Service Learning.... Lesson of the day: Humble Yourself

January 27th 2011

 Today had to have been one of the most humbling days of my life. While being in a position of slight power, I was the one at a disadvantage. As we do every Tuesday and Thursday, today we went on to our service learning locations. I assist an English teacher at Iqbal Masih, a primary school with a decent variety of cultures and ethnicities. When I walked into the classroom that we are usually in, instead of about 20 kids and at least two teachers, there were only two students. They looked like they were at least in the forth grade, and one was helping the other. As I tried to use the little bit of Italian that I know to my advantage, all odds were against me. The kids were starting to get frustrated and apparently they weren’t sure what I meant by “no capito.” After sitting there for maybe five minutes going back and forth with each other, the boy went a grabbed a teacher and let me know that the teacher that I usually assist for was absent.

On Thursdays, the kids have a religion. I find this extremely interesting because they are only in the third grade. For Iqbal Masih to only be a primary school and not a “Catholic Primary School” per say, that would be uncommon and biased in the states. The only schools that I know of in the states that teach religion are religion based private schools. This is so intriguing to me because it’s on the topic of my research paper. Though it is not fully thought out, I know that I am in interested in how religion affects the identity of the students.

They also had a music lesson today and the teacher would have them copy the beat that she was making with her hands. It amazed me because not all kids have impulsive rhythm, but their determination to get it was unspeakable. They are great listeners and always manage to do well. My lesson of the day was that language is merely a language and though it is a great barrier, interactions are the same in every language.

Today was a great day and I’m looking forward to many more!!! Rome is a nice place to be!