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Kellie Sinicki

Sociology 2000

Dr. Brewster

19 April 2018

Service Learning Journal

January 29th

My first visit at La Casa Guadalupana was rather eye-opening. First and

foremost, I found myself feeling rather timid and shy, when usually I’m not. I was

assigned to help teach basic level english class to spanish-speaking adults who live

here locally in Detroit. The teacher, Terry, is a former nun who speaks no spanish at all,

whereas I myself only speak basic spanish. I felt like a bit of an outsider, but the

students in the class were welcoming and didn't seem to mind me as much. I think that

they get used to volunteers as many other Wayne State students volunteer there. My

first day was mostly filled with observations and becoming acclimated to the class

atmosphere.

I think the most eye-opening part of my first visit was when I talked with Terry

after the students had left. She of course just explained more of what the class was

about, but she also told me more about the student’s lives. She explained to me how

sometimes attendance was low due to work or taking kids to school. She also explained

to me how many of the students lived in fear of I.C.E. and deportation, and that

sometimes caused them to miss class. We went on to further discuss the range of

ability in the class that I had observed. Some students could speak english well, but
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struggled to read and write. Others, barely spoke english and relied on other classmates

to explain to them in spanish.

To integrate class materials, I think my dilemma in feeling timid at first was a

personal ​trouble​. The causes stemmed from my own feelings of nervousness and

self-doubt at the start of the project. On the other hand, and I think more importantly, the

problems with attendance of the students were ​issues​, with the cause stemming from

society. Worries about deportation has been something I’ve seen in the news, but this

experiences put faces to that issue. Furthermore, I think that thinking about their issues

sociologically allowed me to see a bigger picture that I might not have otherwise without

this class. A “​common sense​” notion, especially in today’s media, is that immigrants,

here legally or not, are lazy, or dangerous people. From my observations, all the

students in the class were very welcoming to me, and the fact that their jobs were a

priority that interfere with their education reinforced the notion that they are hardworking

people. Furthermore, I think that it's crucial to note that these people often work just as

hard make less than their white and/or male counterparts. Their potential problems with

obtaining legal residency here coupled with their lagging english skills also puts them at

risk of being abused or mistreated by employers.

For my next visit, I anticipate becoming more involved with class activities, as

well as meeting some of the students that were absent for class this visit.

February 5th

This second visit was much of what I anticipated, but I still had some

apprehensions about leading the class. Terry threw me right into the mix, having me
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lead book activities as well as helping go over answers to homework. It was hard to

jump right in and work on the fly without being familiar with the worksheets, however the

class seemed eager to learn and eager for me to help.

Later in the class, we broke off into two groups to practice conversation. Terry

worked with one group, while I worked with the other. We had cards with questions that

the students were supposed to read and answer in english. In this activity, I met and

talked with Miguel. He told me about his daughters who graduated college, and he

asked me more about my major and questions about how long I’ve been studying

spanish. He explained to me how it’s easier for him to speak and listen to english, but

he struggles a lot with reading and writing. I told him for me it was the opposite; I

struggled to have conversation in spanish but I could easily read and write in the second

language. On a larger scale, throughout the activity, I could see the students struggle to

pronounce words, understand them, and most importantly they struggled to answer the

question. They got frustrated, and I understood their struggle and tried to translate what

I could to help. It’s aggravating when you know in your mind what you want to say, but

can’t convey those thoughts properly to others.

In relation to class, I think the classes at La Casa Guadalupana can be looked at

from the ​functionalist perspective​. The notion of functionalism is that structure follows

need. These immigrants need to learn english to have success in the United States and

they need to do so on a small budget, thus, the ESL classes at La Casa Guadalupana

were born. Moreover, I feel that my conversation with Miguel indicated that on some

level that I overcame the ​Hawthorne Effect.​ I had been around enough, and the
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students had been exposed to plenty of other volunteers that Miguel felt comfortable

enough around me to talk with me and have a discussion.

For my next visit I hope to feel more comfortable in leading class exercises and

continuing to build relationships with the students.

Looking backward at this entry after the culture unit, I think it’s also important to

discuss the importance of language during this activity. ​Language​ is how we convey

and transmit ideas to others. With the language barrier that the students have, and that I

sometime have as a foreign language student, it can be very frustrating. I also find that

language abilities can be a reflexion of what we intelligence abilities to be. As the

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis​ states, we see reality through a linguistic veil. However this veil

isn’t always correct. I feel that immigrants are often seen as less intelligent simply

because they can’t relay information as well as they could in their native language. This

inability causes the perception of lesser intelligence, when in reality they are smart and

hardworking people.

February 12th

This is my third time at La Casa Guadalupana and I definitely feel more

comfortable with leading the class and going over homework on the fly. Today in class,

the attendance was actually pretty large, so I decided to take note of who the class

consisted of. There are two couples, one older and one younger but they both have

kids. The class is predominantly female, and from what Terry has told me, most of the

students are originally from Mexico, but also Guatemala and Honduras are in the mix.

Some of the ladies have husbands or children that I know of, but of course some are
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single as well. They work in all different places, from roofing, to meat markets, to

makeup company representatives to restaurant workers. I noticed there was great

variety in this sample, despite the outward similarness.

This lead me to think more so about the conclusions I can draw based on this

sample​ from a larger ​population ​of hispanic/latino immigrants. I think if I did legitimate

research on this sample, I would have an issue with ​reliability​, or repeatability, of my

observations. This sample certainly isn’t ​random,​ if it was, we would expect an

proportionate percentage of males and females, based on the immigrant population, as

well as being representative of other factors that the larger population of immigrants

hold. The location of Southwest Detroit yields a different immigrant population than we

would see in southwestern states such as New Mexico or Texas. Furthermore, while my

observations can tell me information about this particular class, I can’t necessarily

project all of my findings to a larger scale. I do think, however, that some of my

observations could still used to ​challenge “common sense”​ ideas about hispanic/latino

immigrants, despite the lack of a controlled environment.

For my upcoming visit, I hope to continue to build relationships with the students

as well as become increasingly comfortable with volunteering in this setting.

February 19th

Today in class, the students read paragraphs that they wrote about their own

progress within the course. Most of the students talked about progress in a few areas,

depending on their skill level. The more fluent students noted an increase in their ability

to pronounce words, whereas the less fluent students tended to note an increase in
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comprehension and understanding of words. One common theme that most, if not all, of

the students wrote was a thanks to Terry for helping them as well as enjoyment of the

class.

I think these things are indicative of a shared ​nonmaterial culture​ between the

students of La Casa Guadalupana. They share the ​value​ that learning a second

language is important/necessary, as well as the value that it’s important to be thankful

and grateful to those who have helped them. Furthermore, based on what I know about

them, despite different backgrounds and native countries, they share the common

language​ of spanish, in addition to sharing their limited english. There are ​norms

established within the classroom, which is indicative of nonmaterial culture. For

example, Terry will explain things in english, and the students with better understanding

and fluency will translate for those who understand limited english. Furthermore, they

share the struggles of immigrants in a new country with limited language skills of that

country. A common ​symbol​ would be ICE, because many of the students fear

deportation or legal consequences.

For my next visit, I hope to have more of an opportunity to speak with the

students and learn about their lives and feelings about learning english. Additionally, I

hope to help Terry think of new ideas for activities to do with the students that will be

beneficial for them.

March 5th

Today, class mostly followed the same routine. Attendance was a little low but

we still had enough people to have a productive class. Terry and I both went over the
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homework with the class, answering and explaining questions as needed. I lead one

activity where we practiced the different pronunciations of words with “ch”, “sh”, and

“wh”. We went over different examples, and not only said them aloud, but clarified

meaning if necessary. “Chive” in particular was difficult for me to explain. I didn’t know

the translation to spanish, so I had to use circumlocution. At first, I tried describing it as

an herb, but they didn’t know what herb mean either. I had to keep trying different

things. I explained that it was used to flavor food when cooking, but the physical

description of long, thin, and green was what helped them to best understand. This

further reiterated for me the necessity of ​language​, and how we don’t realize how crucial

it is to communicate until there’s a language barrier that highlights its importance.

Furthermore, we ended class slightly early as it was our class’ turn to clean the stairs

and hallway. We had to sweep, mop, and wipe down door handles as La Casa

Guadalupana doesn’t have a custodial staff.

Of course I went to jump in and help, but I immediately became worried about

what the students might think of me. I think there is a stereotype for particularly hispanic

or latina women to be maids for particularly white people and women such as myself.

This relates directly to Cooley’s ​looking-glass self​. I imagined that if I didn’t help clean,

they would perceive me as a privileged white woman and have a negative reaction

towards me. I wanted to counteract this as much as possible so I did my best to help,

but I think this experienced clearly showed, at least to me personally, how important

other’s perceptions of us are.

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For next week, I hope to keep improving my ability to explain things to the

students in english in different ways that help them understand things better.

March 19th

Today in class, we had a new student named Brenda who had moved up from

the beginner level ESL class. During class she was rather quiet and didn’t participate

much because she obviously hadn’t had the opportunity to do any of the work for the

class. However, she stayed for a while after class to talk with Terry and I about what the

expectations were for the class and work she needed to make up as well as extra

worksheets for extra practice. I was rather surprised at the fluency of her english when

talking with us, but she did use a lot of “spanglish”, substituting spanish words or

phrases in the middle of a sentence when she didn’t know the translation. Even knowing

both languages she was speaking, this quick flipping back and forth was difficult for me

to process and understand. However, with careful listening, she told us about her home

life. She explained how some days she might be late, leave early, or miss class to get

her son to and from school or therapy. I believe he is elementary age, but he is also

autistic, making Brenda’s life a little more difficult trying to work, learn english, and take

care of her family. The conversation furthered to her telling us stories of people out in

public at places like the grocery store being impatient or insensitive when her son was

having difficulties or being loud. She told us how sometimes when she tried to explain,

people didn’t even know what autistic meant, or if they did, they sometimes didn’t soften

or didn’t care.
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This conversation lead me to think about the process of socialization, and how

many people likely reacted harshly to her son from a lack of expose to autistic children

or people in any of the ​primary socialization agents​. ​Family,​ for example, can often be a

reason people begin foundations to support research for a cure for disorders and

diseases, such as autism. Furthermore, exposure to special needs people through

family, school, or peer groups​ can lead to increased empathy and a better

understanding of how to interact with these people. ​Mass media​ could also help raise

empathy and awareness not only for special needs people, but also people of color,

minorities, women, etc. by increasing the variety in their representation of news

coverage or characters in TV and movies.

For my next visit, I anticipate that we will work to begin wrapping up some loose

ends before break for Holy Week and Easter. I also hope to get to know more about

Brenda and help her with translating words that are part of her “spanglish” so she can

learn the proper words in english.

March 26th

The majority of class today consisted of the usual, going over homework and

explaining grammar rules and definitions of vocabulary words. Today we focused on

comparatives and superlatives, practicing the proper word order and structure, as well

as examples. I noticed that many students forgot the article “the” when using

superlatives or they struggles with irregular examples such as “bad, worse, worst”.

However, after some time, the students enjoyed practicing comparatives and

superlatives, especially when talking about each other. For example, one student
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described her friend in the class as the nicest, and one student described his wife as the

most beautiful.

However, in relation to class topics, my time at La Casa Guadalupana has been

a crucial socialization process for me as a student and as a young adult. To elaborate, I

feel that this experience with helping to lead a classroom has been the fruition of a long

anticipatory socialization ​process. For essentially my entire life I have been a student,

not a teacher, but have had lots of exposure to the teaching process that allowed me to

quickly assume the ​role within the status​ of teacher for this service learning.

Additionally, this first hand exposure to a cultures and people serves as anticipatory

socialization for me because my minor is in spanish and as a future nurse, I will surely

be exposed to a wide variety of people. ​This experience has allowed me to prepare for

a status I do not occupy as of yet.​ Furthermore, I think this experience has and will

continue to be a source of ​developmental socialization​ for me. By working with these

people and exposing myself to new experiences, I have become more competent in

seeing/realizing new perspectives that will improve my ability to perform ​roles​ such as

interaction with others, critical thinking, and embracing and accepting ​cultural diversity

within the ​statuses ​of student and informed citizen.

April 9th

Class was very small today, only four students attended, one of whom was new

to the class, at least I had never seen here there before. This was by far the smallest

class I have ever been a part of, volunteering or otherwise. The students read a few
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paragraphs aloud that they had had for homework and I lead the class in correcting the

worksheets they also had for homework.

Towards the end of class, I was able to work one on one with the newest

students, Noemi. She struggled a lot with english, and I went over phonics flashcards

with her. What I noticed most was that she did much better individually working with my

rather than in the entire (albeit not much larger) class. Furthermore, I also noticed that

with the smaller group, particularly, without Noemi and I participating, the class actually

got much louder, and seemingly much more off topic compared to when more students

are there.

To relate to class topics, I think the widespread lack of attendance could be

indicative of a similar ​social class ​among students. Using the ​objective method​ and

information I have learned about the students, they live in roughly the same

neighborhood, meaning their houses have generally the same value. They have similar

jobs that are labor intensive and often weather dependent. Other than La Casa

Guadalupana and perhaps a high school education in their native country, the students

are generally uneducated. All of these factors indicate a similar social class.

Furthermore, to incorporate ​prestige​, I feel that as minorities and immigrants, they lack

prestige here in the U.S., as our society values white people who were born here or are

citizens.

For my next visit at the school, I expect to see some progress with Noemi, and I

hope that attendance will be increased from this week. I worry that their jobs interfere
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with their education out of necessity, when this education could work to improve their

position in the class system.

April 16th

This was my second to last visit at La Casa Guadalupana for this semester, and I

definitely have feelings that I will miss coming here. Over the weeks, I’ve gotten to know

the students and a small portion of their lives. In class, we did the usual of reviewing

homework and going over vocab and grammar. We discussed prefixes and suffixes and

how they change the meaning of root words. We also practiced conversation about

going to the D.M.V. to get a driver’s license. I lead the class in going over homework

and book activities. Two students in particular got really excited about practicing a

conversation in regards to getting a driver’s license. I asked them to ask and answer

one question based of the pictures in their book, but they went back and forth asking

and answering questions using all of the pictures.

In the activity discussing driver’s licenses, the teacher asked who had one. One

student raised her hand, then took it down. When Terry asked her to explain, she told

us how she had a license from New Mexico that was now expired, but she couldn’t get a

Michigan license. After class, Terry and I called Secretary of State and went to their

website to try to help her. The problem was because she wasn’t born here in the U.S.,

she doesn’t have a Social Security number and therefore the state of Michigan won’t

allow her to get a license.

Terry’s only advice to her was to drive carefully and follow the rules at all times to

try to avoid being pulled over. But in relation to class, getting pulled over without a valid
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license could easily put her family into ​poverty​. Based off a quick google search that

brought me to a Michigan government website, getting caught driving with an invalid

license is a misdemeanor with a fine up to $500 and potential jail time. The charges and

punishments jump to thousands of dollars and a felony charge if injury or death is

caused by an accident. Being a ​young, latina mother, with little to no education, ​this

could seriously have negative consequences. I don’t know her living or work status

other than she has a young son. But a set back like that could seriously impact her

family. If she’s the sole provider, her son might not be cared for. A criminal record could

limit her ability to get a job in the future. Furthermore, I don’t know her citizenship status,

but a run in with the law such as this could even get her deported. As I’ve gotten to

know this woman, I know she’s kind and hardworking, but institutional boundaries such

as these laws have the potential to put her into poverty, at no fault of her own.

For my next and final visit, I believe the plan is to have a going away party for me

and to celebrate the accomplishments of the students as they also near the end of their

own semester.

April 23rd

Today was my last visit at La Casa Guadalupana for this semester. For the first

portion of class, we talked about how everyone’s weekend was. Immediately, one

student began to tell us how her son was arrested and detained for five hours by border

patrol. He is a DACA recipient and had all the necessary paperwork, but the officers

didn’t care. The other students in the room seemed to share a similar feeling, that they

themselves or people they knew had been racially profiled as latino immigrants or share
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a fear of ICE and border patrol, regardless of their legal status. As the conversation

shifted, we began to talk about how many if not all of them came to the United States as

a way to improve their lives as many others have before them. This racial profiling is a

societal issue​, not just in relation to latinos.

Terry and the students had prepared a small party for me, with traditional foods

like tamales, flan, and pastel de tres leches, thus sharing part of their ​material culture

with me. As we were eating, they gave me a card that they all had signed and began to

each thank me for helping them. I was truly flattered by the gesture and was not

expecting the outpour of gratitude. For me, I was also incredibly grateful for their

kindness and welcoming attitude towards me, throughout my time volunteering with

them. My experience with them has done nothing but reaffirm to me that these are

good, hardworking people. The laws in place often criminalize these otherwise valuable

members of society and bar them from becoming citizens. Furthermore, racial

prejudices as a ​cultural norm​ often set these people back by limiting their access to

education, well paying jobs, fair pay, etc.

As we ate, one student talked about her autistic son, as she had to leave a few

minutes early to take him to his A.B.A. therapy after she was done with class. She told

us how much the therapy had helped improve his life and in turn her life as well.

Another student began a comparison using one of her neighbors that also had an

autistic child. However, her neighbors did not provide therapy nor did they give their

child the proper medicine to manage their autism. To me, it was an interesting

comparison that could help support the importance of environment in regards to

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socialization and the nature nurture debate​. Although not completely the same, this

comparison reminded me of​ Anna and Isabel​, two children with similar backgrounds but

very different outcomes based on their environment.

As a whole, my experience at La Casa Guadalupana has been nothing but

positive and I hope to continue to volunteer with them next Fall. This opportunity not

only helped to reinforce and apply the concepts I learned within class. Furthermore, I

feel more connected to the community. I got to know the students and staff at La Casa

and build relationships with them. Terry has expressed willingness to write me

recommendation letters in the future if I need. Sister Marie who is a coordinator for La

Casa, along with Terry has asked me to help them with a fundraiser through Art Van

over the month of May because they trust me to be an advocate for them.

The students expressed hopes that I would return in the fall. They not only did I

help them learn english, but they shared a small part of their journeys and lives with me.

By working with them, I was able to see a glimpse of lives of people with far different

backgrounds than myself. It was a reminder to me that I am fortunate for reasons out of

my control, such as my race and the socioeconomic status of my parents. Things that I

don’t often think about or fear, such as deportation, are everyday worries and struggles

for some people. It has also been a reminder that many people’s misfortunes or

struggles are not results of personal character or choices, but rather structural barriers

completely out of their control bar them from the same opportunities as others.