One of the main themes I encountered during my service project was the importance of nonverbal codes and usage in communication.  Starting with the special needs kids, nonverbal codes were important from day one.  A whole lot of information was conveyed in this class with just the expression on people’s faces.  I believe that the special needs students are better than most normal-minded people with conveying messages through facial expressions.  Other key aspects of nonverbal communication in the special needs class was gestures.  Pointing, waving the hands, and other motions helped the students explain whatever they were trying to talk about.  I formed interpersonal relationships with these students mainly through nonverbal communication, since this was many of theirs main way of communicating, and figuratively, could be considered their primary language.  Nonverbal communication was used with the ELL students as well.  They did not use facial expressions as much, but when they did it was often to show irritation that they could not understand an assignment or excitement after finally understanding a problem.  I used nonverbal communication with them through tone of voice mainly, encouraging them or giving them praise for understanding an assignment.  In this service learning project, effective communication would not have been possible without nonverbal communication.

 

            I have learned that culture is not limited to a group of people from the same ethnic group.  Culture is a group of people with shared norms, values, beliefs, and social practices.  Therefore, the Africans were did not just share a culture with the other Africans, and the Asians did not just share culture with the other Asians, but also the Africans and Asians shared the ELL learning community as a culture.  Likewise the special needs students were all in a culture of their own.  The differences in all of the cultures was apparent, though.  The Africans were more social and casual when it came to schoolwork and class time.  The Asian students tried to work hard and kept to themselves, not speaking much.  The special needs students valued friendship.  They were very friendly to everyone, respected each other, and many were social too. 

            Communication is more than just words that are spoken.  Nonverbal communication is a bigger part of communicating than verbal, and through this experience I have learned the effectiveness of it.  Perceptions are often wrong and can lead to misunderstandings in communication.  These misunderstandings can hurt an interpersonal relationship, but understanding and accepting them will help maintain and build the relationship.  This project has opened my eyes to the difficulty of communicating across cultures and languages.  I now know the importance of perceptions and nonverbal codes in communication, and will use these to help develop and maintain future interpersonal relationships that I will form.  As I work to a future career as a physical therapist, I know these experiences will help me in communication in the various encounters with patients of different cultures.

 

             During the remaining visits we only visited the special needs class once.  The students were working on a future career paper.  My partner and I mainly only assisted in reading off the questions to the students and explaining to them how to right down their answers.  Not a whole lot happened during this visit.  The biology classes also did not have a whole lot of interaction between us and the ELL students.  One class we watched a movie and at the end of class helped the students answer a few questions about the movie.  The next was mainly a discussion class between the teacher and students, with my partner and I’s help just being kind of here and there.  During study skills, we began to get more interaction with the students.  I got to help the students with math a lot.  The level of math that many were on was surprisingly low to me.  I helped one student learn simple time tables and a few tricks for easier multiplying.  With a different student I help him with a less than, greater than, or equal to assignment (<, >, or =).  Again I was very surprised that he was on a level of math that most Americans are on in the 5^th grade.  Another event that stood out to me was when a group of African girls tried to teach me one of their native languages.  I felt that I had formed a relationship with them and achieved one of the goals I planned to get out of the service project.

            My perception of the ELL students had a big impact on helping them with math.  My perception was that the students would struggle with math at a high school level, such as algebra or geometry, but not with what seems to me as simple math such as multiplication and division.  This error in my judgment comes from my lack of acknowledging their cultural background.  These students may have never been to a school before coming here because of the potential atrocious conditions that they came from.  Also math skills or any math may not have been valued in their culture so this could be a contributing factor as to why they were not on the same level as others their age.  The students were very willing and eager to learn the math though, making teaching them easier and enjoyable.

            From this experience I have learned that my perception of things can be very wrong.  I now know that it is easy to have an error in judgment if you have limited knowledge or understanding of the background of those the perception is made.  I have learned that I should not assume that people from other cultures will have what seem to me as common knowledge because my culture has taught it that way.  I will take what I have learned about perceptions and apply them in my future intercultural communications.

            During this next visit we followed the same format of classes we went to.  First my partner and I went to the special needs class, followed by Biology, and lastly learning skills.  Upon arrival to the special needs class we were surprised when many of the students remembered our names.  Earlier in the day the special needs students had a bake sale, so during this class the students were busy cleaning up after the bake sale.  In Biology class the students were working on a lab on fossils.  I noticed that during this lab the students, mainly the Asian students, that had the lowest English skills and needed the most help did not ask for help.  The best speakers of English of the group, particularly the Africans, often asked for assistance.  After Biology came learning skills.  In this class again many students did not work on much homework, and mainly chatted in little groups or doodled on a piece of paper to pass time.  My partner and I helped the few who were actually doing homework, and once they were done we just tried to talk with the students.  They seemed to be warming up to us, but the conversations did not go in depth.  At the end of class the bell rang, and we all left.

 

            In the Biology class, the two different groups gave an example of their tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to respond to new and uncertain situations.  The African students had a high tolerance for ambiguity.  They were more comfortable with the new experience, knew they needed some help and were not shy to ask for it.  These students faced the lab head on and accepted the challenge.  The Asian students on the other hand had a lower tolerance.  They did not know how to do the lab exactly either, but seemed afraid to communicate this and seemed nervous asking for help.  Their lack of English skills probably contributed to this.  The two groups responded differently to the new challenge they faced.

            One reason why the Asian students did not want to ask for help was concern for face.  They wanted to maintain their face value they had and not lose face.  Perhaps they believed that asking for help was not honorable or maybe showed weakness.  I believe they were more concerned with the English speaking portion of it.  I think that they believed if they could not speak or understand the English we were speaking then they would lose face to me from their inability.  Of course I helped them to the level they were comfortable with and did not show any agitated or annoyed behaviors towards them.  I stayed friendly and hopefully they know I was not judging them for not knowing English well, and they did not lose any face from it.

            These experiences have taught me a few things.  People will not always feel comfortable in new situations.  People may need help but are not comfortable asking for it.  I have learned that personally when I see someone struggling, I should see if I can help sometimes without others asking for it because they may be shy and not know how to communicate it.  Also when giving help I should make the others feel comfortable with my help, and not make them feel inferior or less than me because of the help needed.  This will give them courage to seek help in the future. 

             On the first day of our service, my partner and I arrived to Rock Island at 1:00.  There were no ELL classes for us to help with during the class hour that we arrived at, so we were put in a class to help special needs students instead for that class period.  When we entered the class, the teacher had my partner and I introduce ourselves: give our name, where we are from, and something about ourselves.  Afterwards all of the students were instructed to do likewise, using our introduction as a model.  Few students got through their introduction with ease, while the majority stumbled over words and thoughts.  One student in particular said nothing at all, and his words were limited to what he could click on in a certain app on his phone.  The students used gestures often in their introduction and throughout the rest of the class too.  For the rest of class we worked with the kids on teamwork based on the video clip of a conveyor belt assembly line that they had watched in class.  Also they were treated to a snack, smores, if they could follow the proper directions on assembling them.  After the special needs class we went to the ELL Biology class.  In the class we just watched a movie, so not much interaction was involved.  A few students introduced themselves to me during the movie and were excited that we were going to be there to help.  Once Biology was over my partner and I went to the ELL learning skills class.  This was basically a free period for homework that the students needed to get done.  However, most students either did not have anything to work on or did not want to work on homework, and mainly kept to themselves.  After this period was over, we left Rock Island and came back to campus. 

             One of the major ways that the special needs students communicated with us was through the use of kinesics.  While some of the students could not speak well, or at all, they were still very interactive.  When they did not know a word for something they would use gestures to attempt to explain their message to me.  It was up to me to interpret what they meant.  For instance, one student wanted to show me his new shoes.  At first I did not understand what he was gesturing at, so he kicked me and pointed at his shoes.  Then I understood.  We struck up a conversation of me commenting on his shoes and asking questions.  When the students would try to communicate something to me, they would smile and nod if I guessed the intended message correctly.  Therefore, the majority of my part in the conversation was verbal, while these students’ parts would be facial expressions and body movement.  By the end of the class I too began using more kinesics in my communication. 

            During the activities that the special needs students participated in and the homework time of the ELL students, both groups portrayed collectivism.  The special needs students were not shy amongst each other and would offer assistance to the others before the others would even ask, especially in the assembly line activity which required teamwork.  Likewise, the ELL refugee students showed collectivism too.  Whenever one student understood something on their homework, he or she would move on to the next student and explain how to do the problem or answer the question.  They cared about the success of the whole class before their own success from what I observed.  Overall, both groups showed that they valued helping the group succeed. 

            From this experience I have learned that situations will arise where I will not be able to easily communicate with other people.  I now know that gestures and facial expressions are very beneficial in communication.  When trying to communicate with others in the future, I will incorporate nonverbal aspects of communication such as the kinesics that the special needs students exhibited into my regular communication in order to communicate more effectively.  This will definitely help me in communicating with patients as a physical therapist.  

               I will be participating in a service-learning project at Rock Island High School where I will be helping refugee students from other countries adapt to the English language and to American school life in the ELL program and also helping a class of special needs kids to learn basic fundamentals of life skills, and I hope for many things to come from this.  To start it off, one goal of mine is obviously to help the refugee students learn and adjust while at the same time creating bonds and friendships with them.  I hope I am able to help teach them, and hope to learn from them along them way too.  They will have much to teach me about their culture and hopefully will enhance my abilities of communication.  In the class of special needs students, my goal is to learn to communicate with people in the toughest of situations and learning to be patient with people, being that their mental capacity is subpar compared to average people.  In the future, these acquired skills of communication will help me in my desired field of physical therapy.  As a physical therapist, I will have to be able to communicate with people in one on one or small groups, so helping these students will enhance my ability to do so. 

               I am assuming that the site, Rock Island High School, will be a typical high school environment.  I know that there are certain teachers that are part of the ELL program, and I assume that the teachers will push the refugee students to learn as they would teach any other students to learn, but probably at a slower pace so that the students will not fall behind.  I think that the students themselves will have a greater desire to learn than typical American students since they are being given such a great opportunity away from the struggles that they previously faced in their lives.  I assume that students will be grateful for the help they receive from the ELL program and Rock Island High School.  With the special needs students, I know that the teachers will have to be more hands-on.  I am expecting that we will probably do activities in that class on more of an elementary school level and that we will be more friends to these students than teachers.  Also I assume that the students will probably lack in basic communication skills, so more nonverbal communication will be part of this experience.  From these two diverse learning environments at Rock Island I expect to build great friendships through communication.

              In the past I have had interests in the hardships of countries in Africa that I have learned about from school programs or videos.  From seeing the horrible conditions and circumstances that some people face in Africa, such as civil wars and child soldiers, I had sympathy for these people.  I donated money to give aid to these oppressed people, but other than that there was not anything that I could do to help.  The only prior knowledge I had about the refugee program was what was gained from the brief talk in communications class.  However, I believe that this program is a great opportunity for helping the refugees and believe that this is a way that I can help the victims of the monstrosities in Africa have a better quality of life.  From my past interest in the population I am serving I hope that I can better help them than just donating money and be a part of their lives.

How service relates to learning

Service can relate to learning for ourselves and others.  By our service, we teach others to the value of service, and they learn to serve as well.  Also through our service we can be taught things too.  We learn about the various environments the we serve in and about the conditions of those we serve.  Realization strikes us that not everyone lives the same lifestyle or in the same condition as we do, whether it be better or worse. 

Chapter 2. Effects of communication