This past summer, I had a job working as a teacher’s assistant (TA) for students who were learning English as a second language. My job mainly entailed helping out the students in my class and helping translate words that were too complicated for them, or that the students had simply never heard before. But there was so much more to my job than translations. Since July 6th, I spent time with students ranging in genders, races, ethnicities, personalities, languages, learning techniques, and so many other aspects that it was hard to keep track of all of them. This experience, however, has allowed me to expand my cultural knowledge in ways that not many people get to experience. I have broken stereotypes with my Latina students; I have formed bonds with Dominican students, Vietnamese students, Cape Verdean students, and Colombian students as well as many other different nationalities of students represented in the program. I learned swear words from the Vietnamese kids and I heard of delicious platters from various countries that I’ve yet to try, but really want to eat. I got to experience so much in so little time, it feels as though I traveled the world while staying in one place.
One of the best parts of my summer was getting to see the interactions amongst the students from all these contrasting cultures. The language barriers were never an issue for most of them because they would communicate through passions. The soccer kids would learn how to pass the ball to without having to call out to their peers in an unfamiliar language. They could communicate with a single look. The theater kids were able to put on an entire play without being able to fully communicate from Spanish to Creole to Vietnamese because actions spoke louder than words. The kids in arts and crafty could speak through their art instead of their mouths and it was something truly beautiful.
My first job taught me to care for others and to respect the differences, to embrace them, in fact, because they are what brings us even closer together. The cultural immersion didn’t stop just at the student level; all of my coworkers came from different backgrounds, as well. Whether Venezuelan, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, or Chinese we all came together perfectly to be able to assist all of the students in any way they needed. Sometimes my students needed us to translate something to Portuguese because their parents were Brazilian, so they knew very little to no English and only spoke Portuguese or Spanish. I could easily walk over to the next classroom and one of my coworkers would help me out.
Most people will tell you that they hated their first job. That they got very little pay for a ton of work, that the working conditions were terrible and that everyone they worked with was terrible. This was not my case. I formed such a strong bond with my coworkers that I actually cried on the walk home on my last day because I was so sad that my time with them was over. I got every paycheck on time and not once did I worry that my next few days would be spent waiting for the paycheck at the end of the week. I learned so much from teaching this past summer that I would consider becoming a teacher myself someday. At the end of the program, at the graduation ceremony, I got to award two students from my class; one as a Scholar and another as Most Improved. One of my main goals for the summer was to inspire my students to want to learn and luckily enough I had a student who would ask why we were going to watch a movie in class, when we could read instead. The joy that entered my body when she said that showed me the impact my class had on her. That was why I asked the teacher to award her our 'Most Improved' award. I was so proud of her.
What I learned from my first job was that no matter where you’re from, there will always be something you have in common with someone from a different part of the world; that our differences are not barriers, but rather bridges that bring us together as a varied group of entities; that being “different” is good and fun; that where you are from is unimportant because you can always bring people together through good music, food and fun; that the party hasn’t begun until the Latinas start dancing; that the African kids really know how to pop and lock; that no one likes waiting in line for lunch; that you can be a working adult with responsibilities and authority and still have fun; and that no matter how old they are, many students are going to hit on both TAs and teachers.
For two months, I got to be a responsible adult rather than a naïve 17-year-old. I got paid, I went to meetings at 7:30 a.m., I went out with coworkers, I rode the train with my peers, I arrived too early or too late somedays, I got stuck in workshops until 5 p.m. but best of all, I had fun. I got to Teach, Inspire & Enjoy. My summer goals were completed. I hope your summer of 2016 was as good as mine, and if it wasn’t then maybe next year’s will be better.
