what they needed work on, how much of the concepts they were grasping and which ones they had trouble with. It encouraged them to review what they learnt frequently in order to get more prizes as well as to beat their classmates. I as the teacher of these kids could see so much improvement compared to the beginning of the year. They were trying so hard and putting a lot of effort and it showed. That to me was a great reward. To see how these kids were actually learning from me, learning something so new to them and succeeding in it. I had a great experience teaching them and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
I think that joining service learning this year was the best thing I’ve ever done. I was involved in many projects at first; however, I was encouraged to focus on one project and to really make an effort to make a difference. Later on I started prioritizing where I would spend my service hours and what I was going to do. I decided to devote my service hours to teach the younger children because they are the next generation, they are the ones that will “take over” years from now.
My main project was spent in Mama Lou Lou’s nursery. Everyday she would have about 15-18 kids present. These kids ranged from 4-6years old and there was an exception of two girls who were 8 and 9 years old.
Coming to the nursery I didn’t really know what to expect; I didn’t know what it would be like or what the kids would look like so I was a bit nervous to begin with. When I walked in the nursery it wasn’t that big; it was a small apartment and it was divided into different small sections. There was a room for eating, there was a kitchen, bathroom, small porch, and there was another small room where the kids spent most of their day. When I entered the room where I was supposed to teach I was kind of surprised, there were no blackboards or whiteboards, there were only three tables and a couple of chairs where the students can sit. The authority figures present in the classrooms were always shouting and half the time they were so frustrated from the children that they didn’t even care or pay attention to them anymore. The kids were noisy, loud, and demanding.
The first day I went to the nursery the kids didn’t really know who I was, so they were kind of shy in the beginning. In addition they got bored 15minutes into the session. I decided to let go of the teaching for now until they got to know me a bit better and were more comfortable around me. In order to do so, I talked to them for a while asking them all sorts of questions (this was in Arabic) like how old are you? Do you have any siblings? I also taught them some games like tic tac toe or Simon says. The more time I spent with the children the more comfortable they were around me.
From then on I spent all of my service time teaching the kids all sorts of things like the alphabet from A-Z, numbers from 1-10, words that correspond to letters in the alphabet like apple, bus, car etc, and I also got to teaching them some art skills. Of course in order to teach them these things I had to start by telling them in Arabic first and then saying it in English so they can understand. This took a lot of repetition and activities in order for the kids to remember everything, but of course many errors were made at first. Gradually, the kids began grasping the concepts and improving greatly until there was a minimum amount of errors. The main problem I witnessed was the pronunciation. Many kids made a lot of mistakes. For example they said abble instead of apple, or free/tree instead of saying three. They also had a problem with writing the letters and numbers because they were so different from Arabic – that took a while for them to learn. In the end they were able to write and their handwriting improved immensely.
This teaching process was very difficult for me because first of all these kids didn’t know anything about the English language. All they knew was Arabic, which is, and will always be their mother tongue. In addition to that, I had to get over my presentation frights in front of crowds, even though, they were only kids. I was nervous at first but as I got to know each and every one of the students, I got better and better at it. Moreover, I was also an inexperienced teacher; I had no idea how to teach these kids at first and how to make them learn all the letters and numbers. Overtime, I developed different methods of teaching because some kids understood with me repeating everything over and over, other kids learnt better by seeing the letter and writing it many times and some liked more visual things like pictures.
As I spent more and more hours with the kids at the nursery, the more they learnt regarding the letters, numbers and art skills. Step by step they were able to write all the letters and the numbers in the correct way, however, they still had difficulty with the pronunciation. In order to test their knowledge of what they learnt I would set up small quizzical games. I would ask questions like “what is the first letter of the alphabet?” or “what word corresponds to the letter B for example?” If they answered correctly I would reward them with a small piece of candy like chocolate, mint, gum etc. If they got the answer wrong I would give them an easier question, hoping, they would get it right. If they did, they also got a reward. This helped me see what they needed work on, how much of the concepts they were grasping and which ones they had trouble with. It encouraged them to review what they learnt frequently in order to get more prizes as well as to beat their classmates.
I as the teacher of these kids could see so much improvement compared to the beginning of the year. They were trying so hard and putting a lot of effort and it showed. That to me was a great reward. To see how these kids were actually learning from me, learning something so new to them and succeeding in it. I had a great experience teaching them and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.