Service Learning Reflection (Special Olympics, Part 3)

As I wrote about in June this year, I required my advanced-intermediate (Level 3) listening and speaking students to volunteer to practice the language. I have complied some of the students final reflections on volunteering over the course of the semester, and I believe they are thoughtful and worth sharing. 

A little background: In addition to the Special Olympics, my students volunteered at the soup kitchen, animal shelter, community/campus garden, and at a Special Olympics fund-raising event. Their experiences were varied, but the sentiment remained the same: they enjoyed volunteering and learned from their experiences. These have not been edited in any way by me, so the excerpts are true language-learner writing. I have included some explanation in brackets if I have felt it was necessary.  

Soup Kitchen Reflection:

At the beginning I asked about the mode of action and what should I do. Then I began to provide meals and food for the customers. I ask everyone who comes in what do you prefer to eat. Each time the food finishes I go back to bring more from the kitchen. I was dealing with everyone with a smile and all were welcoming. I went into the kitchen to help my friends who are volunteering like me in making various food. As well as in the processing of various beverages to the needy. During the first hour I was talking with everyone and with the volunteers about how amazing the idea of this restaurant is, and it's a beautiful idea that serves the community. We need such ideas to serve all the people. Also I spoke with a number of people who came for eating and talking about a lot of topics that related to our lives in general. It was a beautiful experience and very wonderful when I feel like I'm a reason for the happiness for others.

Soup Kitchen Reflection:

In 06/13/2013,I went to Soup Kitchen for 1 hrs. That was a good opportunity for me. I did many things. First, i cleaned the dishes which was the first time for me to wash dishes out of my house, it was very good. I was very happy to do that . The water spill on my jeans. which made me impressed [embarrassed] .Second, during the break i met new American friends . I talked with them that benefited me to improve my speaking skills .Finally, i clean the tables after people had left the kitchen, when i was cleaning them , i had tried to take of little pieces were sticking in the table that made me angry. Soup kitchen is a great volunteer people there are nice and friendly that can feel you more comfortable. I hope to open soup kitchen in my country because it has a lot of benefit for poor people.

Final Semester Reflection:

             Before this summer i never be the Volunteer in my past life. And i never consider about this. However this summer i did it and also enjoy it so much.  In the beginning i don not even know how to be volunteer and how to do the job in here. My first place was garden where was plant the vegetables.  I learned lots of thing from here. For example how to plan the filed because she told me if i plant the vegetables very close. That will effect them grow up. So after this i think be volunteer not just donation yourself. This is just one part on volunteering. On the other hand. It also can increase your knowledge. Both all what i want in here. I need to be volunteer. In fact, for international students to be volunteer have more big significant means for us. First it can help us practice speaking and learning. As we all know the English is most important in here. Then it improve our ability because you should do everything by yourself. This is better than nothing to do. Next to be volunteer also can rich my experience in US because i do not want to nothing in my memory when i go back my country. So i am really appreciate teacher let me to be volunteer. This is really helpful.

Final Semester Reflection:

Since our teacher sets the volunteer task to us, I have already volunteered for four orgnizations so far. They are Animals Shelter, Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, Plant Vegetable for Hungers and Auction Special Olympics. Each time, Hero and I worked toghter. We took care of some cats, walked some dogs, swept the floor, cleaned some windows, took weed away from a small garden, and so on. In the past one month, we really did so many different kinds of  task. I find that thay have something in common, it is that some people need our help. I love the task what I did because I would like to help people in need. I hope I can help them to get out their troubles. Most of people we helped are poor people. For example, we looked after a small garden. Various vegetables are planted in there, and when the vegetables grow up,  the administrator will offer them for hungers. Isabella Community Soup Kitchen is a similar place, the organization offer some food for poor people. We also get some benefit from the volunteer tasks. Through we did these task, we gained lots of soial [social] experence. We learned how to apply for a volunteer job, and during we completed that job, we look out our unique ability. It made us to be more confident. On the other hand, we got to meet a lot people, that means we got more oppotunity to make conversation with native speaker. It was useful for us to improve our integrated English skill especially speaking and listening. To sum up, volunteer is a good activity, it offers an oppotunity for us to help others, at the same time, we can improve our integreted skill.

Final Semester Reflection:

          This semester, I had different volunteer. The first one it was Special Olympic. It was in the SAC in CMU. It was first time I took a volunteer. I was nervous and fear because I did not know how deal with special Olympic. I asked some people there if they needed help. Then I found out woman with a big table. The above the table was fruits and vegetables. She gave special Olympic fruits and vegetables. She was so busy. She looked like need help. I asked her if she needs help. She said, “Yes, please.”  Then she taught me what I should do. She was so friendly with me. So I helped her.  Also the special Olympic was so kind and friendly. The second volunteer was in soup kitchen. I was there five times. I had different experience there. I volunteered in provide food, wash dishes, prepare food, and clean soup kitchen. So we should keep everything clean because it is impertinent kept customer’s’ bodies. The boss always said to us you have to clean your hand and wear gloves. So these experiences give me something new like how I deal with different people and different ages. Also I talk with American people without shy [shyness]. I in addition these experiences make me more trues and depend myself. I am able to make American friends. The impertinent thing my language is helped by these experiences. So the new language just needs practice. In the end I recommend other international student take a lot of volunteer because it helps to improve their language and earn experience different in your country.

Final Semester Reflection:

Summer semester usually goes faster than the regular academic year. This summer semester only lasted for about ten to eleven weeks. But in my opinion in spite of it is so short, but it is very impressive. During the summer semester, our integrated skill teacher arranged an interesting assignment which was let all the students take part in some social activities and create an opportunity for us to communicate with American people by English. I hope that I could talk to many people who are responsible for different occupations, undergo various occasions, and do some diverse jobs. I totally participate four different tasks. They are Animals Shelter, Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, Plant Vegetable for Hungers and Auction Special Olympics. From those volunteering activities, I learned that the how to find volunteer changes on the official website of the volunteer center, how to take the general process for signing up, how to make an appointment with others, ask for help from them, how to and collaborate with another and how to talking with people more politely. All the experience increased my self-confidence, social knowledge. And the most significance of improvement is that it helped me learn how to understanding and speak in English. When we were participating in each task, we must communicate with other people with English. Such as making a call to their office, trying to figure out what the currently exact job is, and understanding how to finish it. And all those approaches really benefited my English communicative skill and vocabularies.

I would like to recommend that everyone had better take some volunteer hours each semester especially for the students who are studying in Language Institute. Not only you will have change to help others, but also it can improve your English level.

Image via Digitallanguagelearning.blogspot.com

As you can see, many of the students very thoughtfully reflected on what they learned and how it benefited them as people and language learners. Of course, not all students were sincere or reflective; many simple recorded their experiences without a second thought; however, those who took the time to think and reflect did so in a way that I have never been able to see from students. I have always struggled to get students to reflect in a meaningful way, but they really learned from these volunteer experiences, which created the opportunity for genuine reflection and growth. 

I highly recommend service learning to any teacher of any level. For more about service learning and civic engagement, read my post about our presentation at the Intercultural Horizons Conference in 2012. Here are the links to Special Olympics, Part 1 (Before Volunteering) and Special Olympics, Part 2. 

Special Olympics, Part 2

I promised a second (and third) post on my class' Special Olympics Experience, and here is the second. So sorry for the delay. I hope you've enjoyed some of the other posts in the mean time. Here is the first post about the students' pre-volunteering reflections if you haven't read it yet. 

My students and I met at the Special Olympics event in Mt. Pleasant at nine in then morning. We had a few students who ran late, but we all found each other and got on our way. First, the students signed in (they even got t-shirts!) at the volunteer tent, and they scattered. 

Some students worked in the gym and worked as volleyball assistants. They chased balls and returned them to the athletes competing. A few even got the chance to be line judges! One, who is a basketball and workout fanatic, was very proud of himself. He said that the referee praised him for how quickly he learned the rules and applied them to the games. Another admitted he made many mistakes; however, the athletes and coaches encouraged him despite his mistakes. He said that his helped encourage his self-confidence, especially in speaking English. 

Image via the Special Olympics

Another student helped stuff "gift bags" for the athletes. She aided another worker put water bottles, fruit, and goodies into bags for the athletes to enjoy. Her position allowed her to communicate with volunteers and athletes. She also got to share about her culture and country, which made her extremely proud of herself.  A few other students escorted athletes to their events and to watch other events. This activity allowed them to get to know the other volunteers and the Special Olympics athletes. They also gained self-confidence in their English speaking skills.


Everybody was required to volunteer for at least 3 hours, but many of them stayed even longer! I will write another post about the students' reflection, but I want to emphasize how much the students interacted with other people and how much they enjoyed it. They all recommended that I give this assignment again to my other classes, and that they would volunteer at the Special Olympics again. 

Please stay tuned for my next post about the students' reflections on their experiences. 


P.S. Follow me on Twitter @Caitlin_ESL

Self-Assessment in Writing (and Speaking)

TESOL Connections just posted an interesting article about students assessing their own writing. You can find it here. I think it's a great idea to start early on with self-assessment, not just to be used with advanced students. It will encourage students to read and understand the rubric (does anybody else have this problem??), and it will also encourage self-reflection. This article is only about writing, but it's also possible to use with speaking assignments if they're recorded and made available to students to view (I use YouTube).

I often include a written portion to self-assessment assignments. For example, I provide a copy of the rubric for students to assess themselves and on the other side of the paper, I include a space for students to write about (A) what they did well, (B) what needs more work, and (C) the grade they think they should receive and why. I really think the written portion is just as important as the rubric portion. Students don't just have to decide what they did, but they also have to justify it. It's also a good way to track growth of the learner. If you use portfolios, these reflections could also be included there.

Are there any other ways we can use self-assessment to encourage and monitor language learning?

End of Semester Reflection

As the end of the semester draws to an end, I would like to reflect on what I've learned this year:

Planning makes life easier.

(Disclaimer: I am a planner and an organizer. It makes me feel comfortable, and if you aren't a planner, what follows may sound like madness you! )

The classes for which I did most of the planning before the semester started ended up being less and better work in the long run. Moments of genius 5 minutes before class sometimes happen, which result in an amazing lesson; however, those are few and far between. When I know what I need to accomplish for the day, week, month, I find that I am better able to hone my lesson plan to meet my students' needs and the course's objectives. I like having a long-term plan, and even though it always changes after the first week of class, I think it's important to have a goal for the course's timing and schedule. This makes life easier and the lessons better.

It's important to listen to the students.

Sometimes it's just whining, but sometimes it's valuable advice and commentary. They're the audience... it's important to listen and respond to them.

Grading will still be there tomorrow.

After some wonderful conversations with my colleagues, Danielle and Natalie, I have realized that all grading doesn't necessarily need to be finished that night. It's not always (or usually?) necessary to get two hours of sleep when I have to teach the next morning. Because, of course, it will be there tomorrow!

It's important to have a sense of humor.

While I love laughing, I am naturally inclined to seriousness. Sometimes I have to remember to lighten up a bit. There's a running joke in one of my classes that I always keep them late and that they never get out early. I always look at the clock, astonished that we only have 10 more minutes! I've embraced it and have learned to laugh about it, too.

Lower level ESL students often don't understand jokes (due to language and cultural differences), but I've been trying to make more jokes (OK friends, I know how you feel about my jokes...) and laugh. It's also fun to see which students laugh and when they start to "get it."

Speaking of jokes, here' s a good one I saw on Facebook (Thanks, Gracielle!): What are Santa's elves called?

Answer: Subordinate clauses

Here's another, of my own: What do you call Mrs. Claus after she decides to leave Santa?

Answer: Independent Clause

OK, so maybe my sense of humor is why students don't laugh at my jokes...

Reflection is important

I never really had students reflect much after the courses are over. I am usually too worried about getting through everything to provide an opportunity to reflect. However, I highly value reflection, so I decided to incorporate it into the last day of my writing course. They wrote a letter to future students explaining what they learned, what they would have done differently, what they are glad they did, and any advice they had. The results were thoughtful, funny, and well-organized (the importance of this cannot be understated). I was amazed at their self-evaluation and insight into their actions. They actually advised future students to do all of the homework (they didn't always), to trust that what the teacher has them do will make them better writers,  to go to the Writing Center, and to participate in class. I was thrilled with the results and so very proud of their accomplishments. 


Sometimes I feel as though I learn more than my students in a given day or semester, which is making me into a better teacher (I think). I hope to be able to post more during winter break, as I won't have lesson planning, teaching, and grading to fill my time!